Railfanning.org News Wire

STB Adopts 2009 User Fee Update Schedule

May 5, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has adopted its 2009 User Fee Update Schedule setting forth updated fees for each of the types of proceedings that can be filed with the agency. The changes in the 2009 Update — to become effective June 4 — primarily are designed to offset increased Board expenses, including increased overhead costs. The 2009 Update complies with the Congressional directive that the Board assess fees to cover a portion of its budget. It also complies with the statutory requirement that the agency conduct a proceeding annually to update its user fee schedule to reflect the

New Track to Add Capacity and Reduce Delays of Amtrak Missouri River Runner Trains

May 4, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

CALIFORNIA, Mo. — Representatives of the State of Missouri, the City of California, Union Pacific Railroad and Amtrak today kicked off the construction of a new $8.1 million, 9,000-foot railroad side track to add capacity and reduce delays on the route used by Amtrak Missouri River Runner trains between Kansas City and St. Louis. The new siding, located just west of California, Mo., will unclog a major “bottleneck” caused by a 25-mile stretch of single track and enable slower freight trains to move off the main line allowing faster Amtrak trains to pass and annually reduce delays by nearly 17

CN Reaches Voluntary Mitigation Agreement with the City of Elgin, Ill.

May 4, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

CHICAGO — Canadian National announced a voluntary mitigation agreement with the City of Elgin, Ill., addressing the municipality’s issues with CN’s acquisition of the principal lines of the former Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E). CN completed the acquisition on Jan. 31, 2009, and is running trains over the line. Under the agreement with Elgin, CN will provide funding for noise mitigation, emergency response training, and measures to maintain existing quiet zones. CN now has voluntary mitigation agreements with 16 municipalities that are home to more than 50 per cent of the population along the EJ&E in Illinois and

MTA Budget Deficit Grows by $621 Million

April 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) re-forecast its annual revenues, projecting a $621 million deficit for 2009 even after approved fare/toll increases and service cuts are implemented. The growing deficit is due to the continuing decline in the real estate and dedicated taxes that support the MTA, all of which are economically sensitive. In addition, increasing unemployment and higher fares led the MTA to predict a 7.2 percent drop in usage of its facilities in 2009. The re-forecast identified the following specific changes from the revenues assumed in the budget passed by the MTA Board in December 2008:

Rail Freight Traffic Remains Down from Year Ago

April 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — Freight traffic on U.S. railroads remained sharply down from a year ago during the week ended April 25, the Association of American Railroads reported. U.S. railroads originated 260,652 cars during the week, down 22.4 percent from the comparison week in 2008, although up 2.1 percent from the previous week this year. In comparison with last year, loadings were down 20.7 percent in the West and 24.7 percent in the East. Eighteen of 19 carload commodity groups were down from last year, with only the catch-all category of all other carloads defying the trend and showing a 12.8 percent

Canadian Pacific and IBM Sign a Five-Year Services Agreement

April 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

TORONTO — IBM has signed a five-year renewal with Canadian Pacific to provide strategic outsourcing services. This current infrastructure agreement includes mainframe, database, architecture and project management services. IBM will continue to operate the information technology infrastructure for the Calgary, Alberta-based railway. This renewal provides CP with effective cost management while improving services to customers. “With the current economic situation, there is a growing need to build smarter transportation systems around the world,” said Saad Toma, general manager, Global Technology Services, IBM Canada. “IBM will continue helping Canadian Pacific optimize technology to reduce operational costs and to improve fluidity of

AAR: Sharp Decline Reported in Rail Freight Traffic

April 29, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — Freight traffic on U.S. railroads was off sharply during the week ended April 18 in comparison with a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported April 23. U.S. railroads originated 255,269 cars during the week, down 24.3 percent from the comparison week in 2008, although up 2.8 percent from the previous week this year. In comparison with last year, loadings were down 20.6 percent in the West and 28.6 percent in the East. All 19 carload commodity groups were down from last year, with declines ranging from 9.3 percent for grain mill products to 63.6 percent for

CSXT Employee Named Rail Industry’s Top Environmentalist

April 29, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — A CSX Transportation employee from Jacksonville, Fla., was recently named the railroad industry’s top environmentalist. Michael E. O’Malley, who is assistant chief engineer, facilities, for CSX Transportation in Jacksonville, was one of five railroaders who were nominated to receive the John H. Chafee Environmental Excellence Award, named after the late Senator from Rhode Island, a strong environmentalist who understood and promoted the environmental advantages of rail transportation. Also honored at the reception was Delaware Senator Thomas Carper, who received the Congressional Chafee Award which annually goes to a member of Congress who, like Senator Chafee, is dedicated to

Freight Rail’s New Carbon Calculator Touts ‘Green’ Advantage

April 29, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — Shipping freight by rail instead over road not only eases traffic congestion, but drastically reduces CO2 emissions, as evidenced by the Association of American Railroads’ new interactive carbon calculator. For all shipments measured, the CO2 footprint was significantly smaller when moved by rail rather than by truck. One calculation reports that 1,088 tons of CO2 would be eliminated by moving 100 cars of fresh and frozen food from Washington, DC to Portland, OR by train instead of by truck. The calculator estimates that it would take 25,323 tree seedlings 10 years to remove the same amount of carbon

CN Appoints Luc Jobin Executive VP, CFO Effective June 1

April 29, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire

MONTREAL — E. Hunter Harrison, president and chief executive officer of CN, announced the appointment of Luc Jobin, C.A., as the executive vice-president and chief financial officer of the company effective June 1. Jobin, 50, will be responsible for financial management and strategic planning at CN. Jobin will succeed Claude Mongeau, whom the CN board of directors recently selected to become CN president and chief executive officer effective Jan. 1, 2010. Between June 1 and yearend, Mongeau will act as executive vice-president, spending most of his time in the field broadening his knowledge of CN’s network and operations before assuming