Railroad News

The Surface Transportation Board late last week approved CSX's application to acquire Pan Am Systems and its short-line subsidiaries, including Pan Am Railways Inc.

CSX officials expect to close on the acquisition on June 1. Pan Am owns rail lines and provides rail service on a freight-rail network in New England, from Maine in the north to the Boston region in the south, and west to near Albany, New York.

CSX yesterday recognized 71 customers with the Class I's annual Chemical Safety Excellence Award for their commitment to the safe transportation of hazardous materials.

Representing a wide range of industry segments — including chemicals, biofuels, waste and fertilizers — the award winners shipped a combined 238,000 carloads of hazard materials on the CSX network in 2020 without a non-accidental release due to controllable factors, according to a news release

CSX announced yesterday that its proposed merger with New England’s Pan Am Railways Inc. gained additional support from Maine Gov. Janet Mills as well as four shippers, two municipalities and one member of the New York State Assembly. All filed letters with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to express support for the deal, CSX officials said in a press release.

“This transaction has the potential to bring substantial benefits to Maine. The state of Maine relies on rail traffic to deliver goods and support our economy. If the transaction is approved, CSX has indicated that it will make upgrades to track and locomotives to provide improved service, extend positive train control on Amtrak's Downeaster, and make other improvements to the rail network,” Mills wrote, according to CSX.

CSX Corp. today announced it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Quality Carriers Inc., a North American provider of bulk liquid chemicals truck transportation, from Quality Distribution Inc.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

CSX and Wabtec are partnering to modernize CSX's locomotive fleet with digital technologies designed to deliver fuel efficiency and emissions reductions.

The partnership will help CSX in the Class I's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 37% by 2030, CSX and Wabtec officials said in a press release.

The planned Howard Street Tunnel expansion project in Baltimore has received a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) as part of the project review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced yesterday.

The project will expand the 126-year-old Howard Street Tunnel to accommodate double-stacked container trains traveling to and from the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, increasing efficiency and capacity.

Northwest Grains International LLC last week broke ground on an agricultural transload operation in Dillon County, South Carolina.

The $2.5 million transload facility will serve agricultural producers and handle containerized soybeans, lumber, logs, peanuts, cotton, cotton seed and yellow peas for export through the Port of Charleston via the rail-served Inland Port Dillon, according to a South Carolina Ports Authority press release.