Railway Interchange

(Norfolk Southern Photograph)

For NS, Another Tech Outage Pauses Operations

Norfolk Southern’s (NS) data center on Sept. 29 experienced a technology outage that impacted the dispatching system, train movements, and functionality of the terminal operating system. Operations were halted, NS reported, “until the issue was safely and successfully resolved” at 1:30 a.m. ET on Sept. 30.

Brightline, Wi-Tronix: $1.65MM CRISI Grant for AI

Brightline and Wi-Tronix have been awarded $1.65 million from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) competitive grant program for development of an AI (artificial intelligence)-backed monitoring

NTSB: How Not to Blow a Gasket

The National Transportation Safety Board has released findings and safety recommendations on DOT-117 tank cars that address the performance of gaskets employed in sealing manway covers and valves in a derailment, and

BNSF photo

BNSF, SMART-TD Reach Tentative Agreement

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, Transportation Division (SMART-TD) and BNSF Railway have reached a system-wide agreement, following up on the mandatory local bargaining items from last year’s Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) that the Class I says will “significantly benefit ground service employees.”

From left, UP's Kim Hess, Assistant Vice President-Energy, Marketing and Sales; Ashok Fichadia, Assistant Vice President-Customer, Tech; Kaleb Koehn; Josh Saltz; and Rick Lichtas, Assistant Vice President-Network Integration and Scheduling, Network Planning and Operations. (Union Pacific photo)
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Class I Briefs: CSX, UP

CSX is honored with the 2023 Patriots in Business Award and assembles care packages for military members. Also, Union Pacific’s (UP) second annual “Hackathon” event inspires innovative approaches to real-world dilemmas; and Houston officials approve a $5 million fund to help relocate residents living near polluted UP rail yard.

(FRA Photograph)

FRA Examines Vertical Split Rim Causes, Prevention

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) this month released a technical report on the causes and prevention vertical split rim (VSR), which is related broken wheel rims, one of the leading causes of FRA-reportable wheel-related accidents.