Trains November 2021

I have lived through multiple theories on mainline freight train length and frequency. Railroads of my youth lauded the short, fast, frequent model (Rio Grande). But few practiced it with regularity. In fact, some tried their best to see how many cars one train could carry (Norfolk & Western). Unit trains of one commodity have been the standard for decades. Today, as Bill Stephens explains on pages 34-41, long trains are the norm on Class I railroads, and even Precision Scheduled Railroading holdout BNSF Railway, has increased train lengths by combining unit trains and manifests. What’s the ideal train length? Long enough to operate safely and efficiently while serving the customer in a timely manner. It’s that simple. jwrinn@kalmbach.com @TrainsMagazine @trains_magazine…

THE KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN merger saga took a dramatic twist on Aug. 31 when federal regulators denied Canadian National’s request to put KCS into a voting trust. The decision almost certainly dealt a fatal blow to the $33.6 billion CN-KCS combination, and prompted KCS to revive talks with its previous merger partner, Canadian Pacific. The Surface Transportation Board said CN and KCS adequately explained how the voting trust would insulate KCS from unlawful control by CN while the merger is under regulatory review. “But the Board finds that the proposed use of a voting trust, in the context of their impending control application, would not be consistent with the public interest,” the STB said in a unanimous, 33-page decision. Placing KCS into a voting trust — a key first step in the…

WABTEC HAS COMPLETED its milestone 1,000th remanufactured locomotive since beginning the rebuild program in 2015 at plants in Fort Worth, Texas; Erie, Pa.; and Contagem, Brazil. Norfolk Southern has received 500 of the locomotives since contracting with Wabtec to take 1990s-vintage, 4,000-hp, D.C.-traction GE Dash-9 locomotives and rebuild them into 4,400-hp, A.C.-traction AC44C6M units. That includes the 1,000th unit, No. 4463, unveiled at Fort Worth. “Our modernization program breathes new life and technological advancements into customers’ aging locomotives, while also reducing a railroad’s operating costs and carbon footprint,” says Pascal Schweitzer, president of Wabtec Freight Services. Finished units increase tractive effort by 50% with the switch to A.C. traction, improvements in truck design, an 11-ton weight increase, and new standardized control systems across all units. This allows Norfolk Southern to assign two…

BRIGHTLINE, which suspended operations in South Florida in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, plans to resume operations in the first half of November. The company will begin offering door-to-door service, with an app allowing passengers to get rides to and from stations via company-owned vehicles. The return date was dictated in part by the decision by Brightline and FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY to switch to a different form of positive train control; certification for that system was still in progress as of August. Trains: David Lassen A late flurry of comments to beat an Aug. 27 SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD deadline found the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, CANADIAN PACIFIC, and Vermont officials among those objecting to the proposed CSX TRANSPORTATION acquisition of PAN AM RAILWAYS, citing loss of competition from…

The Surface Transportation Board took 33 pages to explain why it rejected Canadian National’s request to put Kansas City Southern into a voting trust while their proposed merger would be placed under the regulatory microscope. Buried on Page 31 of the board’s Aug. 31 decision is a 105-word passage that — aside from a Canadian Pacific-KCS merger — slams the door shut on future Class I combinations. Yes, in just three sentences, the board explained why we’ll never see a transcontinental merger under the current review rules: “Neither Applicants nor the Board can perfectly predict future strategic responses to a CN-KCS transaction. However, a simple geographic analysis of the rail network would suggest that a carrier in CP’s position, i.e., one that would be the smallest carrier by far after a CN-KCS…

Generating reader response is a mark of successful writing. Every so often I choose a risky topic, something that might be dismissed or ignored. Such was the case with my June 2021 topic “Reading about the Reading.” Yet, nothing I’ve composed to date in Trains or anywhere else has generated a greater reader reaction. I’ve received dozens of letters and emails, most endorsing my choice of subject, some including personal recollections of the Reading Co., and many identifying the mystery location of my dad’s black-and-white photo, exposed more than a half-century ago. The consensus is that the train was westbound on Reading’s Bethlehem Branch about to cross West 3rd Street in Bethlehem, Pa. The location is much changed, the line abandoned (now a trail), with many buildings torn down. Curiosity of…