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RAILWAY AGE, AUGUST 2024 ISSUE: How Union Pacific leverages state-of-the-art inspection technology. With more than 32,000 miles of track covering 23 states in the western two-thirds of the U.S., those charged with inspecting and maintaining track at Union Pacific (UP) have their work cut out for them. From maintaining track geometry to discovering existing or potential rail defects, the team…

Excluding the impact of litigation costs stemming from a civil suit filed by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in Washington State, BNSF’s earnings and operating ratio “showed solid improvement,” the company said in reporting second-quarter 2024 results. Operating income for the second quarter and first six months of 2024 was $1.8 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively, an increase of $13…

Our most recent feature article on transit in the Nation’s Capital appeared in the August 2023 issue of Railway Age. Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono described the politics surrounding the agency as a “Jurisdictional Jumble,” and it is difficult to imagine a more accurate or succinct description. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA, or “Metro” as many locals call it)…

Less than one year after completion of BNSF Railway’s Sandpoint Junction Connector project in northern Idaho, one can hardly tell that there was an army of workers and machinery stationed there for roughly four years building new bridges, rebuilding an existing bridge and laying new track to eliminate a bottleneck in BNSF’s Northern Corridor. Sandpoint is back to the tranquil,…

Union Pacific’s second-quarter 2024 results showed increases in volume, earning and income and improvements in safety, productivity and operating ratio. “Our performance demonstrates the team’s ability to deliver strong results,” said CEO Jim Vena. “This provides further proof that our strategy to be the best in safety, service and operational excellence will drive success. The entire Union Pacific team is…

I noted in my previous report that New Jersey Transit (NJT) will get a reprieve, on account of a new tax on the largest businesses in the State. That tax will not benefit the agency this year, but only for the following four. After that, NJT could again have an unsettled future. Its neighbor is the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority…

Maryland’s Tradepoint Atlantic in Sparrows Point, Md., was much in the news lately as the only the only portion of the Port of Baltimore that remained accessible and operational following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Further down the road, though, it is set to have an even bigger role in the regional economy as home to the Sparrows…

The Class I railroads set ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the past 5-10 years, but a review of recent data shows mixed progress at best. Two of these railroads set goals based on reducing overall fuel consumption, which thus far has been helped along by a decline in carloadings (Exhibit 1). The others set goals based…

On July 9, MARS (Midwest Association of Rail Shippers) celebrated its 100th anniversary with its Annual Summer Meeting at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisc. The conference opened with remarks from Chuck Baker, President, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, and Mike Miller, CEO North America, Genesee & Wyoming, which coincidentally was celebrating its 125th anniversary. Miller…

Midyear Report, Railway Age July 2024 issue: 2024’s tumultuous first half should transition to a calmer period. But then again …

FROM THE EDITOR, RAILWAY AGE JULY 20224 ISSUE: When CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs joined us last month for our annual Rail Insights conference, I wanted to take the discussion in a somewhat different direction. Hinrichs, in the top post at CSX just under two years, is in many ways unlike those who became CEO after many years as…

New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has unexpectedly—but perhaps not surprisingly—halted the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s controversial congestion pricing (Central Business District Tolling Program) plan, which was expected to raise up to $1 billion annually for the agency to help offset looming deficits and support major capital programs that now run the risk of scale-backs or even cancellation. At…

During a 2013 GATX earnings call, then-CEO Brian Kenney was asked a question about the staggering number of new railcar orders being placed in response to the crude-by-rail/fracking boom. His response was something I’ll never forget: “If all of these cars are delivered, there will be hell to pay.” Kenney was right. In 2014 and 2015, all the railcar builders…

While transit in New York City and the railroads that serve its suburbs on the New York side of the Hudson River seem to be out of the woods for the next few years, the same cannot be said about New Jersey. New Jersey Transit (NJT), the state’s multi-modal transit agency, is facing the fiscal cliff, too. The agency is…

Times look bleak for many transit providers at this writing. Reports both for the trade and in popular media have spread the word that transit is in trouble. The federal operating support for transit that Congress authorized at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic will soon run out. Many transit providers are scrambling to raise the money to keep going…

Running a railroad is a complex endeavor. So is running urban rail transit, such as metropolitan-style rail lines (like the New York subways), urban light rail, and modern-style or heritage-style streetcars. While almost all the major transit providers also operate bus networks of comparable magnitude, railroads and rail transit are more complex and expensive. The agencies that run them must…

All is not well in the world of transit in the United States today. The COVID-19 virus has changed the way many Americans work, among other large-scale social and economic changes, and they include the way riders use rail transit. Carrying commuters into the city core in the morning and back home at the end of the workday was the…

GUIDE TO EQUIPMENT LEASING, RAILWAY AGE JUNE 2024 ISSUE: The battle for the soul of Norfolk Southern concluded with more whimpering than expected. Together, Ancora’s three-board-seat-limited victory and its highly scripted vow to “fight on” suggest that the wind has been let out of the pricing model for expected stock gains that were anticipated by the promised return to a…

RAILWAY AGE JUNE 2024 ISSUE: If you’re in the industry long enough, chances are that eventually you’ll come across a story about a wayward railcar—not necessarily an anecdote about a railcar ending up in North Dakota when it should have been in Alabama, but a story about coffee beans turning rotten because the temperature-controlled railcar wasn’t functioning properly. While companies…

State government regulations are accelerating the shift from diesel to alternative traction in California. Kyle Gradinger, Division Chief of Rail and Mass Transportation at the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS), explains the important role hydrogen is set to play in future intercity passenger operations to IRJ Editor-in-Chief Kevin Smith. California is one of the U.S. states feeling the effects of…