This map shows the lines of Genesee & Wyoming-owned Meridian & Bigbee Railroad (MNBR) in relation to other rail lines in the territory and the principal geographic points in the region traversed. (Map Courtesy of CPKC)

STB Issues Draft EA for Proposed CSXT, CPKC Acquisitions of Ala., Miss. Rail Line

The Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) on March 18 issued a Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) for CSX Transportation’s (CSXT) request to acquire and operate the assets comprising the rail line of Genesee & Wyoming-owned Class III Meridian & Bigbee Railroad, L.L.C. (MNBR) that runs approximately 93.7 miles between Burkville and Myrtlewood, Ala., and Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s (CPKC) request to acquire from MNBR and to operate approximately 50.4 miles of rail line between Meridian, Miss., and Myrtlewood, Ala.

STB Denies UP’s Motion to Keep Employment Data Confidential

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on March 14 announced that it has denied a motion for protective order filed by Union Pacific (UP) to keep certain required, temporary employment data reporting confidential. STB also directs UP to submit public versions of previously submitted data.

BNSF Vice President of Industrial Products Ryan Dreier has been appointed to STB's Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council.

Dreier Appointed to STB’s RSTAC    

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on March 12 announced that it has appointed Ryan Dreier to its Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council (RSTAC) as a large railroad representative.

BLET, B&E Ratify New Contract

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Berkshire & Eastern Railroad have ratified a new agreement governing rates of pay, benefits and work rules for 32 members.

Jennifer Homendy
Commentary

NTSB’s Top Cop: ‘Accept Fact-Based Science or Hit the Road, Jack’

WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE, MARCH 2024 ISSUE: National Transportation Board (NTSB) Chairperson Jennifer Esposito Homendy can be a pain in the neck, and elsewhere. Celebrate that tenacity. It assuredly saves what cannot be calculated—injuries not suffered and lives not lost in preventable transportation mishaps.

Premium (IANR Photograph)

Shippers, Small Roads Weigh In on CN-IANR Merger Proposal

Class III D&I Railroad (D&I) in northwest Iowa and southeast South Dakota, plus two long-time CN customers have submitted letters of support for the Canadian Class I’s application to the Surface Transportation

Hernando, Miss.-based Rock Island—a rail carrier and short line holding company that offers switching, railcar storage, locomotive maintenance, railcar fleet management, and railroad management services—will take over for BNGR and provide local rail service through March 31, 2024, along a 37.26-mile line in Oklahoma. (Rock Island Photograph)

Rock Island to Operate Temporarily for BNGR in Oklahoma

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is permitting the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific (Rock Island) to provide service for 30 days over rail line owned by the state of Oklahoma and the

Savage Tooele Railroad Company has proposed reinstituting common carrier freight rail service over an approximately six-mile segment of the former “Warner Branch” (abandoned in 1983 by UP predecessor Western Pacific Railroad Company), and to construct approximately five miles of new railroad line within the Lakeview Business Park, which has been under development since 2020 in Tooele County, Utah. (STB Photograph)

STB Issues Final EA for Proposed 11-Mile Utah Rail Line

The Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Office of Environmental Analysis has released a Final Environmental Assessment (EA) for Savage Tooele Railroad Company’s proposal to construct and operate an 11-mile rail line in Tooele County, Utah. The STB will use the assessment to help determine whether or not to approve the project.

Premium Patrick Fuchs

Shippers Back Fuchs’ Renomination to STB

Republican Patrick J. Fuchs, who was nominated late last month by President Joe Biden for a second term on the Surface Transportation Board (STB), now has shipper support for Senate confirmation. Fuchs

From left to right: Kristen Monaco, Director of the STB Office of Economics; Warren Randolph, Chief Data Officer at the NTSB; and Jen Adler, Director of the NTSB Office of Safety Recommendations and Communications.

People News: STB, NTSB

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has appointed an Office of Economics Director, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has hired its first Chief Data Officer and a new Director for its Office of Safety Recommendations and Communications.

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