May 01, 2015
Class I

Intermodal gain offsets carload drop

Compared to the prior-year week, carloads for the week ending April 25, 2015 on U.S. Class I railroads dropped 7.9%, but intermodal saw yet another gain, rising 5.6%, netting a slight dip of 1.6% in overall rail traffic, the Association of American Railroads reported.

April 24, 2015
Class I

Intermodal traffic at record high

According to figures reported by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) for the week ending April 18, 2015, this is the second highest week on record for intermodal volume, up 8.1% compared to 2014.

April 20, 2015
Class I

FRA, PHMSA pile on the paperwork

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on April 17, 2015 issued what they describe as “a package of targeted actions that will address some of the issues identified in recent train accidents involving crude oil and ethanol shipped by rail.”

April 16, 2015
Class I

Freight traffic stays relatively flat

According to figures reported by the Association of American Railroads for the week ending April 11, 2015, freight rail traffic remained relatively flat.

April 14, 2015
Regulatory

2014 safest year on record

The most recent safety statistics released by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in April show that 2014 was the safest year on record for train operations in the United States, in terms of both the number of accidents and the accident rate per million train-miles, for a variety of causes. These numbers include passenger rail, though the majority are freight rail accidents.

April 10, 2015
Class I

Intermodal uptick once again offsets carload dip

According to the most recent figures from the Association of American Railroads (AAR), yet another increase in intermodal traffic helped offset carload traffic decreases especially in coal, metallic ores and metals, and nonmetallic minerals.

April 07, 2015
Class I

Examining the DOT v. AAR Supreme Court decision regarding Amtrak

On March 9, 2015, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Department of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads, No. 13-1080, 575 U.S. ___ (2015) (DOT v. AAR), a case closely watched in the railroad industry and by those interested in the Constitutional separation of powers issues posed by the case.

April 01, 2015
Class I

Rail freight traffic relatively flat

Gains in intermodal helped offset a downturn in carload traffic during the month of March 2015, the week ended March 28 and the year’s first quarter, the Association of American Railroads reported.

March 27, 2015
Class I

Intermodal gains pace railroad traffic

A strong showing for intermodal offset a drop in carload volume on North American railroads for the week ending March 21, 2015, the Association of American Railroads reported.

March 25, 2015
Class I

AAR, API collaborate on CBR first-responder safety course

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) and American Petroleum Institute (API) have collaborated on a new crude-by-rail (CBR) introductory safety course for first responders. This course is available free of charge to emergency response organizations and fire departments via the Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response (TRANSCAER®) program, of which railroads and oil companies are members.