Northern Plains appoints Mack as Executive Vice President
The Northern Plains Rail Companies (NPRC) have appointed Dan Mack as executive vice president of Finance, Marketing and Sales, effective immediately.
Breaking News
Blume Global to power global digital platform for BNSF Logistics
BNSF Logistics has selected Blume Global as its digital supply chain platform, providing solutions to assist BNSF in optimizing the intermodal transport services it offers to customers worldwide.
$121M for Indiana crossing upgrades
Weeks after federal officials called for improvements in grade-crossing safety nationwide, Indiana has stepped up with millions in state funding to help pay for life-saving projects. Gov. Eric Holcomb, along with officials
Intermodal traffic takes up slack carload volume
For the week of December 8, U.S. weekly rail traffic was 570,225 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.1% from the same week in 2017.
FRA morale tops among rail agencies
Some in the federal work force may say, “Take this job and shove it,” but not so at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), where job satisfaction for 2018 was the highest among the Department of Transportation’s nine modal administrations.
It’s official: Norfolk Southern to move HQ to Atlanta
Norfolk Southern Corp. officially announced plans to relocate its headquarters from Norfolk to Atlanta, lured by a multimillion dollar bond issue to help pay for a new downtown office tower.
VIA Rail selects Siemens for flagship fleet renewal
VIA Rail Canada announced that it has awarded Siemens Canada a C$989 million ($741 million) contract to supply 32 intercity trainsets for the Quebec City–Toronto–Windsor corridor.
NS, UP enacting intermodal interline service changes
On Monday Feb. 11, 2019, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific—both of which are rolling out their own versions of Precision Scheduled Railroading—will deploy jointly developed new routing protocols for domestic and international intermodal interline services.
Drivin’ that train on El Chapo’s cocaine supply chain: Witness
Accused drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman used the North American rail network to move cocaine from Mexico to the United States for distribution.
Progressive Rail to pick up BNSF lines in NE Washington
Progressive Rail is poised to take control of 83 miles of railroad owned by BNSF Railway in northwest Washington state.
Opinion
In Congress, it’s Hail Mary time
In the people’s company town of Washington, D.C., the most popular refrain during lame duck sessions of Congress—the fewer than 60 days between congressional elections and adjournment—is the catchphrase from Mariah Carey’s iconic tune, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
Carl Icahn knows rail investing
Financial Edge, December 2018 Railway Age: On Oct. 22, American Railcar Industries Inc. (ARI) announced that it was being acquired by a subsidiary of ITE Rail Fund L.P. (ITE). The acquisition price was $70 per share, for a total purchase price (including debt) of $1.7 billion. That price represented a 51% premium to the previous day’s close (Oct. 19) of $46.29 per share. As ITE is privately held, ARI will become a private company at acquisition.
STB: Nothing’s the something it does best
Watching Washington, December 2018 Railway Age: New leadership arrives at railroad-focused congressional committees in January, and unless Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairman Ann Begeman ingests breakfast Wheaties and gains courage to produce decisions, Congress may prescribe more than a potent laxative.
Getting the next generation on track
What happens when you retire? I’m sure there are few things on everyone’s minds: that extra free time to look forward to, those hobbies you will now have time for, and all the places to visit. For a company, however, losing long-standing employees to retirement can be a difficult moment. Not only do they lose a valued colleague; a firm loses valuable institutional knowledge, experience and wisdom. The gap that is left behind is tangible and can really hurt business stability and growth.
Mind the widening gap, Amtrak
In its former high-flying days, GE’s business model was praised in most MBA programs for its skills in planned, self-destructive obsolescence to cannibalize its operations; to reinvent itself to always stay ahead of the competition by pushing competitors back on their heels. Today, Sir Richard Branson evidences that business acumen quality sorely lacking at Amtrak between the political appointees indifferent to stewardship on the Board of Directors and the ranks of “cardboard senior and executive management” dutifully towing the party line.