Union Pacific Thursday reported net income of $957 million, or $2.03 per share, in the first quarter of 2013, up from $863 million, or $1.79 a share, in the first quarter of 2012. The results also beat Wall Street consensus earnings estimates of $1.95 a share.
U.S. freight carload traffic fell, and U.S. intermodal volume increased during the week ending April 13, 2013, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday, as overall U.S. traffic resumed a predominant trend.
New York media late Wednesday marveled over the planned return this summer of the sole "name" train on the Long Island Rail Road: The Cannnonball. More relevant to potential passengers is the venerable train's reassigned western origin point: New York-Penn Station.
CSX Corp. late Tuesday said it notched earnings of $459 million, or 45 cents per share, in the first quarter, up from $449 million, or 43 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2012, on revenue of about $2.96 billion, almost identical to that of a year ago.
Figures released Wednesday by the Railway Supply Institute's American Railway Car Institute (ARCI) Committee show 23,901 cars were ordered in the first quarter of 2013, while 11,952 cars were delivered, with a backlog of 71,704 cars, all up from the fourth quarter of 2012.
Washington State legislative Democrats still hope to advance a transportation tax package that would fund up to $8.4 billion of projects statewide, including the contentious Columbia River Crossing (CRC) that would carry road and passenger rail traffic across the namesake river, linking Vancouver, Wash., with Portland, Ore.
Lilee Systems and Alstom Tuesday jointly announced the launch of what they called a "new, first-of-its-kind suite of interoperable Positive Train Control (PTC) products for rail lines."
Bombardier Transportation said Monday it has signed a contract with the Florida Department of Transportation to provide operations and maintenance services for the Central Florida Commuter Rail Transit project, commonly called SunRail, worth about $195 million.
U.S. freight carload traffic for the week ending April 6, 2013 gained ground, up 3.7%, measured against the comparable week in 2012, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday. U.S. intermodal volume also advanced, though more modestly, up 0.2%, from the comparable week last year. Total U.S. traffic for the week was up 2.1%.
Continuing to back up his political position established in his first term, President Obama Wednesday included considerable funding for rail and rail transit projects in his proposed fiscal year 2014 budget. Longer-term, the President also is advocating investment of $40 billion in passenger rail projects in the next five years. But the proposal, while a good placeholder and a rallying marker for pro-rail forces, is unlikely to survive intact.