Conrail at 40: An experiment that worked

April 1, 1976 was a watershed day in U.S. railroading history. On that day, Consolidated Rail Corp., better known as Conrail, began operating under the auspices of the U.S. government a new railroad cobbled together from six bankrupt Northeastern carriers: Penn Central, Erie-Lackawanna, Jersey Central, Lehigh Valley, Reading, and Lehigh & Hudson River. Conrail, now 40, continues to thrive, albeit in a very different form from when it first turned a wheel.

Thurston named VP at WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff

David Thurston has been named a Vice President and National Technical Director within the transit and rail technical excellence center of WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, the company announced April 4, 2016.

Luther S. Miller, Nov. 30, 1926 – March 8, 2016

Luther Sigsbee Miller, long-time Editor-in-Chief of Railway Age, died March 8, 2016. He was 89.

Commentary

The day Rollin Bredenberg (and I) changed the course of railroading

April 2016 will be remembered decades from now as the month when Rollin Bredenberg retired as V.P., Capacity Planning & Operations Research at BNSF Railway.

RBN Energy: CBR to Northwest refineries resilient

Northwest crude oil refiners are still shipping significant volumes of crude from North Dakota’s Bakken region, RBN analyst Sandy Fielden discusses in “Slow Train Coming: Crude By Rail To Northwest Refineries Still Resilient.”

Ice accepts Railroader of the Year award; Fast Trackers honored

BNSF President and CEO Carl Ice accepted Railway Age’s 53rd annual Railroader of the Year award Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at Chicago’s Union League Club, at the traditional dinner hosted by the Western Railway Club.

Decher named President of ShipCarsNow, Inc.

Union Pacific recently named Peter Decher President of ShipCarsNow, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Class I railroad. Decher succeeds Martin Coalson who retired after a 37-year UP career.

Commentary

Maybe, maybe not

All you need to know about FRA’s NPRM, Train Crew Staffing, can be found by clicking HERE. Or maybe by reading below. Your call.

Introducing Transportation and Logistics Advisors, LLC

Long-time transportation industry consultant Lee Clair has launched Transportation and Logistics Advisors, LLC, described as “management advisors with deep experience in transportation and logistics, and energy and resources.” The firm includes Clair, John Kelsh, Robert Sabath and Steven Fox.

RBN Energy: The decline and fall of East Coast CBR

As RBN Energy LLC analyst Sandy Fielden describes in Slow Train Coming: The Decline and Fall of East Coast Crude by Rail, the economics of shipping crude oil out of North Dakota’s Bakken region, compared to importing equivalent crude, are having a detrimental impact on crude-by-rail (CBR) shipments to the East Coast.

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