Rail News

A late-year need to refill store shelves and replenish other stocks after a “historic inventory drawdown” helped boost intermodal traffic in the fourth quarter and push domestic volume sli

The return of growth in freight shipments this year may erase the surplus of trucks this summer and push more business to combined rail-truck intermodal shipments, the Intermodal Association of North

In the midst of a massive contraction for the North American freight car industry, equipment builder American Railcar Industries said it has formed a joint venture with US Railcar to produce self-prop

Major U.S.-owned railroads saw their originations of bulk commodity and equipment traffic fall more than 20,000 carloads from the end of January to mid-February, a time when powerful winter storms hit

Rail equipment supplier FreightCar America posted a $5.6 million fourth quarter loss as it said sales of railroad cars fell “significantly” – by 82 percent to $49.4 million.

Railroad projects in seven states were the top winners Wednesday when the Department of Transportation announced recipients of $1.5 billion in TIGER grants.

Railcar manufacturer and car fleet manager Greenbrier said it is processing car hire and repair payments for RailAmerica, the owner of 39 regional and short line railroads.

Two well-known U.S. suppliers of rail equipment will merge, as L.B. Foster said it has made a cash offer to buy outstanding shares of Portec Rail Products for $11.71 each.

Intermodal service provider Pacer International posted a $10 million profit for the fourth-quarter in which it renegotiated a long-term contract with Union Pacific Railroad, up from a $64 million loss

The acquisition of BNSF Railway by investment firm Berkshire Hathaway may determine how major freight companies talk to their marketplace for years to come.

All across North America, freight railcars that were parked when the economy was in a tailspin are slowly coming back on line. But the rebound will be nowhere near as fast as the collapse.

BNSF Railway officially became part of Berkshire Hathaway Feb.

The purchase of BNSF Railway by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway will free up the railroad’s executives to focus more on developing rail assets for the long term, said BNSF Chairman, Pr

Stockholders of the corporation that owns BNSF Railway, North America’s second-largest railroad, approved the $26 billion bid from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to buy the 77 percent

The two major eastern-U.S. railroads – CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway – were starting to dig out late on Feb. 10 and on Feb.

Two European intermodal operators said they will jointly develop a multimodal route on a corridor linking Antwerp with Germany, Austria, southeast Europe and Turkey.

The strong winter storms hitting the country this winter are sharply cutting stockpiles of coal held by electrical utilities, said Matthew K.

The international part of the U.S. intermodal market will be “weak” for most of 2010 because U.S.

BNSF Railway could become a wholly owned unit of investment firm Berkshire Hathaway this week if shareholders vote as expected Thursday to approve Berkshire’s $26 billion stock purchase.

This week’s severe winter storms prompted CSX Transportation to invoke the force majeure clause, for events outside its control, for service commitments on its important coal and automobile traf

Intermodal traffic on the BNSF Railway declined by double digits during last year's economic recession, but it is still one of the most important business units for the western railroad.

Norfolk Southern Railway lifted its force majeure service declaration early on Feb. 9 for traffic moving through eastern-U.S. areas hit hard by the huge weekend snowstorm.

Kombiverkehr, Europe’s biggest intermodal transport operator, said traffic fell a less-than-expected 16 percent in 2009 from a year ago as demand started to grow again in the final quarter of th

Canadian National Railway plans to invest about $94 million to develop a logistics park northeast of Calgary, Alberta, and transfer into it most of the operations now at its southeast Calgary rail yar

Before a powerful series of winter storms began to strike early this month, major U.S. railroads enjoyed their strongest traffic in many weeks as January ended.

U.S. freight shippers sent their highest shares yet by intermodal combination moves in the 2009 fourth quarter, compared with using trucks only, said transportation consultants FTR Associates.

Three days after a massive winter storm struck the mid-Atlantic region, freight transportation systems were still trying to recover to normal operating levels.

It took nearly a year and a stubbornly high unemployment rate before the Obama administration recast its long-awaited $8 billion in rail system grants as part of a jobs strategy.

Major North American railroads are in good shape to take advantage of a 2010 economic recovery.

U.S. Magnesium will recoup up to $1 million over five years under a Surface Transportation Board ruling that Union Pacific Railroad charged the chlorine shipper “unreasonably high” rates.

Small railroads saw their traffic strengthen steadily in recent weeks, as manufacturers used them to bring in metal ores and haul away factory products.

Credit evaluator Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its long-term ratings on debt issued by BNSF Railway, and said after acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway the railroad should keep generatin

The Surface Transportation Board’s decision to order freight rate repayments by Union Pacific Railroad to U.S.

The Surface Transportation Board, in a split decision, ruled that Union Pacific Railroad charged “unreasonably high” rates to chlorine shipper U.S.

President Obama’s budget proposes to have the Federal Railroad Administration start charging for some of its safety inspection services, to bring in $50 million in fee income during the fiscal y

Hub Group profit dropped 42 percent in 2009 to $34.3 million as the recession cut deeply into intermodal volume. Revenue was down 19 percent for the year to $1.5 billion.

The Fed’s latest “Beige Book” survey, conducted by the economics staff of its 12 district reserve banks, said five regional reports show freight transportation was either “up s

Top railroad executives are throwing down the gauntlet, serving notice to Congress and freight shippers they will push back hard against efforts to tighten rail regulations.

Railroads are hoping winter storms are the main reason freight traffic has slowed since November, but there are growing concerns that a new chill may have taken hold of the broader recovery.