Ron Bird has accepted the position of vice president of Watco Transload and Intermodal Services Development. Bird will be based in Houston, Texas, at Greens Port Industrial Park, where he will be responsible for transload and multi-modal growth through existing and future Watco distribution channels.
Gene Davis, PE, joined Stantec as senior railway engineer to lead Stantec’s freight and commuter railway services in the U.S. Southeast. Davis has more than 27 years of experience in the rail industry including operations, economics and engineering for railroad companies, state departments of transportation and major municipalities.
By a margin of better than two-to-one, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee.
Newmont Mining Corporation named Union Pacific its North American Supplier of the Year, recognizing the railroad for its innovative, safe and reliable transportation solutions.
Patriot Rail Corp. restructured its operations management team. The changes, effective January 1, 2012, were implemented to better focus management efforts among rail operations and marketing to customers.
Dear Railway Track & Structures and Rail Group News readers,
Happy New Year. January 1 marked my first day as publisher of the Simmons-Boardman Rail Division, which consists of Railway Age, International Railway Journal and Railway Track & Structures.
Canadian National completed the merger of three of its U.S. operating subsidiaries on Dec. 31, 2011. The merger of Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Company, Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway Company and Wisconsin Central Ltd. will simplify CN’s corporate structure and operations by combining these three separate connecting rail affiliates into a single entity, Wisconsin Central Ltd.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (GWI) reported that a train operated by its subsidiary Genesee & Wyoming Australia Pty Ltd (GWA) derailed in the vicinity of the Edith River bridge, approximately 40 km (18.6 miles) north of Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia, December 27.
North Dakota Senators John Hoeven and Kent Conrad, Congressman Rick Berg and Governor Jack Dalrymple said they have a plan in place to move forward on upgrading the Amtrak-BNSF Railway near Devils Lake, ND. Rising floodwaters in the Devils Lake basin have threatened the rail lines and bridges near Churchs Ferry, forcing Amtrak to suspend service on its Empire Builder line earlier in 2011.
BNSF says it will transform shipper supply chains with its Next Generation Intermodal concept. The railroad says BNSF Next Generation Intermodal represents a new and innovative way of optimizing intermodal rail transportation as part of shippers’ supply chains. Next Generation Intermodal is geared toward making shippers fully aware of the broad spectrum of shipping options made available through intermodal, including different rail speeds and multimodal rail options in the same lane.
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.