Short Lines & Regionals

UP: Eagle Pass Border Crossing Reopening

Union Pacific was notified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that rail traffic at the Piedras Negras, Mexico/Eagle Pass, Tex., border crossing on UP’s Eagle Pass Subdivision could resume its normal flow

  • News

REMSA, RSI, RSSI to Host Railway Interchange 2025

The Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA), Railway Supply Institute (RSI) and Railway Systems Suppliers, Inc. (RSSI) have reported signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Railway Interchange to continue in 2025. The

(Ferromex Photograph)

Report: Ferromex Temporarily Suspending Service (Updated)

Mexican railway operator Ferromex on Sept. 19 said it was temporarily suspending 60 trains on south-north routes because of an increasing number of migrants climbing aboard railcars and suffering injuries, according to news reports. On Sept. 20, some trains restarted service. Union Pacific and BNSF issued embargoes at Eagle Pass in Texas.

Commentary

TD Cowen: Still Searching for Positives in Near-Term

At TD Cowen, we are lowering our rail estimates ahead of third-quarter earnings reports to reflect a very challenged environment. Leaders in the rail and logistics market who attended our latest Railroad Happy Hour” called the current outlook “bleak,” with growing uncertainty in 2025.

STB: Rail Cost Adjustment Factor Set for 4Q23

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has adopted for fourth-quarter 2023 the rail cost adjustment factor (RCAF), defined as “an index formulated to represent changes in railroad costs incurred by the nation’s largest railroads over a specified period of time.”

FRA Publishes Four New Technical Reports

The Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Office of Research, Development and Technology (RD&T) recently published four new technical reports that cover a variety of topics, including concrete crossties; the Operational Performance and Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) Analysis (OPRAM) software tool; moving block train control systems; and vehicle dynamics simulations.

(NECR Photograph, Courtesy of Genesee & Wyoming)

BLET Ratifies New NECR Contract

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) members have ratified a new five-year on-property agreement governing rates of pay, benefits and work rules at Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary New England Central Railroad (NECR),

“Blume’s asset management solution is well established as the marketplace where IMCs obtain railroad-owned intermodal equipment,” Blume Global CEO Pervinder Johar said Sept. 11. “We look forward to helping CPKC expand their business in the U.S.”
  • News

Supply Side: Blume Global, Rio Tinto IOC, Wabtec

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) will use Blume Global’s asset management system to foster intermodal traffic growth. Also, Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore Company of Canada (Rio Tinto IOC) is donating C$4 million to a Quebec college for a new training, research and innovation pavilion for the rail, industrial maintenance and energy intelligence industries; and Penn State names Wabtec Corporation as its 2023 Corporate Partner of the Year.