Transit Briefs: MBTA, Ontario’s Northlander
The MBTA announced that more than 17,450 Boston Stadium Train mTickets were sold across the first five 2026 World Cup matches, shattering previous special‑event ticket records. In the first hour alone, nearly 11,000 round‑trip tickets were purchased, and 6,200 tickets have already been sold for the Haiti‑Scotland match. To accommodate the surge, the agency will run 14 trains per match, moving up to 20,000 riders, and has invested $35 million in a Foxboro Station upgrade. Meanwhile, Ontario’s Northlander rail service is set to resume after a 14‑year hiatus, backed by a $70 billion CAD (≈$52 billion USD) public‑transit investment, with two trainsets completing extensive testing before a launch later this year.
People News: Caterpillar, GoRail
Caterpillar announced that CFO Andrew Bonfield will retire on Oct. 1, 2026 after eight years, with senior finance executive Kyle Epley slated to take over on May 1, 2026 and Bonfield moving into an advisory role. During Bonfield’s tenure, the company posted record full‑year...
SEPTA Releases Proposed FY27 Operating, Capital Budgets
SEPTA unveiled its FY27 operating and capital budget, featuring a $920.7 million capital plan that sits within a $16.3 billion, 12‑year program. The agency highlighted $30 million in annual savings that trimmed its structural deficit to $192 million, allowing a restart of bus‑fleet replacement...
BNSF, Metra Reach New Service Agreement
BNSF and Metra have signed a new five‑year service agreement that takes effect on April 1, 2026, with an automatic five‑year extension unless either party opts out. The deal keeps BNSF crews operating the historic Chicago‑Burlington‑Quincy line to Aurora seven days a...
Teamsters Rail Conference Occupies Wall Street
On April 7, senior leaders of the Teamsters’ Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWED) convened in New York with more than three dozen Wall Street analysts and investors, including UBS,...
R.J. Corman Debuts America 250 Locomotive Livery, Supports Wi-Tronix CRISI Grant Installations
R.J. Corman Railroad Group is introducing two GE Dash 8‑40CWs painted in a special America 250 livery to mark the United States’ 250‑year rail anniversary. The locomotives, numbered 1776 and 2026, will join the Nashville & Eastern Railroad fleet later this summer....
Reimagining Rail Growth
Rail traffic in the United States has been flat for over a decade, prompting Union Pacific to propose a merger with Norfolk Southern as a possible catalyst. Industry leaders argue that competition and service innovation, rather than consolidation, are the...
Transformation: A Unified Stucki Offers Customers Stronger End-to-End Experience
A. Stucki Company has consolidated its diverse brands into a single Stucki identity, aiming to deliver a seamless end‑to‑end rail component experience. The strategy includes the recent acquisition of Wheelworx, one of North America’s largest wheel reconditioning shops, expanding capacity...
MPA’s Contrecœur Terminal Project Advances
The Canada Infrastructure Bank approved a C$1.16 billion (≈$860 million) loan to the Montréal Port Authority to expand the Contrecœur container terminal, adding up to 1.15 million TEUs – roughly 60% of the port’s current volume. Québec and Transport Canada are contributing C$130 million...
Turning Finders Into Fixers: How Technology Is Advancing Rail
Norfolk Southern (NS) is deploying an AI‑driven digital inspection ecosystem that links its Digital Train Inspection portals, Wheel Integrity System scanners and Autonomous Track Geometry Measurement Systems. Over 85 AI models analyze roughly 1,000 images per railcar, enabling the network...
Adapting, Evolving to Serve a Changing Market
Greenbrier is accelerating vertical integration and footprint flexibility to counter pandemic‑era supply chain shocks. The company completed a new insourcing facility in ten months, boosting in‑house steel processing by 225% at its Mexico plant. Proximity to suppliers improved, with 52%...
Powering the North American Economy
Canadian National Railway (CN) highlighted its recent completion of a multi‑year investment cycle that added significant capacity at a lower cost per unit. The railway has focused on operational productivity, delivering faster, more resilient service as supply chains and trade...
Flexible, Agile, Growing—And Safe
BNSF highlighted a year of record operational gains, cutting railcar dwell time by three hours and delivering a 10% network velocity boost in 2025. The railroad added over 60,000 service days across 615 customer sites while maintaining its decade‑long safety...
Palmetto Railways Advances Camp Hall Industrial Project
Palmetto Railways, a South Carolina Department of Commerce short‑line, is nearing completion of a 23‑mile industrial rail corridor serving the 6,800‑acre Camp Hall Commerce Park. The $190 million project, 75% finished, will link Volvo Cars’ facility and other tenants to CSX...
2025 Snapshot
The American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association’s 2025 Snapshot shows short‑line carload volumes were essentially flat compared with 2024, staying within a 5% range. A modest net loss was driven by a dip in bridged movements, while originations and...
RBMN Hosting UP Big Boy 4014
The Reading & Northern Railroad (RBMN) will host Union Pacific’s famed Big Boy 4014 for a one‑way run from Nesquehoning to Pittston on June 14, 2026, as part of the locomotive’s eastern semiquincentennial tour. RBMN is also scheduling three steam‑powered...
People News: Stantec, RSI, Bohr Electronics, STV
Stantec appointed Arliss Szysky as Executive Vice President of its North American Infrastructure business, a unit that generates 26% of regional revenue. RSI announced an inclusive search for a new President following Jim Riley’s departure, with Ashley Shelton serving as...
William Strickland and the Foundation of U.S. Railroading
In 1826 William Strickland published a 51‑page report on British railway technology, priced at $10 (about $375 today). Fewer than 500 copies were printed, but 252 subscribers—including the U.S. Government—ordered 313 copies, spreading his findings across engineers, politicians, and military...
Rail Equipment Finance 2026: Let’s Get Back to ‘Business Being Business’
The 40th Rail Equipment Finance Conference convened over 460 executives in March 2026 to assess North American rail’s outlook. Speakers noted a modest decline of roughly 8,000 railcars and an aging fleet, while tank‑car maintenance costs and labor rates continue...
UP-NS Job Pledge Fragments Labor
Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are poised to merge, with the SMART‑TD union endorsing the deal in exchange for a loosely‑worded "no job losses" pledge. Other major rail unions, BLET and BMWE, oppose the merger, demanding concrete job‑protection terms. The...
TD Cowen 1Q26 Rail Preview, Quarterly Rail Survey, Railroad Roundtable (Updated)
TD Cowen revised its U.S. Class I rail outlook ahead of earnings, noting Q1 volumes up 0.8% driven by an 18.5% grain surge but offset by an 8.3% drop in forest products. Union Pacific outperformed expectations, benefitting from strong industrial...
Understanding VSR Wheel Failures
The Federal Railroad Administration’s multi‑phase research program is probing why vertical split rim (VSR) failures occur and how to prevent them. Early phases identified that wheel impact detectors alone cannot forecast VSRs, while advanced modeling revealed braking heat and rim...
Transit Briefs: Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, Front Range Passenger Rail
The LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, together with Ventura County and Santa Barbara officials, announced a new daily Amtrak Pacific Surfliner roundtrip launching on May 4, 2026, raising service to six daily trips to Goleta and three to San Luis Obispo. The...
SSL Announces Opening of Monon Corridor Service; Noland Retires as President (UPDATED, 4/2)
The South Shore Line (SSL) launched an 8‑mile Monon Corridor extension on March 31, 2026, adding three new stations between North Hammond and the Munster/Dyer border. The $945 million design‑build project, supported by a $355 million Federal Transit Administration grant, includes expanded parking, a...
People News: NJDOT, Alstom, Miner
New Jersey Department of Transportation confirmed Priya Jain as its 21st commissioner, also chairing NJ Transit, the Turnpike Authority and South Jersey Transportation Authority. Alstom announced Martin Sion as its new CEO, succeeding Henri Poupart‑Lafarge after a decade that saw revenues...
Amtrak, Union Pacific Settle Sunset Limited Dispute (Updated April 2, 2026)
Amtrak and Union Pacific announced a settlement on April 1, 2026 that ends the Surface Transportation Board’s investigation into the Sunset Limited’s chronic on‑time performance problems. The deal grants Amtrak a five‑mile stretch of UP‑owned track near Avondale, Louisiana, allowing...
Marmon Rail Announces Unified Railserve Brand
Marmon Rail announced a unified Railserve brand that merges its Railserve, Ameritrack and Powerhouse divisions under a single identity and refreshed visual design. The consolidation bundles industrial switching, material handling, transloading, track construction and locomotive repair into one offering across...
NS, Jaguar Team for Growth in Northeast Metro Atlanta
Norfolk Southern (NS) has leased its Doraville rail corridor and transload terminal in northeast metro Atlanta to Jaguar Transport Holdings. Jaguar will assume local switching duties and invest in yard expansions to boost capacity. The partnership is designed to improve...
Transit Briefs: Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, TriMet, MBTA
Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner is adding an extra daily round‑trip between San Diego and Los Angeles and offering a 20% fare discount for passengers traveling to and from Los Angeles during the 2026 FIFA World Cup period (May 1‑July 15, 2026). The partnership with...
GBRX, TTX Unveil U.S. Flag-Themed Boxcars
The Greenbrier Companies and TTX unveiled five custom‑painted, U.S. flag‑themed 60‑foot high‑cube boxcars at Greenbrier’s Cleburne, Texas facility to mark America’s 250th anniversary. Built in Greenbrier’s Sahagun, Mexico plant, the cars will join TTX’s pooled fleet serving the United States,...
STB Calculates Five-Year Change in Railroad Productivity
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) proposes a five‑year geometric mean productivity growth of 1.015 for 2020‑2024, equating to a 1.5 % annual efficiency gain. This marks a 0.1 % increase over the 2019‑2023 average of 1.014. The 2024 productivity factor slipped to...
OmniTRAX Completing Infrastructure Investments to Resume Central Texas Rail Operations
OmniTRAX’s Central Texas and Colorado River Railway (CTXR) will resume unit‑train service from the San Saba quarry to the BNSF interchange in Lometa after a five‑year hiatus. The restart follows extensive capital upgrades—including bridge replacements and track rehabilitation across 49 miles—aimed at...
TSB: Broken Railcar Coupler Led to 2024 Quebec Derailment
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada released its investigation into a November 3, 2024 derailment of a Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway iron‑ore train near Saumon Station. Seven cars left the track, damaging about 250 feet of rail, but no injuries or...
LRW Annual Symposium Set for June 1
The Railway Women (LRW) will host its annual symposium on June 1 in Atlanta, featuring tours of CSX’s Railway Education and Development Institute and Norfolk Southern’s new headquarters. The agenda includes professional‑development panels on artificial intelligence in rail and evolving...
Supply Side: KBS, Actelis
KBS announced a new stand‑alone website that centralises its signaling product portfolio, project delivery expertise and technical resources for rail operators worldwide. The site showcases fifth‑generation AFTC5 track circuits, the iVPI® interlocking system and a CBTC‑agnostic, phased‑upgrade approach. Meanwhile, Actelis...
People News: GPA, CSX, CPKC, Northern Plains Railroad
Gateway Terminals Savannah named Bryan Blalock as its new President, effective April 13, 2026, while current President Kevin Price will move to a GPA-wide leadership role on July 1. CSX Technical Director Judy Covington‑Poole was honored as Woman of the...
MBTA Invites Public Comment on Proposed FY27-31CIP
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority released its FY27‑31 Capital Investment Plan, a five‑year roadmap that earmarks roughly $10 billion for more than 680 capital projects. The plan groups spending into three pillars: regular maintenance, future‑focused modernization, and service improvements such as...
For NJT, A ‘Rapid Action Plan’
New Jersey Transit (NJT) is drafting a Rapid Action Plan under Governor Mikie Sherrill’s Executive Order 16 to overhaul the rider experience. The agency must deliver a comprehensive plan within 45 days, incorporating public input from three virtual forums on...
WMATA—And Railway Age—Mark 50 Years of the Washington Metro
On March 27, 2026 WMATA marked the 50th anniversary of the Washington Metro, celebrating five decades of rapid‑transit service that began with a 4.6‑mile Red Line segment. The network has grown to six lines, 130 miles of track, 98 stations...
San Diego MTS: $60.4MM to Advance Modernization Projects
San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) secured $48.3 million from California’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIRCP) program for Phase 2 of the Orange Line Improvement Project, bringing total allocated funds to roughly $60.4 million. The Phase 2 upgrades, covering the eastern 18‑mile corridor...
BNSF Customers Invest More Than $5.3B in 2025
BNSF announced that customers invested over $5.3 billion in rail‑served projects during 2025, completing 117 initiatives—the highest count in six years. The projects generated more than 1,200 jobs across industrial, agricultural and consumer sectors, boosting production capacity and supply‑chain resilience. Notable...
Lee to Step Down as DART President and CEO
Dallas Area Rapid Transit President and CEO Nadine S. Lee announced she will not seek an extension of her contract, ending her tenure that began in July 2021. During her nearly five-year leadership, Lee guided DART through a challenging period,...
STB Aims to Reform Rail Permitting
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to overhaul its rail permitting process, aiming to eliminate unnecessary environmental reviews and shorten approval timelines. The proposal introduces categorical exclusions for connecting tracks on existing rights‑of‑way and limits...
Federal Judge Denies Latest Administration Challenge
A federal judge in Manhattan, Judge Lewis J. Liman, issued a 149‑page opinion on March 3 granting summary judgment to the MTA and its subsidiary, preserving the city’s congestion pricing toll. The ruling rejected the Biden administration’s Secretary of Transportation Sean...
Class I Briefs: CN, CPKC De México
Canada National Railway (CN) was named Canada Post’s National Carrier – Multi Mode winner, citing its strong safety performance and a zero‑incident year. The accolade underscores CN’s reliability in mail transport across Canada. Meanwhile, CPKC de México President Oscar del Cueto was...
People News: Sasser, Port of Long Beach
Sasser, Inc. announced Michael Kelly as President of its Rail division, overseeing Chicago Freight Car and CF Rail Services, succeeding retiring veteran Thomas Clark. Kelly brings a track record of sales leadership that helped expand the company’s leasing portfolio. The...
TTC, TMU Partner to Drive Transit Innovation
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has teamed up with Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) through the Transit Innovation Yard to test five cutting‑edge research projects. The initiatives span automated rail inspection, cross‑device wayfinding kiosks, a sustainability‑focused digital twin of a TTC...
PSNY Project Advances
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on March 23 that an AECOM‑LiRo joint venture will manage the Penn Station New York Transformation Project, with construction targeted to begin by the end of 2027. The effort will modernize the historic hub, expand...
‘Young Professionals’ Virtual Conference on April 23 Will Address Rail Career Growth
Railway Age’s fourth annual Young Professionals virtual conference returns on April 23 at 2 p.m. ET, offering free, career‑focused sessions for early‑ and mid‑level rail workers across freight, passenger and supply‑chain segments. The event opens with R.J. Corman CEO Justin Broyles,...
CORP Launches Oregon Transload Facility
G&W's Choice Terminals announced the opening of the Dillard transload facility for its Central Oregon and Pacific (CORP) railroad. The site can handle five railcars at once, features a 20‑car storage track and a small warehouse for just‑in‑time truck deliveries,...
