Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan led public- and private-sector leaders in breaking ground on the $466 million Howard Street Tunnel expansion project, which will reconstruct the 126-year-old freight rail tunnel to accommodate double-stack container trains to and from the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore.
Years ago, as general counsel to the Illinois Racing Commission, Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairperson Martin J. Oberman chased the “gow”—jockey-speak for opium used illegally to improve race horse performance. These days, the 76-year-old Oberman is himself infused with a legal form of gow: an unabated resolve to use his regulatory cudgel to splinter railroad market power.
New Boston, Tex.-based TexAmericas Center (TAC) has acquired Lone Star Railcar Storage Company’s contracts and assets. In addition, Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors (FTAI) has partnered with Clean Planet Energy to develop waste plastic recycling and “circular-fuel production” facilities across North America.
For the week ending Nov. 20, 2021, U.S. Class I railroads hauled 237,244 carloads, up 1.6% from the same point last year, but the 271,065 intermodal containers and trailers they moved fell 10% from 2020, the Association of American Railroads reported on Nov. 24.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is calling on Norfolk Southern (NS) to address the deterioration of “key operating metrics” over the past several weeks and the increasing number of customer complaints to STB about the Class I railroad’s “poor performance.”
The Surface Transportation Board will consider a proposal by private railcar owners to adopt regulations updating the demurrage and accessorial rules governing the railroads’ use and handling of their equipment.
Cowen & Company hosted the Kansas City Southern (KCS) executive team in New York City last week for investor meetings. While challenges across
Mexico continue to hinder railroad operations, discussions with regulatory authorities appear to be moving in the right direction.
Canadian Pacific will resume service between Kamloops, British Columbia, and Vancouver by mid-day on Nov. 23.
The Port of Virginia by 2023 will double the size of the Central Rail Yard at Norfolk International Terminals (NIT), allowing the port to handle 1.1 million containers per year via rail.
![“We’re proud to support these [90] great projects that will improve infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, make us safer, advance equity, and combat climate change,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who announced the RAISE discretionary grants program recipients on Nov. 19.](https://www.railwayage.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-22-at-8.45.27-AM-300x169.png)
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) will distribute nearly $1 billion to 90 rail, transit, road and port projects through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grants program; California High-Speed Rail Authority and Genesee & Wyoming are among the grantees.
