According to the Railway Association of Canada, Canada’s rail sector has bounced back from the 2009 global economic downturn posting solid volume growth. The industry has also continued to invest significantly in increased capacity and efficiencies. The findings are outlined in Rail Trends 2011, an annual anthology of statistics about rail sector performance published by the Railway Association of Canada.
United Transportation Union-represented trainmen and engineers employed by Evansville & Western Railroad approved a new five-year agreement, while UTU-represented trainmen and engineers employed by Iowa Interstate Railroad ratified a new six-year agreement.
Despite an overall downward trend in transportation fatalities in the United States, estimates for 2010 released by the National Transportation Safety Board reveal a rise in several categories, including motorcycles, medium and heavy trucks, buses, rail and pipeline.
“Though the NTSB continues to advocate for changes to address human factors, equipment and infrastructure improvements to prevent crashes, we continue to see far too many deaths each year,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman.
The data indicate that overall transportation fatalities decreased to 34,925 in 2010 from 35,994 in 2009.
Rail fatalities increased from 742 to 813, with the majority at grade crossings, though deaths on light, heavy and commuter rail rose from 229 to 253.
RailComm has been selected to provide its wireless remote control automation system at BNSF’s Longview facility in Washington.
CSX will begin the start of on-dock rail services at the Virginia Port Authority’s APM Terminal in Portsmouth on Jan. 3, 2012.
CN received Toyota Canada’s Carrier of the Year Award for 2011.
Viterra Inc. signed new service improvement agreements with both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific.
Under the CN agreement, Viterra and CN will work together to review supply chain key performance indicators, cooperate on planning and forecasting and address supply chain issues in a timely manner. The agreement is based on the belief that the actions of all supply chain participants affect the performance of the entire chain.
Union Pacific will not be held liable for drugs hidden in its trains and carried across the border with Mexico nor will the railroad be responsible for paying multi-million dollar fines. U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon ruled that U.S. border officials went beyond the authority granted U.S. Customs and Border Protection by Congress and signed an injunction prohibiting the Department of Homeland Security from seizing UP-owned equipment used in drug smuggling while in Mexican jurisdiction.
Kansas City Southern President and CEO David Starling reviews 2011 and plans the next year’s progress for KCS.
Canadian National and the United Steelworkers Local 2004 have reached a tentative agreement to renew the labor contract for approximately 2,800 maintenance-of-way employees in Canada. The current agreement is scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2011.
Charlie Patterson, senior vice president and chief commercial officer of RailAmerica Inc. plans to retire, effective December 31, 2011.
Canadian Pacific appointed Tony Ingram and Edmond Harris, both seasoned railroad executives, to the company’s board of directors, effective immediately.
This is an update to a story first reported on December 15, 2011, Click here.
Norfolk Southern is moving forward with plans to expand operations at its Rutherford Intermodal Facility near Harrisburg, Pa., after the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a $15 million TIGER III grant to the project.
United States Department of Transportation awarded $511 million in TIGER III discretionary grants to 46 capital construction projects in 33 states, of which $279 million of funding will go to rail-related projects.
The West Virginia Ports Authority has been awarded $12 million by the U.S. Department of Transportation to construct a long-planned intermodal terminal along Norfolk Southern’s Heartland Corridor near Prichard, W.Va.
Canadian Pacific and the province of Manitoba, Canada, signed a 10-year memorandum of agreement to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall transportation system in Manitoba.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Pennsylvania Department of Transportation a $15 million grant to expand capacity at the freight processing facility in Rutherford, Pa., a project which has the potential to create nearly 4,000 direct and indirect jobs and reduce the number of trucks traveling on Pennsylvania’s roadways.
Canadian Pacific has completed the first year of infrastructure enhancements as part of an aggressive three-year plan to upgrade its North Main Line between Winnipeg, MB, and Edmonton, AB, Canada.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $10 million in federal resources to help upgrade the rail line near Devils Lake, N.D. These federal resources will be added to additional funding the state’s congressional delegation worked to secure from Amtrak and BNSF to help cover the cost for the project, which many deem critical to regional commerce.
Canadian Pacific has improved service for its Canadian grain customers this crop year by reducing scheduling variability and increasing access to rail car supply. Crop year-to-date, empty order fulfillment, a metric that highlights rail car availability, has increased by 19 percent or 11,000 units versus a year ago.