North-American rail

ACF Industries has reopened its rail car manufacturing plant in Milton, Pa., after it was closed in 2009 because of declining sales.

Textainer Group Holdings and Trifleet Leasing have signed an agreement under which Textainer will invest in new intermodal tank carriers to be managed by Trifleet, marking Textainer’s entry into the tank container market.

Watco Companies has named Matt McKenzie as executive vice president and CFO.

Union Pacific Railroad has started work on a $20 million project that will improve the rail line between Chester and near Scott City, Mo.

Westport Innovations has received an order for four liquefied natural gas tenders from Canadian National Railway.

A new intermodal terminal in Perron Industrial Park in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, is moving forward, following a groundbreaking ceremony.

Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway, based in Star, N.C., is in the process of developing a multimodal facility and business park in Midland, N.C., according to Cabarrus Economic Development.

Norfolk Southern is rerouting shipments that normally move through Hannibal, Mo., as rising Mississippi River levels have impacted bridge and main line operations in that area.

Canada’s House of Commons is set to vote this afternoon on a bill requiring service contracts between railroads and their customers.

Canadian National Railway is accelerating work on the $33 million upgrade of its Whitehall Subdivision in Wisconsin, which will increase car loading capacity and train velocity for the frac sand supply chains of...

A CSX freight train derailed this afternoon in the White Marsh, Md., area in Baltimore County, sparking a fire and causing buildings to collapse, Reuters reports.

Norfolk Southern has unveiled its new $5.9 million Thoroughbred Bulk Transfer terminal in Knoxville, Tenn., which will allow customers to transfer a large array of commodities between railcars and trucks.

Genesis Energy will expand its rail terminal in Natchez, Miss., and construct a new unit train loading facility in Wyoming in the Powder River Basin of the Niobrara shale play.

Anyone with doubts of the U.S. Class I railroad industry’s pricing power and improved efficiency, should look at the major carriers’ first quarter financials.

Effective May 13, Norfolk Southern’s Memphis Regional Intermodal Facility in Rossville, Tenn., will be going live with its Automated Gate System.

Norfolk Southern today announced six senior management appointments, according to Wick Moorman, chairman and CEO of the Class I railroad...

Florida East Coast Railway reported profit in the first quarter of 2013 was $4.2 million, compared with a net loss of $4.5 million in the same quarter last year.

Following a higher than expected 2013 cash flow projection, Canadian Pacific will move some capital spending projects originally planned for 2014 into this year.

Trinity Industries has teamed up with Napier Park Railcar Lease Fund and an additional co-investor, who also invested in the Napier Park Fund, to create RIV 2013 Rail Holdings...

Textainer Group Holdings today reported its net income in the first quarter of 2013 was $49.8 million, inching up 0.7 percent from $49.5 million in the first quarter of 2012.

As conditions along the Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri and Wabash rivers have improved, following flooding in the Midwest, Norfolk Southern has recommenced operations on some of the impacted routes.

Kansas City Southern has named Darin P. Selby its new vice president of energy markets and short line partner relations.

FreightCar America reported a net loss of $2.6 million in the first quarter of 2013, compared with a net profit of $9.7 million in the first quarter of 2012.

Canadian Pacific and Canadian National have been monitoring Saskatchewan, preparing to defend its infrastructure against flood waters as snow melts, Saskatchewan News reports.

American Railcar Industries reported profit in the first quarter of 2013 was $17.9 million, increasing 49.4 percent from $12.0 million in the first quarter of 2012.

GATX reported net income in the first quarter of 2013 was $27.1 million, falling 10.5 percent from $30.3 million in the first quarter of 2012.

In response to ongoing flooding along the Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri and Wabash rivers and tributaries, as well as bridge and mainline closures at Hannibal, Mo., and Naples, Ill., Norfolk Southern has been...

Canadian Pacific Railway today reported net income in the first quarter of 2013 was C$217 million (about US$211.5 million), a 51 percent jump from $138.4 million in the first quarter of 2012.

Norfolk Southern today reported first quarter profit of $450 million, rising 10 percent from $410 million in the first quarter of 2012.

Canadian National today reported net income in the first quarter of 2013 was C$555 million (about US$540.8 million), falling 28 percent from $755.2 million in the first quarter of 2012.

U.S. and Canadian intermodal growth accelerated in the first quarter at a 4.5 percent year-over-year clip, helping three publicly traded U.S.-based major railroads — CSX Transportation, Union Pacific Railroad and Kansas City Southern Railway— boost profit growth despite weak coal and grain traffic.

Kansas City Southern reported profit in the first quarter of 2013 was $103.7 million, jumping 38.5 percent from $74.9 million in the first quarter of 2012.

Union Pacific today reported its net income in the first quarter of 2013 was $957 million, rising 11 percent from $863 million in the first quarter of 2012.

CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway may be taking different tracks to lure more truckload freight to the rails, but the outcome for intermodal shippers will likely be the same: a greater opportunity to blunt higher trucking costs by using increasingly faster and more reliable train services.

CSX today reported net income in the first quarter of 2013 was $459 million, up 2 percent from $449 million in the same period last year.

Union Pacific has introduced an intermodal service between Barbours Cut Container Terminal in the Port of Houston and Dallas.

Kansas City Southern has partnered with CANACERO, the national chamber of the iron and steel industry in Mexico, to prepare for the growth of the Mexican steel industry and develop strategies for...

American Railcar Industries is opening a railcar maintenance facility in Brookhaven, Miss., in Lincoln County, expanding its presence in southwest Mississippi, according to Mississippi’s Gov. Phil Bryant, local officials and ARI officials...

The Greenbrier Companies today reported net earnings in the second quarter of fiscal year 2013, ending Feb. 28, 2013, totaled totaled $13.8 million, jumping 33 percent compared with $10.4 million in the previous quarter.