Railroad News

Rail News Home Kansas City Southern 6/25/2021 Rail News: Kansas City Southern
CN and Kansas City Southern today highlighted what they describe as the benefits realized by grain customers, including farmer-owned grain co-operatives, through CN’s open gateways commitment in the CN-KCS combination.These stakeholders, including agricultural customers in the upper midwestern United States, would benefit from a choice of routes and competitive rates, better service and innovation resulting from the competition for their business, the two Class Is said in a press release.Their statement comes a day after Canadian Pacific announced that shippers of grain and other agricultural products across North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota have submitted letters to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) opposing CN's and KCS's combination, its use of a voting trust, or both.The letters describe how a potential CN-KCS combination and its proposed use of a voting trust would see reduced options for agricultural shippers in the Upper Midwest leaving them fewer direct competitive options, and eliminating the new network of shipping options a CP-KCS combination would create, CP officials said in a press release.Meanwhile, CN President and Chief Executive Officer JJ Ruest and KCS President and CEO Patrick Ottensmeyer yesterday co-authored an op-ed published in The Hill in which they explained why they believe the CN-KCS merger would supply critical infrastructure to shorten supply chains.The full Ruest/Ottensmeyer op-ed can be read here.

Rail News Home BNSF Railway 6/25/2021 Rail News: BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway Co. has released its annual report for 2020, including comments by President and Chief Executive Officer Katie Farmer, that highlighted a challenging year."From the pandemic's start, we focused on protecting the health of our employees as well as keeping our trains moving. I'm humbled by the unwavering commitment of our team to deliver critical supplies as we kept freight flowing and distribution centers stocked," she said in the reportWhile the first part of 2021 included the loss of three BNSF employees in work-related incidents, Farmer said BNSF made progress on safety issues as the year continued. "Our mechanical team achieved their best-ever frequency performance in 2020 and engineering came close to matching theirs. As we continue to navigate the challenges brought on by the pandemic, we must remain focused on the well-being and safety of our employees, and I am confident that working together we can achieve our safety vision," she wrote.The report also includes BNSF's activities in the areas of diversity and inclusion; sustainability; and service.Read the report here. 

Rail News Home CSX Transportation 6/24/2021 Rail News: CSX Transportation
CSX will be the first railroad to put into demonstration Wabtec’s Trip Optimizer Zero-to-Zero system. Photo – wabteccorp.com

Rail News Home Canadian Pacific 6/24/2021 Rail News: Canadian Pacific
Canadian Pacific announced today that shippers of grain and other agricultural products across North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota have submitted letters to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) opposing CN's and Kansas City Southern's combination, its use of a voting trust, or both.The letters describe how a potential CN-KCS combination and its proposed use of a voting trust would see reduced options for agricultural shippers in the Upper Midwest leaving them fewer direct competitive options, and eliminating the new network of shipping options a CP-KCS combination would create, CP officials said in a press release.Meanwhile, CN and KCS announced that their proposed voting trust as part of their merger proposal now before the Surface Transportation Board has been endorsed by two major labor unions: the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Transportation Division.The letters from all parties are available for review on the STB website.