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RAIL TRAFFIC – STILL NO RECESSION HERE 5 January 2012 by Cullen RocheRail traffic has remained a superb indicator over the course of the last 6 months and it’s been at least partially influential in my thinking that we were not headed for imminent recession (a call made 2 quarters ago). The latest data from the AAR continues to confirm this outlook. Year-end readings are always a bit bumpy due to the seasonal oddities that occur around the holidays and the new year, but the data is still telling a positive story. Via the AAR: “The Association of American Railroads...

New management at the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad could mean a more kid-friendly train. American Heritage Railways, which will begin running operations next year, owns the rights to both The Polar Express and The Little Engine That Could. “Events are very important to them,” said Randy Randall, Cumbres & Toltec’s commission chairman. “I think they’re going to be more creative in their approach to the railroad, but they’re also deeply committed to its historic components.” The switch was announced by train officials Thursday. For the past six years, the more-than-a-century-old railroad running between Chama and Antonito, Colo., has been...

Beijing - A passenger was beaten to death by staff on a train in eastern China, state media reported, dealing a fresh blow to the rail industry's reputation following a fatal crash in July. Three train staff seized the middle-aged man by the throat and savagely beat him after he intervened in an argument involving another passenger, Jiangxi Television, a local station, reported on Monday. Doctors were summoned from an emergency centre near the station in Jiangxi province where the train stopped, but the man died before they arrived, the report said, citing witnesses and the hospital. The television report...

Richard Steinheimer, a master of railroad photography whose poetic images documented a half-century of trains and the landscape of the American West, has died. He was 81. Steinheimer died May 4 at his Sacramento home of Alzheimer's disease, said his wife, Shirley Burman. RELATED Photos: Richard Steinheimer, 1929-2011 "He was certainly one of the greats," said John Gruber, founder and president of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art in Madison, Wis. "He did very unusual and creative work and inspired a lot of other photographers." From the early 1950s until he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2000, Steinheimer was...

It took about two weeks for the Confederates to capture the Union spies. Some of them made it as far as Bridgeport, Alabama.

One week til it opens. Anticipation High. Atlas Shrugged Site IMDb Site Rotten Tomatoes Site -- wow, right now a whopping 82?? First of 3 in series if box office is good. DO read the book if you have not done so. It is long but doable in a week. Get paperback at local Bookstore etc. Understand most libraries have waiting lists

I would never want to suggest that someone in government is playing fast and loose with the figures. But when it comes to the Georgia Department of Transportation’s estimate that between 2.6 and 4 million people per year will ride some part of the proposed high-speed rail line between Chattanooga and Dalton, that is exactly what I am suggesting. And, unfortunately, it is the state’s release of figures like these that prevent us from having a real debate on whether this rail line is even needed. But first, let’s look at the numbers. According to Amtrak, about 28.7 million riders...

The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) has turned to antique rolling stock to boost resources battling the snow and to clear a stretch of track in southern Sweden, according to a report by Sveriges Television (SVT). The trains, old DA locomotives normally resident in the Swedish Railway Museum in Gävle in northern Sweden, have been dusted off and put back into service to clear the tracks of snow between Mjölby and Alvesta in southern Sweden. Furthermore a 100-year-old snowplough is in place alongside the tracks in nearby Nässjö, ready to be called into action if needed. "These are made of stern...

Gov.-elect Scott Walker, hoarse from his election night celebration, was optimistic on Wednesday that Wisconsin’s high-speed rail project could be stopped and that highway construction projects will move forward under his administration. Just days before the election, state and federal administrators quietly signed a deal committing the state to spending all $810 million in federal stimulus money earmarked for the state to use on the Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail line. While at first blush it would seem the signed commitments would end the discussion, Walker said that may not be the case. “I believe there are a couple of legal options...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WDTN) - In his first news conference as governor elect, John Kasich de-railed plans for high speed trains connecting Dayton to the rest of the state. In a press conference with reporters from around the state, Kasich outlined his priorities for taking Ohio into the future. "My message today is to get jobs going in this state," said Kasich. Political analysts said the economy is what helped Kasich win the election, now he wants the economy to win for Ohio. "We have to become competitive. We've got to show the people of this state that we can manage...

"Fact Finder: Amtrak launching big security initiative this week, 'will be noticeable'" October 05, 2010 1:05 PM Chris White SNIPPET: "Amtrak is launching a big security exercise this week that will involve all levels of law enforcement and be noticeable when and where it happens, according to a company spokesman. Though light on the specifics for security reasons, CBS 6 learned from Amtrak Media Relations Director Steve Kulm Tuesday morning about the initiative called Operation RailSafe."

Over the howls of historians, Union Pacific plans to demolish an 1874 cavernous brick warehouse in West Oakland that is one of the last remnants of the transcontinental railroad. Designed for train repair, the towering structure was erected on the heels of the transcontinental railroad's arrival in Oakland, in the days when West Oakland was a national industrial center. "It tells the story of when railroads were the pioneer industry in California, and this was the center of it," said architect Randy Ruiz, one of 30 visitors Union Pacific allowed to tour the building recently. "It represents that can-do American...

Cincinnati Dinner Train offers a fun, nostalgic dining experience For me, “dinner train” conjures visions of the Orient Express: mustachioed men in spats smoking cigars and drinking cognac and quietly efficient, uniformed waiters serving caviar on mother-of-pearl spoons to women dripping with diamonds... Yes, I have an overactive imagination. But when I first heard about the Cincinnati Dinner Train, I immediately started searching for my cummerbund. Our Saturday night date begins surprisingly early. Our food will be prepared in BBQ Revue’s kitchen and loaded onto the train just before departure, so we have to order entrées and desserts for our...

For long-buried Irish railroad workers, the story of DuffyÂ’s Cut is finally beng told. Missing molar gives clue. In late April 1832, a ship carrying laborer John Ruddy rounded the Irish headlands and plowed west across the Atlantic. Ruddy, 18 and poor, was sailing for Philadelphia with dreams of a better life. By August, his body lay buried near the new railroad he'd been building in Chester County. His skull, unearthed last year, had been crushed, as if someone had smashed it with a blunt instrument or projectile. That's the way Dr. Matthew Patterson sees it. Patterson is a Lancaster...

After Several Months Of Gains, Rail Traffic Softens In May Calculated Risk Jun. 7, 2010, 5:00 PM From the Association of American Railroads: Rail Time Indicators. The AAR reports traffic in May 2010 was up 15.8% compared to May 2009 - and traffic was still 11.8% lower than in May 2008. Image: AAR Click on graph for larger image in new window. This graph shows U.S. average weekly rail carloads. Traffic increased in 18 of 19 major commodity categories YoY. From AAR: • U.S. freight railroads originated 1,153,675 carloads in May 2010, an average of 288,419 carloads per week. That’s...

Europe’s first privately owned high-speed train operator will launch services in September next year in a “historic event” for Italy’s rail system, the company’s chairman has announced. Italy’s NTV will launch its services between Rome and Milan before gradually introducing services on all its routes, which stretch from Salerno in southern Italy to Venice and Turin in the north, by the summer of 2012. NTV will also be the first operator of Alstom’s new AGV train, the French company’s successor to its TGV high-speed train design. The first of 25 Italos – as NTV calls its version of the train...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a major victory for organized labor, unions will have an easier time signing up airline and railroad workers after the Obama administration Monday changed a 76-year-old rule on union elections. The change is the most significant so far in a string of White House moves designed to boost unions, which are struggling to reverse years of decline in membership. The new rule, announced by the three-member National Mediation Board, would recognize a union if a simple majority of workers who cast ballots approve organizing. The previous rule required a majority of the entire work force to...

NEAR KERMIT, W.Va. Floodlights glared deep in a century-old tunnel under an Appalachian hillside. An excavator poked at the arched ceiling like a pterodactyl. Chunks of sandstone shattered and fell thunderously into an empty rail car. Work has gone on like this for nearly a year. Crews begin at 2 a.m. and call it a day about noon. In late March, they still were a few hundred feet from the south end of Norfolk Southern’s Big Sandy 1, a 2,627-foot railroad tunnel burrowed through a hill that sits along the Big Sandy River separating West Virginia from Kentucky. Their task:...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In many states, travelers who take Amtrak's long-distance trains for vacations or out-of-state business trips board in the middle of the night and return home from such cities as Chicago or New York City at times that are just as inconvenient. But some improvements are on the way. Amtrak, the country's only major passenger train system, is re-examining timetables and finding other ways to improve its 15 national routes to bring in more riders and revenue. Among those under review are two routes that dip into Ohio and are practically hidden at night, their trains passing through...

U.S. Rail Traffic Hits A Speed Bump Vincent Fernando, CFA Apr. 12, 2010, 12:23 AM U.S. rail traffic just slipped, with year over year growth slowing. Weaker traffic in coal, grain, construction materials, vehicles, and metal products were to blame. Journal of Commerce: For just the largest U.S.-owned railroads, new intermodal shipments fell to 196,257 loads last week from 210,914 a week earlier and were the lowest since Feb. 13. Rail freight traffic has maintained most of its recent strength, especially in carloads of bulk materials and equipment. Yet carloadings also slowed some for the North American majors, to 372,270...

WASHINGTON-The world is in the passing lane of transportation infrastructure spending and innovation while the United States is on the shoulder, with a broken axle in the breakdown lane. Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, wants to change America's gears. On the heels of historic health care reform, Oberstar is imploring the nation to reach deep into its pockets for a six-year, $450 million surface transportation bill (with another $100 million for mass transit) and said he is "open to all ideas" on how to pay for it-except one. "I'm open to all...

A couple of weeks ago we took our annual trip on Amtrak with Dave Zweifel, editor emeritus of the Capital Times in Madison. We usually plan our junket in late January or early February, depending on schedules, etc., but always about the time the winter season seems to be getting a little long. After considering various options, we decided on a trip to Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash., before heading back home. This time we did things a bit differently, combining a flight and travel on Amtrak. Usually we are gone one night on the train, spend one or two...

Home > News ShareThis Print this Page [Back to Site View] Federal Bill Would Regulate Most National Railroad Rates Posted Friday, January 1, 2010 ; 06:00 AM | View Comments | Post Comment A bill sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller seek to overhaul the railroad industry. Story by Walt Williams Email | Other Stories by Walt Williams With only a handful of companies owning most of the nation's railways, federal lawmakers want to rewrite industry regulations to give shippers more say over the rates they're charged for using those lines. The Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act would be the most...

Florida is right now at the vanguard of a new railroad project that could bring good news to those that care about solving bloated state budgets, common sense employment laws, and cutting the corruption that comes with unions by pushing for a non-union workforce with its proposed intrastate rail system. And the unions are incensed, naturally... Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway upped its stake in Burlington Northern yesterday, paying about $26 billion for the rest of the big railway system. Is the purchase all about playing with trains? Not really. Buffett said it's a bet on the U.S. economic recovery, that moving goods around will surge when things pick-up again. It's also seen by some as a big bet on coal. B&N's system goes through Wyoming's Powder River Basin, which is the primary source for a lot of the low-sulfur coal many U.S. power plants rely on these days to keep down their emissions (including the W.A....

You might think that Warren Buffett's $34 billion bid for the rest of Burlington Northern Santa Fe ( BNI - news - people ) is the most eye-catching investment decision of the day. While the Oracle of Omaha's bullish bet on America is hardly insignificant, I would like to direct your attention half a world away and ostensibly in a different investment medium: spot gold. India's central bank bulked up that nation's gold reserves by 55% with the purchase of $6.7 billion worth of gold from the International Monetary Fund, which is selling gold reserves to raise funds for lending...

U.S. rail hauls of metal cargoes reach highest level yet in 2009 A traffic recovery for large U.S. railroads picked up steam in the week ending Aug. 1, adding to signs that freight demand may be on a sustained climb from recession lows. The Class I carriers and a few regionals that report to the Association of American Railroads said their U.S. operations carried 274,728 bulk carloads, up nearly 800 from a week earlier. Train hauls of intermodal boxes, containers and trailers combined, hit 193,332 units for a gain of about 350. From the same week in 2008, carloads were...

The Government has nationalised the East Coast main line after stripping National Express, the troubled bus and rail operator, of the franchise. Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, said he had been forced into the drastic move to "ensure continuity of service to passengers, with no disruption or diminution of service standards". The struggling transport group reported on Wednesday that Richard Bowker, its chief executive, had quit and it warned on profits in a trading update. Lord Adonis, speaking on the BBC Today programme said: "I am simply not prepared to bail out companies that are unable to fulfil their commitments....

The odds that the federal government will ever get its hooks out of Chrysler or General Motors are slim to none, regardless what President Obama says. Why? In one word, Amtrak. There are reasons why Chrysler and General Motors are failing, and they have nothing to do with hard luck. Both companies are top-heavy, paying more for union labor (and retirees) than their competitors and, since the 1970s, have turned out cars that consumers want in dwindling numbers. The Big Three (that includes Ford) have higher costs and have gotten an image as lower quality than some foreign competitors. Toyota...

Book a train from Washington, D.C., to Chicago, and you’re in for a ride that takes 17 hours, 35 minutes. Given the choice between that and a two-hour plane trip, it’s little wonder that most Washingtonians prefer to fly, despite the security searches and the long lines at Reagan National. It is also little wonder that some airlines still make money, whereas Amtrak, America’s near-monopoly provider of inter-city passenger rail service, requires huge annual subsidies. But what if inter-city train service became much faster? President Obama wants to offer Americans such an option, and to that end he has promised...

Other than that Christmas Eve flight hauling gifts around the globe, perhaps there's no run more anticipated these days than the one set to start about two weeks from today. "This is the hottest ticket in town for the holidays, buddy," Lawrence Rael of the Mid-Region Council of Governments said. "Even Santa wants a ride." Mark your calendars: The Rail Runner Express commuter train's inaugural public run into Santa Fe is tentatively set to take place Friday, Dec. 12, with Wednesday, Dec. 17, expected to be the actual start of scheduled commuter service to and from the capital city. Thus...

One has to wonder what the DHS has been doing for the past 7 years. http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20200234&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Corp. is taking a different approach to the government. For years, the railroad industry wanted to keep government out of its affairs. But an increase in advertising by CSX (NYSE: CSX) and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) is an attempt to make voters and policymakers aware of rail’s benefits, said Anthony Hatch, a New York City-based transportation analyst. “The industry had been going through the pains of deregulation and was trying to do as much as they could to be ignored by the government,” he said. “That began to change over the past decade as railroads...

History tends to repeat itself in more ways than one. Wichita Falls historian and author Steve Goen has again been asked to give a presentation at George Bush Presidential Library and Museum at the Texas A&M campus at College Station Nov. 22. This will be his second appearance at the library. Goen’s presentation, “The Katy Railroad — Our State’s Original Trans-Texas Corridor,” will showcase the evolution of transportation along the Blackland Prairie in Central Texas. “Gov. Rick Perry and politicians in Austin are pushing for a superhighway with a railroad running through it,” Goen said. “There’s a lot of resistance...

3rd Suspect Nabbed in Subway Terror Plot By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago The investigation into an alleged plot to bomb the city's subway moved forward on several fronts Friday as a third suspect was arrested in Iraq and authorities looked into whether a fourth person had traveled to New York as part of the scheme, officials said. A law enforcement official familiar with the case said the man's trip to New York was described by an informant who had spent time in Afghanistan and proved reliable in past investigations. "He's been a source of multiple correct...

COLFAX, Calif. -- A train carrying non-hazardous chemicals derailed in northeast California and was partially suspended over a steep cliff Sunday night. One of the train's 73 cars hung over a drop known as China Wall in a rural area away from people and homes, said Placer County Sheriff's Captain Rick Armstrong. No one was injured and authorities said the rail car was not in danger of falling. One of the six cars that derailed contained non-hazardous byproducts and two were carrying an ammonia sulfate powder that is not dangerous by itself, Armstrong said. The Burlington Northern & Santa...

CRESCENT CITY, Fla. (April 20, 2002 7:34 p.m. EDT) - Investigators said Saturday that two Amtrak engineers and a conductor hit the emergency brakes just seconds before a train derailment that left four people dead and more than 150 injured. The lead engineer of the Amtrak Auto Train told the National Transportation Safety Board that he saw a disjointed track about an hour into a trip from Sanford to Lorton, Va., and slammed on the engine's brake. Seconds later, a backup engineer in the locomotive cab and a conductor two cars back felt the train hit the disjointed track and...

Local report just heard on the top of the hour update.Anomaly: 1. Deviation from the normal or common form or rule. (syn anomalousness)2. A person who is unusual (syn. unusual person) Source-Word Net 1.6 1997 Princeton University

Click on the link to view the Beijing to Tianjin High Speed Rail link The Chinese are really up to something.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2008 – Union Pacific is a company that is proud of its strong ties with the military. Hundreds of thousands of Civil War veterans helped build the first transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, which was considered vital to national defense. During World War I and II, the railroad canteen in North Platte, Neb., was a resting place for many troops on their way overseas. Union Pacific’s partnership with the military continues today and, in some respects, is stronger than ever, said Roy Schroer, assistant vice president of human resources. Of the company’s more than 50,000 employees, more...

Melanie Allen has been "scared to death" this week knowing her son was scheduled to begin a risky escape from the country of Georgia, where Russian troops are poised for further invasion. Lee Allen, 34, and his Georgian wife, Tiko, were to have become part of a caravan fleeing the war-torn country. It may be days before Melanie Allen learns if the couple made it out safely. She was at her Ocean Springs home Tuesday night with friends who are supporting her. -----snip On Monday, four days into the fighting as Russia seized several towns and a military base deep...

"...Bombardier's team was stumped. Europe is a mishmash of disparate rail systems that predate the European Union, back when governments banked on the incongruity "to protect themselves from invading armies and competition from foreign industries," says Oliver Sellnick, director at the International Union of Railways in Paris. While the European Union has managed to unify most of the continent on everything from a common currency to farm policy, combining railroads hasn't been easy. Traveling by train from one country to another has long required coordination with multiple national railways. Drivers and locomotives, for instance, are changed at the borders for...

WASHINGTON — This is not your economy. It's not even your parents' economy. To a surprising degree, this is your great-grandparents' economy. Quietly, while attention has focused on the technology, finance and service sectors, businesses that stood astride 19th century industrial America but then collapsed have been resurrected to meet the needs of a feverishly industrializing world. In the process, much of what Americans think they know about their economy is being upended. Steel makers, railroads, mining concerns and agriculture, long considered part of a fading past, suddenly have bright futures. And segments of the economy long lauded as the...

Want to invest in a green industry that employs the latest technology, reduces U.S. oil consumption and is priced very attractively? Look no further than the railroads. Laggards for decades after the 19th-century boom ended, they're hot again. "There was steady traffic growth until last year, and the trend looks good once the economy gets back up to speed," says Kenneth Kremar, an economist who follows the railroad industry for consulting firm Global Insight. Perhaps that's why railroad stocks have largely escaped the battering that other sectors have taken so far this year. Of course, their business could still be...

Germany has come up with the funds to launch its first magnetic levitation - or maglev - rail service. The state of Bavaria is to build the high-speed railway line from Munich city centre to its airport, making it Europe's first commercial track.

The state faces "a perfect storm" as far as paying for transportation infrastructure is concerned... With that in mind, it only makes sense for the state to divert scarce transportation dollars from the proposed Rail Runner extension to Santa Fe and plow those dollars into road construction and maintenance. [While] Rail Runner's projected total cost is $400 million, those costs are not evenly-distributed. Phase I of the project from Belen to Bernalillo, which is now in service, cost $135 million. The Bernalillo-Belen segment of the proposed RailRunner route is approximately 51 miles long— more than half of the system's proposed...

Eurostar has set a record on its inaugural journey from Paris to London via a new high-speed line in Britain. The train, carrying journalists and VIPs, arrived at St Pancras, instead of Waterloo, for the first time. It took two hours, three minutes, 39 seconds.

Congo train crash kills at least 100: government By Joe Bavier A train crash in a remote part of Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 100 people and injured more than 200, the central African country's minister of information said on Thursday. "We are still discovering the dead. So right now we are putting the death toll at about 100," Toussaint Tshilombo told Reuters, adding that the cause of the crash was still unknown. "It happened late last night, so we haven't had time to look into how it occurred. But we are sending a team tomorrow, and we...

Switzerland has opened the world's longest rail tunnel on land - the 34-kilometre (21-mile) Loetschberg tunnel under the Alps. It will cut the journey time between Germany and Italy by at least a third.

WASHINGTON - The Capitol Limited, an Amtrak train from Chicago, is scheduled to arrive in Washington every day at 1:30 p.m. But frequent rider Edda Ramos knows better than to make plans for the afternoon or evening. She knows a late arrival — sometimes by an hour or two, sometimes by seven or eight — "is the one thing you can count on." The 764-mile route is among Amtrak's most dismal performers, with just 11 percent of trains arriving within 30 minutes of their scheduled time last year. But the problem exists to one degree or another on the majority...