Trains August 2021

jwrinn@kalmbach.com @TrainsMagazine @trains_magazine With this issue we continue our look at railroading in the 50 states. Our focus this month is Minnesota, coordinated by author and photographer Steve Glischinski, a native son who has been documenting North Star rails for most of his life. Steve’s enthusiasm for and knowledge of the subject are reasons why this issue will surprise and delight you, whether you live in the North Star State, visit it, or have never been. We also have commissioned a companion DVD, Minnesota Railroads, which is available for purchase now at kalmbachhobbystore.com. In this issue and the video, you’ll learn about the main lines, short lines, Amtrak routes, commuter lines, tourist trains, and great museums that abound in Minnesota. It’s great railroading!…

CANADIAN PACIFIC WAS JILTED at the altar when Kansas City Southern on May 21 selected Canadian National as its partner in a $33.6 billion merger to create the first railroad linking Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. KCS said CN’s offer was the best for its shareholders, customers, and employees. “This transaction is directed at growth through improved service, faster transit times, shorter and more consistent routes, technological innovation, and providing customers with more choices, including new and expanded single-line routes for rail customers that are more competitive with truck, barge, and other rail routes,” KCS CEO Pat Ottensmeyer says. “Improved service will beget growth.” CN CEO JJ Ruest says the end-to-end merger will boost rail competition, take trucks off the highway, and benefit customers in all three nations. “We are very excited…

THE BIG PRIZE in a Canadian National-Kansas City Southern merger is connecting Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. But the combined CN-KCS route to Kansas City would receive the largest single merger-related investment to tie the networks together. CN would spend $250 million to create the Springfield Speedway, a new single-line route linking Kansas City with Detroit and Eastern Canada via the Illinois capital. The funding would beef up CN’s 112-mile former Illinois Central Gilman Subdivision from Gilman, Ill., to Springfield and KCS’s 288-mile former Gateway Western line from Springfield to Kansas City. CN’s Gilman Sub is a 60-mph route with islands of centralized traffic control, while the KCS line is 40-mph dark territory with a saw-tooth profile and short passing sidings. The upgrade rationale: connecting Kansas City to Eastern Canada and its…

WABTEC says it will sell its next generation of battery-electric locomotives, which will reduce fuel use and emissions of a locomotive consist by 30%. Tests of its first FLXdrive locomotive on BNSF RAILWAY in California brought fuel savings of 11%. Trains: David Lassen The SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD rejected the CSX application to acquire PAN AM RAILWAYS as incomplete, noting particular shortcomings in its analysis of competitive impacts, among other flaws. CSX said it would refile and address the STB’s concerns.…

briansolomon.author@gmail.com @briansolomon.author Blog: briansolomon.com/trackingthelight/ Podcast: Trains.com In a discussion with a planning professional, I described railroading as a huge moving puzzle, where the pieces long ago had settled into their respective places. When you move one piece it causes unpredictable knock-on effects. He replied jokingly, “Didn’t you just describe chaos theory?” Track and supporting infrastructure is a large piece of the puzzle. Track, although crucial, constrains railroad flexibility because of its comparatively high cost of construction and maintenance. In its Golden Age (before the ascendance of highway transport), the American railroad was a versatile network with myriad routes — lines that offered flexibility for carrying the nation’s intercity freight and passengers. It’s amazing to study the array of main lines, secondary routes, passing tracks, yards, industrial sidings and other trackage that comprised the national network a…

bybillstephens@gmail.com @bybillstephens Blog: Trains.com Intermodal is having a moment in the sun thanks to the impact of the pandemic. Consumers are buying goods faster than retailers can refill their shelves and warehouses, so imports are surging and ports are clogged. Parcel shipments are soaring as a decade’s worth of e-commerce growth was crammed into the past year. U.S. intermodal volume set a record for January through May, and railroads have struggled to handle the onslaught of containers and trailers. This is a good problem to have. But sooner or later things will settle into a new normal. What then? Intermodal growth was slowing before volume peaked in 2018. The U.S. Class I systems have pruned interline service since then, dropping steel-wheel connections between hundreds of city pairs in the name of simplicity. Today’s North American…