Prototype News

We believe a unified Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern sees potential upside to disclosed revenue synergies as we quantify the watershed opportunity. Our analysis of more than 4,000 watershed O-D (origin-destination) pairs suggests that even ~10% truck conversion exceeds UP’s net synergy target disclosed in a recent S-4 filing. We introduce our UP merger model, and, using a 2029 EV/EBITDA valuation, PT moves up to $258. Reiterate Buy.

Conversion of trucked volumes in the watershed region of the U.S. underpins a part of UP’s $1 billion net revenue synergy estimate in the proposed transcon merger with NS. Watershed freight refers to shorter-haul transport moves occurring around the Mississippi River that are predominantly handled by trucks. Rail penetration of these O-D pairs is historically limited as the move involves two rails (one Western and one Eastern), necessitating revenue sharing and an interchange switch.

Our analysis of more than 4,000 O-D lanes in the watershed region indicates significant upside potential to the $1 billion in net revenue synergies disclosed by UP and NS. We classify lanes by truck dominance and assume rates of rail conversion. We conservatively estimate that ~10% total share gain from the truck mode would correspond to ~$1.35 billion in EBITDA only from watershed capture (see table below for detailed assumptions). Further upside should not be ruled out, given rails’ price advantage over truck. Recall, UP’s $1 billion net synergy estimate also includes volume gains from long-haul and ports. We note our analysis excludes lanes of less than 250miles and ignores the possibility that some rail volumes could be gained from short lines.

The table below depicts EBITDA sensitivities to truck conversion and associated yields. Our simplified analysis shows that every 5 points in watershed share gain from truck corresponds to ~$550 million in EBITDA gains. As such, UP’s $1 billion disclosed synergy estimate implies ~ low-single-digit to mid-single-digit percentage capture from watershed. We believe a transcon faces significant conversion TAM (total addressable market) but outcomes hinge on execution, which will occur over a multi-year period. The former Class I CEO we hosted recently highlighted the opportunity to strike contracts with customers (auto mainly) for ~75%-80% of their volumes. Such outcomes likely represent the upside scenario, given that our 10% capture assumption yields outsized EBITDA gains.

Bureau of Transportation Statistics data for watershed lanes reveals that ~400,000 ton-miles of freight was trucked in the watershed region in 2024, of which more than 200,000 (~50%) was on lanes for which more than9 0% of ton-miles were trucked. For reference, this amounts to ~35% of UP and NS combined RTMs in 2024 (see chart below). ~80% of ton-miles traveled on lanes for which more than 70% was trucked. This validates the rails’ claims of truck dominance in these lanes. For reference, RTMs on truck dominant watershed lanes are compared to UP and NS’s 2024 figures below.

In a 300-plus-page SEC S-4 filing released Sept. 16 (download below), new information regarding the merger, timeline, concessions and financial outlook give us a closer look into financial implications of a combined company.

UP assumes $750 million of concessions, creating a new net synergy number of $2.0 billion (1.75 revenue + 1.0 cost – 0.75 concessions). These concessions were not created after speaking with customers specifically but looking at potential business loss, change in profitability on certain lanes, traffic rights and other marketing access agreements. We will ultimately get a more granular view of concessions when UP files with the STB, but we view the first look at concessions as notable but manageable.

The filing contained the long-term financial outlook for the two separate companies to 2031. For UP, the filing has a net revenue CAGR of 3.7% and an adjusted EBITDA CAGR of 5.75%. UP’s 2026 estimates were slightly below our previous forecast on both the top and bottom line, and we tweak our estimates accordingly. UP models 20bps of annual OR improvement over the long-term, likely below consensus views of margin gains. For NS, CAGRs were largely similar, and the combined EBITDA CAGR was ~5% through 2031, before synergies. We acknowledge conservatism in estimates.

3UP and NS began talking in December 2024, right after the Presidential election. As heard from recent conference appearances and the timeline provided in the filing, both companies acknowledged the ability to do this merger given the [POTUS 47] Administration. The filing does not address any details into shipper remedies though acknowledges the possibility of “substantial concessions or remedies” to meet a merger agreement. Any “overly burdensome” concessions give UP the ability to get out of the deal for a fee if the concessions exceed synergies. In a way, this may try to cap any significant remedies the STB may try to propose for shippers.

We introduce a UP merger model incorporating NS’s operations and roll estimates out to 2029, i.e., Year 3 of the merger (assuming low-single-digit volume and yield growth, and stable EBITDA margins). Given our analysis depicting upside potential to revenue synergies, we take a favorable view of value accretion by the Year 3 time frame. Risks to our call include integration challenges/service disruptions, STB-mandated concessions surprising to the onerous side, though our former Class I panelist sees both as mitigated. Using an 11x EV/ EBITDA multiple (in line with LT FY4 average), our PT moves up to $258. Reiterate Buy.

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The Norfolk & Western Business Car 300 Preservation Society announced in September that it had raised the $35,000 needed to acquire the last surviving N&W American Car & Foundry 12-4 sleeping car. The non-profit, which owns and operates a former N&W office car, plans to restore the car on the Hoosier Valley Railroad in Indiana. 

The car was built in January 1950 for the Wabash Railroad. It joined the N&W fleet in 1964 and was later assigned to the railroad’s business train in 1972. There, it received the name Hollins College. 

The non-profit is expected to take ownership of the car in January, when it will be moved west from its current home on the Morristown & Erie. The organization is presently raising money for that move.  For more information and to learn how to help, visit nw300.org.  

—Railfan & Railroad Staff

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by David Zeman/photos by the author

A few months back, I wrote about my experience using an AI-powered “denoise” program (my results were mixed). This month, Chicago-area photographer Dave Zeman shares how he’s using these new tools. I think you’ll be impressed. Now excuse me while I fire up my own computer to see what I can do with them in the camera bag… —J.A.F.

One could argue there has never been a better time to be a photographer than the present. Incredible mirrorless cameras with unprecedented low-light sensitivity produce clearer and more vibrant images than ever before. Plus, new lens technology has delivered the sharpest images ever seen at all focal lengths and apertures. But when it comes to nighttime photography, there is one new tool in the last two years I find revolutionary and transformative — Adobe Lightroom’s AI-powered “Denoise” tool.

As a longtime Speedlight user for photography after sunset, this new post-processing feature has completely transformed my approach. When there’s enough existing light and several other key factors are in my favor, I can shoot moving trains at night without needing to set up a bunch of flashes around the scene.

ABOVE: WAMX SD40-2 4173 leads a westbound Wisconsin & Southern manifest train through Rondout, Ill. Locomotive 4173 is the only PTC-equipped SD40-2 on Wisconsin & Southern’s roster, making the locomotive a special treat for Chicago-area railfans when the locomotive leads a train to or from Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard.

Denoise is the third item in a trifecta of the most important pieces of my camera gear. For two years, I have been shooting with my Nikon Z 6ii, a 24.5mp, full-frame, mirrorless camera. My two go-to lenses for almost all of my low-light night photography are my Nikkor Z 50mm ƒ/1.8 S prime lens, and my Tamron 28–75mm ƒ/2.8 Di III VXD G2. The 50mm offers incredible exposure speed, along with a very shallow depth of field when set to ƒ/1.8, making it perfect for capturing a moving subject with an inherent artsy or dramatic effect. The 28–75mm is the quintessential walk-around zoom lens for any low-light situation and works well for certain situations where trains are moving slowly through well-lit areas.

In many cases, I find my typical settings for capturing moving trains at well-lit Chicago Metra stations to be around 1/320th second shutter speed, ƒ/1.8 aperture, and ISO 8,000. Some situations have required increasing the ISO even further, sometimes up to 10,000 or 20,000 in rare cases of very dark scenes or faster-moving subjects. While my Z 6ii generally has enough power to capture most of the detail at these ultra-high ISO levels, there is usually a significant amount of noise (the digital equivalent of grain in film) visible throughout the RAW images from the camera. This is when I turn to Denoise during editing…

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This month is Railfan & Railroad’s annual homage to the diesels of the American Locomotive Company. Founded as a steam locomotive manufacturer, Alco entered the diesel-electric market in the 1920s and its achievements were many. Long before its rivals, Alco produced turbocharger-equipped locomotives, starting with the HH-900 switcher in 1937. The company pioneered the concept of the “road switcher” with the 1941 introduction of the RS-1. Its PA-1 passenger locomotive was an Art Deco masterpiece designed by Ray Patten — as a result, these were widely regarded as one of the most beautiful streamlined passenger locomotives of all time.

Yet Alco has been gone for more than a half-century, its U.S. operations closed in 1969. Its Canadian counterpart, Montreal Locomotive Works, persisted a little longer, with its designs produced by Bombardier until 1985. With this closure, the lifespan of the surviving Alcos shortened radically due to the lack of parts and trained service technicians.

In the railroad world, the lack of parts was a serious problem. It often resulted in the wholesale retirement of Alcos, even the newest, youngest examples. For example, Southern Pacific leased out its big C-628 and C-630 units in 1970 and converted some of them to lower-rated yard power units by the mid-1970s, before scrapping most of them by the end of the decade. Union Pacific, meanwhile, sold its big C-630s by 1974, not even 10 years old. The buyer, in this case, was Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range, a regional ore hauler.

They spent only a few years at Missabe, filling in as emergency stand-ins while waiting for newer, younger power to arrive.
Another possibility was to keep using Alco power for as long as the existing parts supply could hold out. Burlington Northern helped extend the longevity of its fleet by consolidating Alco power to Vancouver, Wash. This was formerly the main shops of Spokane, Portland & Seattle, which operated the largest fleet of Alco-powered locomotives in the Northwest, and its personnel were intimately familiar with keeping these smoke-belchers running. Yet, it was parts as much as personnel that drove this decision; by consolidating BN’s Alco power to a single maintenance base, the dwindling parts supply could be consolidated as well, maximizing the odds that an engine could be successfully maintained or repaired. As a result, BN managed to keep much of its Alco fleet in operation for another decade.

The recession of the early 1980s proved to be the last straw for many Alco fleets. With dwindling traffic, most railroads chose to sideline older, less reliable, or less economical locomotives — and the Alcos were at the top of the list. Most went to the scrapper’s torch. Some railroads chose to rebuild their Alcos with EMD prime movers and electrical cabinets, but this only prolonged the inevitable. Many of these oddballs met their demise in the 1980s and 1990s.

On smaller regionals and short lines, Alcos fared a little better, but often, these lines bought more power than they actually needed to maintain a sort of in-house junkyard source of parts. And, for those roads that still roster Alcos, this often remains the case, for there are few pragmatic alternatives. In many cases, scrap-line parts donors are the only reason any locomotives still survive in operating condition.

What might the future hold after there are no more donors to part out? In the automotive world, vehicles produced by long-gone marques continue to be viable because there are enough sentimental owners to support third-party parts suppliers. It is doubtful that there are enough Alcos left, much less sentiment in the railroad industry, to see something similar occur, especially as the government incentivizes more efficient diesels that meet stringent emissions standards. These programs often call for the destruction of the older, inefficient diesels in trade. Time will tell, but unless there is some drastic change in pollution policy, we may see the last few Alcos turn a wheel in revenue service within the coming decade.

—Alexander Benjamin Craghead is a transportation historian, photographer, artist, and author.

The post The Longevity of Alco appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

by Ted Benson/photos by Ted Benson and Dave Stanley

“Play, guitar, play,
Take me back to yesterday…”
—“Play, Guitar, Play,” Conway Twitty, 1977

Monday, November 14, 1977
Sunlight fades fast on an autumn afternoon, shadows stealing across the high desert as a silver Ford van skirts the Pequop Mountains south of Wells, Nev. It’s day three in a week-long photographic exploration of railroading’s “outlaw” state and the trip has locked into the “company notch,” capitalizing on short days rich in eloquent light.

Steel belts humming on the asphalt of U.S. Route 93, stone-cold country music rises above the eight-cylinder purr of the year-old Club Wagon’s 351 Windsor, Conway Twitty’s rich baritone flowing out of the tape deck in spare, plaintive verse.

“…Let me hear my mama callin’
Look a-yonder, y’all who’s comin’
Down the road, he’s comin’ home
But they know I never will”

ABOVE: The following morning, after picking up the interchange from Southern Pacific at Cobre, RS-2 101 returns south, again passing through the small village of Currie. The local will end its day 75 miles south at East Ely. —Dave Stanley photo

Describing the journey as a homecoming would be a stretch for two shaggy 20-somethings rolling into the Goshute Valley this chilly Indian Summer’s eve. Dave Stanley and I are a long way from our central California homes, the distance growing greater and the sky growing darker with every note of Twitty’s Telecaster-driven melodies.

Following an itinerary devoted to paired main lines and copper mines, we’re well past the limit of Bobby Bare’s “500 Miles Away From Home.” With Ely another 75 miles away and Nevada Northern’s twice-weekly local freight headed in our direction, our sights are set on Currie for tonight’s food and lodging. Two-plus hours lie between us and the train bound for transcontinental connections at Shafter and Cobre. There’s plenty of time to set up a night shot at the old railroad depot.

As twilight turns to dusk, the only visible sign of civilization is a handful of lights flickering by the highway where 93 intersects the NN tracks 63 rail miles south of Cobre. Resting at 5,800 feet above sea level, the hamlet of Currie is the brightest thing on the horizon — at least for the time being.

ABOVE: The 750-foot-tall smokestack at Kennecott’s McGill smelter towers over Alcos 102 and 103 passing Hiline milepost H-6 with a train of empties on November 16, 1977. KCC smelter emissions were a major source of regulatory misery for the company’s Nevada operations in the late 1970s. —Ted Benson photo

It’s been 36 years since a passenger train called at Currie, though you’d never know it. With fresh yellow paint, white trim, and train order signal intact, the building looks much the same as it did between 1906 and 1941, when an estimated 4.5 million people passed through on NN passenger trains. In 1977, the structure serves as a section house.

Acquiescing to our request in broken English, the section foreman grants permission to string wire and reflectors around his home. With 550 feet of lamp cord and six No.2 flashbulbs lighting the scene, a simple composition comes together in the usual 90 minutes. Now it’s time to don jackets, pour some coffee from the thermos, and have a seat in the truck as the temperature drops into the high 20s.

Shortly after 6:00pm, a glow appears to the south, its intensity growing with each passing minute. Dave is a newcomer to The Ely Route, and I’ve been priming him for the moment when Nevada Northern’s handsome SD7 rolls onto center stage. Dressed in an EMD-styled “Desert Warbonnet” of cream, red, and black, 401 has to be the prettiest Cadillac to ever roll out of LaGrange. An earlier phone call to Chief Dispatcher Jack Whitehurst in East Ely has alerted the train crew to expect some excitement at Currie. There’ll be no surprise aboard the 401 when night turns to day a few hundred feet north of Highway 93. The real surprise has been saved for the photographers waiting outside the depot.

ABOVE: On November 17, 1977, the northbound Nevada Northern local with KCC RS-2 101 clears the main at East Ely, to allow the westbound KCC shuttle train to pass, bound for the mines south of East Ely. For two young railfans from California, this rural outpost in the Silver State was a little slice of Alco-powered heaven. —Dave Stanley photos

Anticipating the rhythmic chant of an Electro-Motive 567 prime mover coming through the night, we soon realize that whatever’s chugging our way is no graduate of Dick Dilworth’s drawing board. The single-bell air horn calling for the crossing is clearly not the mellow Hancock air chime of the 401. A few lumen seconds later, Kennecott Copper 101 fills our viewfinders in a solid orange flash. Are you kidding? What’s an Alco doing here?

Darkness reclaims the depot as 25 cars rumble by in the RS-2’s smoky wake. Simultaneously excited and mystified by the Alco’s appearance, we roll up the flash kit and retire to the warm tranquility of Tom and Donna’s Currie Store. Half-pound Currie burgers and cold beer satisfy our physical needs while the second half of Monday Night Football playing on a TV above the bar serves up succor to the soul for two long-suffering San Francisco 49er fans. Having no love lost for Dallas and the presumptive pretense of “America’s Team,” we revel in the St. Louis Cardinals handing the Cowboys their first loss in a 12-2 Super Bowl season. Judging by the reaction of Tom and Donna’s regular patrons, we’re not alone in our sentiments. Sleep in a cozy two-bed tourist cabin comes easy this evening…

The post Alcos in Indian Summer appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Sept. 12 announced that the SIR fleet is now entirely made up of the standard R211 subway cars, “a critical part of the MTA’s ongoing modernization efforts systemwide.”

The cars include pre-installed security cameras in each car and feature 58-inch-wide door openings that are eight inches wider than standard door openings on the existing car fleet, which are designed to speed up boarding and reduce the amount of time trains sit in stations, according to the agency. In addition to wider doors, these cars provide additional accessible seating, digital displays that will provide more detailed station-specific information, and brighter lighting and signage, among other features that improve the customer experience.

The R211S cars will replace 52 R44s on the SIR, which joined the railway in1973. In line with best industry practices, R44 cars will be available for a few years as the new fleet is introduced. The new railcar has an average mean distance between failure (MDBF) rate of approximately 125,000-250,000 miles, compared to the R44’s 50,000 miles. The MDBF is a measure of how far the railcar can travel before a mechanical issue occurs and requires unscheduled maintenance. 

Since the new cars were introduced, the SIR says it has seen improved customer satisfaction in waiting times, frequency of delays, cleanliness on board trains, announcements on board trains, service reliability and overall satisfaction on board.

“New rolling stock is a huge part of the MTA’s fully funded Capital Plan, and now Staten Island is the first borough to get a full fleet of R211S train cars” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “The new models not only look great, but they’re key to running more reliable service for the borough’s thousands of daily riders.”

BART ridership saw steady growth this summer with August ridership up 10% compared to a year ago, “a reflection of the ongoing success of BART’s efforts to enhance safety, cleanliness, and customer experience, including the new fare payment system Tap and Ride,” according to the agency.

Tuesday, Aug. 26, was BART’s third-highest ridership day since 2020 at the time, with 210,818 exits. This record was soon bested in the first two weeks of September, which experienced BART’s first and second highest ridership days since 2020 (219,918 exits on Sept. 10 and 213,313 exits on Sept. 9).

Weekend ridership, the agency says, continues to trend upward with Saturdays in August seeing an 11% increase over a year ago and Sundays an 8.1% increase. These increases, BART adds, were bolstered by major events, including a three-day Dead & Company residency at Golden Gate Park, Outside Lands, and the Bay FC vs. Washington Spirit match that sold out Oracle Arena. 

A big win for customers was the launch of Tap and Ride on Aug. 20, which gives BART riders the ability to pay adult fares at BART fare gates using contactless-enabled debit or credit cards and mobile payment methods. Tap and Ride trips accounted for 6.5% of total BART trips after the payment system launched in late August. Weekend Tap and Ride usage was higher than weekdays as tourists and infrequent riders took advantage of this new feature. Twenty-four percent of entries at SFO Station were paid for using Tap and Ride after it launched. 

Also in August, San Francisco city workers began returning to their downtown office and local schools returned to session. With the start of the fall semester at UC Berkeley in mid-August, Clipper BayPass ridership more than doubled from the previous August as the all-in-one transit pass rolled out to the entire Cal student body, according to BART. In March, students approved a referendum that increases annual student fees to provide 50,000 undergraduates and graduate students with unlimited travel on Bay Area transit agencies for two years.

DART President & CEO Nadine Lee on Sept. 12 announced that the official grand opening of the Silver Line will be Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. To commemorate the opening, riders, families, and community partners are invited to join in a day of festivities that showcase the future of mobility in North Texas.  

The 26-mile Silver Line links Plano, Richardson, Dallas, Addison, Carrollton, Coppell, and Grapevine with DFW International Airport, “transforming the way residents travel for work, school, and entertainment,” the agency noted. With state-of-the-art Stadler trains, new stations, and seamless transfers, the Silver Line “delivers convenience and opportunity to one of the fastest growing regions in the nation.”

To mark the milestone, DART is offering free rides across the entire system all day on Saturday, Oct. 25. In addition, the Silver Line will be free to ride from Oct. 25 through Nov. 8, giving everyone the chance to experience the service firsthand.

“The Silver Line opening is a realization of a promise kept to our riders and our region,” said Lee. “This state-of-the-art train will improve connections, create new access to jobs, and drive economic growth across North Texas, with a fitting theme to ‘Discover New Horizons.’ Most importantly, this line shows our riders that we heard them, and we delivered.”

The Silver Line opening date announcement was made at the conclusion of the third annual State of the Agency briefing from Lee on Sept. 12. The briefing included an update on agency priorities and progress from Lee and DART Board of Directors Chair Gary Slagel.

“The Silver Line is a major step forward in building a stronger, more connected region. It is an investment in both today’s riders and future generations. We are proud to open its doors and welcome the community aboard,” added Slagel.

The event also included a panel conversation on how transit ties to “Live, Work, and Play” in the North Texas region. Lee was joined by Dallas Stars President and CEO Brad Alberts and Inspire Dallas CEO Carlos F. Aguilar, in conversation with D Magazine Partners President Gillea Allison. 

The Silver Line Grand Opening Celebration on Oct. 25 will feature festivities at select stations, including live music, cultural performances, family programming, and recognition of the sponsors and partners who made the project possible. DART extends its deepest appreciation to its sponsors: Platinum Sponsor Stadler; Gold Sponsors WSP and Ardurra; Bronze Sponsors Cypress Waters – Billingsley and NTX Partners; and General Sponsors AECOM and Archer Western. “Their support reflects a shared commitment to connecting communities and advancing North Texas into the future,” the agency noted.

More information is available here.

The MBTA recently announced that the CapeFLYER train has reached a record number of tickets sold for the Summer 2025 season. More than 10,800 passengers purchased tickets between Boston and Hyannis on summer weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day this year, compared to about 9,700 last year.

The CapeFLYER is a partnership between Keolis, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA), the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), and the MBTA to improve access to Cape Cod for residents and visitors.

CapeFLYER service has operated since 2013. The train travels between Boston’s South Station, Braintree, Brockton, Lakeville, Wareham, Buzzards Bay, Bourne, and Hyannis. The train includes a bicycle car with racks and tools as well as a café car featuring snacks and beverages.

The trip from South Station to Hyannis takes about two hours and forty minutes.

“The continued rise in CapeFLYER ticket sales shows how vital this service is to residents, visitors, and the communities it serves,” said Transportation Secretary and CEO Monica Tibbits-Nutt. “By providing an affordable and reliable alternative to driving, the Cape Flyer expands access to the Cape, supports local economies, reduces traffic congestion, and delivers a more sustainable way to travel,”

“Massachusetts has so much to offer to residents and visitors. Under the leadership of the Healey-Driscoll Administration, we are privileged to have the ability to provide connected mass transportation services to Cape Cod with our partners at MassDOT, Keolis, and CCRTA. The CapeFLYER finished this year with record ridership and demonstrates how access to mass transportation improves quality of life. To the thousands of passengers that chose the CapeFLYER as their preferred choice of travel, a big thank you for letting us serve you!” said MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng. “This is a great reminder that public transit supports all kinds of travels. Not just during the summer, but all seasons, all year long. Take advantage of our $10 Weekend Pass and keep an eye out for robust service to Salem’s Haunted Happenings and so much more.”

The California Legislature passed legislation on Sept. 13 authorizing a ballot measure to create a 14-year, sub-regional sales tax in five Bay Area counties to generate revenue to support Bay Area public transportation systems, Caltrain recently reported. If signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the bill, Senate Bill (SB) 63, introduced by State Senators Scott Wiener and Jesse Arreguín, will allow voters to decide on the revenue measure on the November 2026 ballot.

If voters qualify a measure for the ballot under SB 63 and a majority approve it, the measure will provide critical operating funding for Caltrain, Muni, BART and AC Transit. It will also support rider improvements, smaller bus and ferry services, and dedicate funds to return-to-source projects identified by individual counties. The regional measure, Caltrain says, “is intended to establish a stable funding source that addresses the fiscal shortfalls many Bay Area transit agencies continue to face after the pandemic.”

The passage of the legislation comes as Bay Area transit agencies face looming fiscal cliffs that threaten service. Caltrain projects an average annual deficit of about $75 million beginning in fiscal year 2027. Without new funding, the agency says it would face difficult decisions, including drastic service reductions, station closures and cuts to service frequency. “These challenges stem largely from shifting travel patterns that have changed how people commute, leaving Caltrain with structural budget shortfalls,” the agency noted.

While Caltrain says it has made “significant strides” to regain ridership, reduce costs and increase non-fare revenue, there remains a structural need for ongoing funding sources. Caltrain would receive an average of about $75 million annually from the measure—a 7% allocation of the total funds generated—resulting in Caltrain’s operating deficit being fully funded and Caltrain maintaining its half-hourly service.

SB 63 would:                                           

• “Authorize a sales tax in five counties in the Bay Area including the three counties that Caltrain operates in: San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara.
• “Dedicate percentages of revenue in each of Caltrain’s counties to cover the railroad’s operations deficit, allowing for the preservation of Caltrain’s service level.
• “Establish accountability measures and efficiency reviews to ensure that transit agencies are acting responsibly and appropriately with the funds they are receiving.
• “Allow voters to decide the future of transit in the Bay Area, if the new district’s legislative body places a measure on the ballot, or if the voters circulate petitions to qualify a measure for the ballot.”

“SB 63 is critical for Caltrain and other Bay Area transit systems. We are grateful to the bill authors Senators Weiner and Arreguin as well as the Caltrain delegation for strengthening and passing this critical legislation,” said Caltrain Executive Director Michelle Bouchard. “Thanks to electrification, we’re seeing our ridership grow faster than ever before because of the faster, more frequent, and more reliable service. Without SB63, we risk having to make service cuts that would put those gains at risk and push more cars back onto already congested roads. SB63 offers a light at the end of the tunnel to keep riders moving, reduce traffic, and build the sustainable transit system our region needs.”

“In May, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board of Directors (Caltrain) voted to support SB 63 because of its vital ability to provide funding to support our transit operations,” said Caltrain Board Chair Steve Heminger. “Next year, voters will have the choice to establish sustainable funding mechanisms that will ensure Caltrain, and other Bay Area transit systems are able to keep running reliably and safely while supporting our local and surrounding communities.”

Local and state officials and leaders of the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority will join LA Metro on Sept. 19 to celebrate the grand opening of the agency’s A Line Extension from Azusa to Pomona, bringing new local rail service to the San Gabriel Valley cities of Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, and Pomona for the first time since 1951 when the Pacific Electric Railway ceased operations.

The ribbon-cutting celebration will be followed at 11:30 a.m. by Rock the Rails, an event that invites the community to visit each new station while enjoying DJs, live local bands and food trucks from the San Gabriel Valley area. Revenue service will begin at noon.

The $1.5 billion light rail project adds another 9.1 miles to the 48.5-mile Metro A Line, already the world’s longest light rail line, expanding access to regional destinations, including 19 nearby colleges and universities, the Pomona Fairplex, regional parks, historic downtowns, museums, hospitals, medical centers, shopping, dining and entertainment venues.

The project is the ninth project to be completed in LA Metro’s Twenty-Eight by ‘28 initiative, “an ambitious, comprehensive plan to enhance the region’s transit infrastructure in time for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games and leave an infrastructure legacy for Angelenos.”

The post Transit Briefs: NYMTA/SIR, BART, DART, MBTA, Bay Area Transit Systems, LA Metro appeared first on Railway Age.

The tentative agreement with the larger SMART-TD group, which includes conductors, is subject to member ratification and provides:

• “Wage increases of 18.8% over five years. Based on current inflation projections, this increase will translate to real wage growth for covered railroaders, along with pay certainty for the life of the contract
• “Enhancements to world-class health and welfare benefits with no increase to the employee contribution rate. Employees’ 2025 health care premiums have decreased to about $277/month, well below the national average of more than $500/month for employer-provided family coverage.
• “Access to more paid vacation time for employees earlier in their careers.”

“This tentative national agreement with SMART-TD will extend the benefits established by the industrywide pattern—including wage increases and improved benefits—to thousands more freight rail employees,” said Jeff Rodgers, Chairman of the National Railway Labor Conference (NRLC) and NCCC. “This represents a substantial advancement, and we value SMART-TD’s participation in a productive process that is expected to benefit rail employees, foster high-quality careers, and contribute to the continued success of America’s freight rail sector.” 

The separate agreement with Yardmasters provides four consecutive annual general wage increases:

• July 1, 2025 – 4.0% increase
• July 1, 2026 – 3.75% increase
• July 1, 2027 – 3.5% increase
• July 1, 2028 – 3.25% increase
• July 1, 2029 – 3.00% increase

By the end of the agreement, Yardmasters will see a compounded increase exceeding 18.75%, “strengthening economic security and reflecting the essential work performed every day in yards across the country,” SMART-TD noted.

“Quality of life for our Yardmasters was at the heart of everything we fought for in this Tentative Agreement,” explained SMART-TD’s Alternate Vice President Chris Bartz, who is an active Yardmaster on the CPKC railroad. “Everyone in this union knows that historically, the youngest of our craft have been on call seven days a week, with no rest days at all when assigned to the guaranteed extra board. This provision finally rights decades of wrongs against our Yardmasters.

“By securing guaranteed rest days, we’re giving members the ability to plan for time off without worrying about the Carrier calling. This is something that has been a very long time coming. Just as importantly, we won language that requires the Carriers to come to the table to negotiate sick days on a clear timeline. Our goal is to ensure Yardmasters achieve the same protections as our T&E brothers and sisters,” Batz added.

For the first time, Yardmasters will have guaranteed rest days on the extra board built into their schedules. This, the union says, “ensures members receive predictable time away from work to recharge, spend time with family, and reduce fatigue.”

The tentative agreement also provides a path for the negotiation of paid sick days, “a major step forward in recognizing the need for Yardmasters to recover,” according to the union. This provision of the tentative agreement “creates a structured negotiation between the carriers, and SMART-TD aimed at bringing the same sick day structure our T&E members have to our Yardmasters,” the union said.

Quality of life improvements in the tentative agreement extends into wins on vacation time, as well, with SMART-TD having secured additional vacation time for its Yardmasters, as well as accelerated accrual of vacation time for newer members. 

The tentative SMART-TD and Yardmasters agreements “continue the steady progress of the 2025 bargaining round, mirroring national agreements already ratified by nine other unions,” including IBEW, BMWED, SMART-MD, IAM, IBB, ATDA, NCFO, TCU and BRC, covering the period through Dec. 31, 2029. These national agreements are in addition to dozens of local agreements reached and ratified this round.

Upon ratification of these agreements and a separate tentative agreement with the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen (BRS), more than 80% of the union-represented freight rail employees at railroads participating in national handling will be covered by a ratified collective bargaining agreement that follows the industry-wide pattern, SMART-TD said.

More information is available here.

The post NCCC Reaches Tentative Agreements With SMART-TD, Yardmasters appeared first on Railway Age.

by Justin Franz and Otto M. Vondrak/photos by the author

A saga that began 25 years ago in the Pacific Northwest came to a triumphant end in Scranton, Pa., this summer. On a warm July night beside Bridge 60 Tower, the sleek silhouette of an Alco PA stood gleaming in the floodlights, its blue and white paint recalling the glory days of mid-century Nickel Plate Road passenger trains. Almost a half-century since a PA led a passenger train in the U.S., NKP 190 was chomping at the bit to show everyone what it’s made of. But the road to its revival was not an easy one, making the improbable return all the more remarkable.

From Santa Fe to Scranton — Via Mexico
A total of 297 Alco PA and PB locomotives were built between 1946 and 1953. “Nickel Plate Road 190” was built as Santa Fe PA-1 62L in October 1948. For 20 years, 62L and its sister units led some of the Santa Fe’s finest trains before being retired in the late 1960s. The locomotive was headed for scrap when it received a new lease on life, thanks to Delaware & Hudson, which acquired four ex-Santa Fe PAs for passenger and excursion service. In 1975, the four units were rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen in Boise, Idaho. During the rebuild, the locomotives had their 244 prime movers replaced with the more reliable 251 and were redesignated as PA-4s.

ABOVE: While mechanical and electrical assembly continued inside the body, McCormack completed the exterior in 2014 to get ready for the “Streamliners at Spencer” event in North Carolina. —Justin Franz photo 

The four units were removed from passenger service on D&H and briefly leased to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for commuter service in 1977. With a change in management at D&H, the four units were sold to Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (FNM) for passenger service in Mexico in 1978. Two of the PA-4s, 17 and 19, eventually found their way into museums south of the border, where they remain today (one is reportedly even operational). However, the other two, 16 and 18, did not fare as well.

Within a few years of arriving in Mexico, both units were involved in accidents and were parked in the deadline at Empalme. Ultimately, they were parted out to keep other units operational. While little remained of the units beyond the skeletal frame, the FNM mechanical staff couldn’t bear to see them go, so they kept them hidden from management, who might have ordered them scrapped. Unwittingly, this was the first step toward the units being saved.

ABOVE: After a brief period of public display, NKP 190 was moved to GVT’s Von Storch Shops in the Green Ridge neighborhood of Scranton on June 21. Doyle shakes hands with Chief Mechanical Officer Bill Strein shortly after its arrival. —Otto M. Vondrak photo

Coming to America
Beginning in the 1990s, American preservationists started exploring ways to bring a PA home to the U.S. Mexican officials refused to part with the two locomotives already in museums, but were willing to send the remains of 16 and 18 back north to the right home. The effort to save one was led by the late Smithsonian Curator William Withuhn, who hoped Mexican officials would agree to send one of the units to a public museum. Negotiations dragged on for years, but Withuhn finally secured an agreement by 2000.

Unfortunately, by then funds allocated for such an acquisition were no longer available. Gulf & Ohio Railways CEO Pete Claussen, Steamtown National Historic Site Engineer Seth Corwin, and preservationist and railroader Doyle McCormack, who had been seeking a PA to restore for years, all contributed significant money to close the deal. The scarred frames were loaded onto flatcars and shipped north.

ABOVE: NKP 190 and recently restored Delaware & Hudson Alco RS-3 4098 power the initial run near Moscow, Pa., on July 11. —William Sternitzke photo

Meanwhile, McCormack (perhaps best known as the caretaker of Southern Pacific 4-8-4 4449) discovered two sets of A1A trucks necessary for eventual restoration that came from a Fairbanks-Morse “Erie-Built” passenger diesel that ended up powering a welded rail train in Canada. He offered Withuhn one set in exchange for one of the shells. Withuhn accepted, and McCormack became the proud owner of what remained of one of the most famous passenger locomotives ever built….

The post From Relic to Runner appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

Dockworkers and terminal operators processed 901,846 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in August, a relatively flat decline of 1.3% from the record set in August 2024. Imports were down 3.6% to 440,318 TEUs and exports decreased 8.3% to 95,960 TEUs. Empty containers moving through the Port of Long Beach rose 3.7% to 365,567 TEUs.

The Port has moved 6,592,708 TEUs through the first eight months of 2025, up 8.3% from the same period last year.

“Shifting trade policies continue to create uncertainty for businesses and consumers,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero. “Our Supply Chain Information Highway digital tracker is projecting our peak shipping season to be on pace with last year as retailers start to stock their warehouses in preparation for the winter holidays.”

“I commend our dockworkers for their continued hard work to keep goods moving through the Port during the peak shipping season,” said Long Beach Harbor Commission President Frank Colonna. “Our reputation as a primary gateway for trans-Pacific trade relies on our ability to safely ensure the secure and speedy shipment of goods.”

Complete cargo numbers are available here.

The post Port of Long Beach: Second-Busiest August on Record appeared first on Railway Age.

The Morgan Stanley 13th annual Laguna Conference covered Industrials, Machinery, Aerospace & Defense, Airlines, Freight Transportation, Autos & Suppliers, and Materials companies. The conference featured CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs, who with insightful remarks shared information about CSX and the railroad industry in general.

Hinrichs, Railway Age’s 2025 Railroader of the Year, stressed the need for the industry to work cooperatively to grow the pie, serve customers better, and to capture truck conversions if the industry’s fortunes are to improve.

He also touted the benefits of interchange opportunities as a key way for the industry to work cooperatively. He noted that CSX partners with BNSF on an intermodal train that BNSF brings into Birmingham, then CSX crews take the train to Atlanta, with the same BNSF locomotives, and the same thing happens in reverse. Hinrichs said this has worked well for years and doesn’t necessarily see that single-line service along this route would offer any huge advantages.

(CSX also has operating partnerships with CPKC and CN.)

Hinrichs fielded questions related to margin growth, operating ratio, and growing market share. He said “Let’s be honest. The past 10-15 years, the main focus has been on restructuring the business to get a lot more efficient and create better margins, which in itself isn’t a bad thing. But that was the No. 1 focus, and you can see all that activist activity and all of the things that went on to drive that obsession with OR improvement, which again, unto itself, is not bad, but there wasn’t, at the same time, the same drive to grow volume.”

Delving further into the issue, Hinrichs said, “I’m not criticizing it, because look at the efficiencies and the operating margins that we have that we didn’t have 10-15 years ago. But if your only pursuit is every quarter trying to show a little better OR, then intermodal business is not going to be your priority, or other truck-competitive carload business, let’s say, because the pricing dynamics are different. We’ve got to be able to demonstrate you can continue to run a very efficient railroad, optimize your margins, pricing, everything on the carload business, and grow and go after that truck-competitive business, whether it’s carload or intermodal.”

The post Hinrichs at Morgan Stanley Conference: ‘Work Cooperatively’ appeared first on Railway Age.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are not waiting to merge to find the benefits of increased collaboration. 

On September 15, the two railroads announced the launch of a new joint intermodal service connecting Louisville, Tenn., with multiple western cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Houston. The traffic will be interchanged between the two Class I railroads at Kansas City. 

The announcement follows UP and NS competitors, particularly CSX Transportation, launching several new partnerships to enhance transcontinental service and demonstrate to stakeholders that another merger isn’t necessary. UP and NS announced in July that they planned to merge, putting pressure on other railroads to respond. 

“Our customers want easier, more reliable freight solutions that they can depend on, and our robust service delivers that,” said Kenny Rocker, Executive Vice President – Marketing and Sales at Union Pacific. “Enhancements to the newly expanded Kansas City Intermodal Terminal and Norfolk Southern investments in Louisville allow us to compete with trucks, removing thousands from the nation’s congested highways.”

—Justin Franz 

The post UP, NS Launching New Domestic Intermodal Service appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

This year, Railway Age and RT&S are pleased to venture to Pittsburgh on Oct. 1-2 for the much-anticipated 2025 Light Rail Conference, featuring a packed lineup of LRT (light rail transit) professionals who are significantly influencing today’s rail transit industry. Among the reasons to attend is “Greentech in Light Rail Vehicles,” presented by Hans Cruse, Stadler Rail North American Streetcar Market Sales Manager.

“Greentech in light rail vehicles is much more than batteries,” says Cruse. “My presentation will demonstrate how Stadler is working to reduce the environmental impact of its light rail vehicles, reduce life cycle costs for the customer and make light rail more attractive for the passenger.”

This edition of our annual in-person Light Rail Conference will be filled with dynamic panels and the chance to network with a wide-reaching group of like-minded professionals. It offer a comprehensive review of the specialized technical, operational, environmental, and socio-economic issues associated with LRT in an urban environment. All this will take place at the Fairmont Pittsburgh.

Presented Oct. 1-2 at the Fairmont Pittsburgh, the 2025 Railway Age and RT&S Light Rail Conference is a must-attend premier conference on LRT for transportation professionals in planning, operations, civil engineering, signaling and train control, and vehicle engineering. Students at the undergraduate and graduate levels are also welcome.

Key sessions will focus on:

• Strategic insights into major new-builds and expansion projects.
• Engineering sessions illustrating how to best support long-term efficiency and safety.
• Capital program oversight, risk mitigation, and performance tracking.
• Resilience planning, sharing adaptive strategies for extreme weather events.
• Improvements to customer-facing technologies such as fare collection, communications and security.
• The viability and scalability of alternative propulsion technologies.
• Confronting funding challenges.

In addition to Hans Cruse, transit leaders on the program include Andy Lukaszewicz and Justin Selepack of Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Bryan K. Moore and Casey Blaze of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA), Henry Posner, Ida Posner and Nate Asplund of Railroad Development Corporation (RDC), Harry Skoblenick of Alstom, Barbara M. Schroeder of Benesch, Rachel J. Burckardt of WSP USA, and many more.

Industry support for the Railway Age / RT&S 2025 Light Rail Conference is strong, including sponsorships from 4AI Systems, Piper Networks, Benesch, RDC and Stadler. To inquire about sponsorship opportunities, contact Jonathan Chalon at jchalon@sbpub.com or (212) 620-7224.

The post 2025 Light Rail Conference Focus: “Greentech” LRVs appeared first on Railway Age.

The combination of advances in engine management technology, in the design of heat exchange technology and the chemistry of high-temperature ceramic materials and compounds, provide the basis of enhancing the efficiency and market competitiveness of open-cycle and closed-cycle gas turbine engines, including for future railway propulsion.

Traditional open-cycle gas turbine engines flow atmospheric air through a compressor, combustion chamber and power turbine. Peak fuel efficiency only occurs when the engine operates at maximum power output, with the turbine spinning at maximum RPM with maximum turbine inlet temperature. Engine efficiency decreases drastically as power output decreases. In railway operation, Union Pacific at one time had a small fleet of GTELs (gas turbine-electric locomotives) running at maximum output and peak efficiency to pull heavy freight trains up long gradients. Running at reduced output on flat territory resulted in high fuel consumption and high fuel costs compared to diesel-electric locomotives.

Small gas turbine engines were installed into short, higher-speed passenger trains that operated in the Northeastern and Central U.S. and central Canada. They were the Turboliner and United Aircraft Turbo Train. Running the trains at higher speed in limited-stop service allowed the turbine engines to operate near maximum output and near peak engine efficiency. However, both Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada entually replaced the turbine powered passenger trains with diesel-electric locomotive-hauled equipment. Amtrak expanded electric propulsion on the Northeast Corridor from New Haven, Conn. to Boston, with diesel locomotives assigned to passenger trains elsewhere. But now, development of new materials and computer-controlled engine operation allows for development of a new generation of gas turbine engines that would be suitable for railway propulsion.

Engine developers who recognized the fuel efficiency problem of gas turbine engines developed alternative solutions that date back to the 1960s. One concept was externally heated closed-cycle gas turbine engines that continuously recirculate the same gas through compressors and turbine. While such engines can deliver high efficiency at 25% of power output, the materials of which heat exchange units were made at time incurred temperature restrictions that curtailed peak efficiency and peak power output. Lack of development of suitable heat exchange material resulted in stagnation in further development of closed-cycle gas turbine engines.

The complex-cycle gas turbine engine was an open-cycle, triple-shaft engine that combined two compressors with three turbines, two combustion chambers and two heat exchange units. The high-pressure and power turbines spun on separate shafts, with their own combustion chamber. Inability to accurately and continually control air/fuel ratios manually for each combustion chamber resulted in less-than-optimal engine performance. As a result, in real world operation, the complex-cycle gas turbine rarely delivered peak efficiency over a range of power output. Despite having shown great promise, further development of the complex-cycle gas turbine went stagnant.

Modern reciprocating internal combustion engines operate with advanced technology. Mass-flow rate sensors, air/fuel ratio sensors, air temperature sensors and computer managed fuel injection have greatly improved fuel efficiency. There is theoretical potential to adapt such technology to the old classical complex-cycle gas turbine engine, along with the possibility of introducing new-generation heat exchange technology that operates at much higher temperature and higher effectiveness than earlier generation technology. Modern annular counter-flow heat exchange technology developed by Ed Proeschel offers heat transfer effectiveness of more than 90% compared to 80% for earlier-generation counter-flow heat exchange units.

The annular counter-flow heat exchange unit can be adapted for operation in both open-cycle and closed-cycle gas turbine engines. Modern turbine blades are made from ceramic material that retain mechanical properties at 1,400-degrees C (2,550 degrees F), allowing combustion temperatures of 1,200 degrees C without the need to cool turbine blades. While earlier generation heat exchange units were made from stainless steel, there is an evolving possibility of making heat exchange units from materials such as aluminum-nitride and high-purity boron-arsenide that offer higher coefficients of thermal conductivity than that of steel, at much higher temperatures.

An upgraded complex-cycle gas turbine engine would include annular counter-flow heat exchange units installed downstream of both the low-pressure and high-pressure compressors, with computer-controlled fuel injection into combustion chambers placed upstream of both the high-pressure as well as power output turbine. The high-pressure turbine would operate on a computer-controlled ultra-lean-burn air/fuel ratio to assure sufficient oxygen in its exhaust gas to assure additional combustion to sustain operation of the power output turbine. Sensors connected to the computer would continuously monitor properties of gases flowing from the high-pressure turbine, to assure optimal overall engine performance.

The power output of a computer-monitored and -controlled complex-cycle gas turbine could rival that of the latest locomotive diesel engines rated at more than 4,000 hp and near 50% thermal efficiency. While the complex-cycle gas turbine would be quite compact, the heat exchange units that enhance its performance would occupy a considerable volumetric space within the locomotive carbody. With the potential to develop the turbine engine to output levels of 6,000 to 8,000 hp, railway freight operation would require that a slug unit be coupled to each gas turbine powered locomotive.

Externally heated closed-cycle cycle gas turbine engines continuously recirculate the working gas by cooling it after leaving the power turbine. It replaces the combustion chambers of open-cycle engines with high-temperature heat exchange units, with low-pressure and high-pressure compressors and turbines rotating on a common shaft that drives either an electrical generator or reduction gearbox. Closed-cycle engines can be designed to operate with wide variation in the mass of gas that recirculates within the closed system. Such operation maintains high efficiency over a range of power output as turbines spin at maximum design RPM, with gas entering the turbine at maximum temperature.

A closed-cycle engine that delivers 5,000 hp with mean-average internal system pressure at five times atmospheric pressure (5-ATM), would deliver 1,000 hp at comparable thermal efficiency with mean system pressure reduced to 1-ATM. During operation, some exhaust heat will be reintroduced into the engine downstream of the high-pressure compressor. The combination of heat rejected from the low-pressure compressor intercooler and residual exhaust heat would partially sustain the operation of a bottom-cycle steam engine. Future development of high-temperature heat exchange units made from compounds such as highly purified boron-arsenide with high thermal conductivity promise to assure engine efficiency.

While locomotive diesel piston engines require liquid fuel with very specific properties, internal combustion gas turbine engines have a much wider fuel tolerance and can operate on a much wider range of liquid and gaseous fuel, including low-cost fuel with high solvent properties. Externally heated, closed-cycle gas turbine engines can operate on a much wider range of liquid, gaseous and even solid fuels and without incurring any internal damage to the engine. Over the long term, gas turbine engines can incur savings in fuel cost and engine lubricant cost while offering extended service life, compared to diesel engines.

The complex-cycle gas turbine engine has two sources of reject heat to assist in the operation of a steam engine, preheating water flowing from the water pump to the boiler. Reject heat from the inter-cooler for the low-pressure compressor would provide primary preheating while turbine engine exhaust gas would provide a secondary source of heat that would further raise water temperature. Combustion of liquid or gaseous fuel would convert the preheated water to steam to operate a steam turbine engine at the equivalent of an elevated level of efficiency.

If a gas turbine engine of 6,000 hp operates at near 50% thermal efficiency, its intercooler and exhaust would release the equivalent of 6,000 hp of thermal energy to preheat water to operate a bottom-cycle steam engine. A combined-cycle engine could operate at the equivalent of between 55% and 60% overall thermal efficiency on either liquid or gaseous fuel. The open-cycle turbine engine offers greater flexibility than a reciprocating engine, in the variety of competitively priced fuel that could sustain its operation. Higher overall thermal efficiency combined with lower fuel cost enhances the engine’s marketability.

Solid-state technology involving specially chemically treated shapes of silicon that are heated on one side, with coolant applied to an opposite side, can directly convert heat into electric power, at 5% conversion efficiency. Future research into such solid-state conversion of heat into electric power would require involvement of artificial intelligence technology, to raise conversion efficiency when converting rejected engine (exhaust) heat to electric power, to assist in locomotive propulsion. The ideal long-term objective of AI research would involve matching the efficiency of a diesel engine in converting heat into electric power.

A three-shaft open-cycle gas turbine engine using modern electronic engine management technology installed in duplicate or even triplicate would operate efficiently and reliably over a wide range of power output, even for extended duration cycles. Likewise, a single-shaft closed-cycle gas turbine engine using modern and evolving ceramic-based, annular configuration heat-exchange technology could operate at competitive levels of efficiency using a wide range of fuels, including stored thermal energy. The exhaust heat of both types of engines would sustain the operation of a bottom-cycle steam engine, allowing the combined-cycle engine to deliver very competitive levels of thermal efficiency.

While locomotive diesel engines require massive volumes of lubricating oil, turbine engines require a fraction of the amount of lubricant to assure proper operation of engine bearings. Turbine engines also avoid the problem of internal friction and engine wear caused by piston rings sliding on cylinder walls, thereby extending usable service life. While turbine engines are compact, the heat exchange units attached to them will occupy a substantial amount of volume, which would likely be available inside a locomotive carbody. The combination of a gas turbine engine with a steam bottom-cycle engine represents a future propulsion option for railway operation.

Harry Valentine holds a mechanical engineering from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, where he undertook post-graduate research in transportation. He has worked in engineering and research capacities for Cummins Engines Company, Langson Energy (turbine engine builder), Quasiturbine Engines Company of Montreal, and in rail vehicle redesign at a rebuilding shop in Montreal. He is widely published in the energy and transportation industries.

The post Re-evaluating Gas Turbine Engines for Railway Propulsion appeared first on Railway Age.

CN’s Transcona Shops Mechanical team in Winnipeg has achieved two years injury-fee, the result of fellow railroaders “holding themselves accountable, building trust and caring deeply for each other’s well-being,” the Class I noted in a LinkedIn post.

“The positive choices we make at work ripple outward, keeping not only our teams safe, but also supporting healthier families and stronger communities,” CN said. “Congratulations to the team for this milestone, and for showing what’s possible when safety is lived a core value, not just a set of rules.”

In related news, CN on Sept. 15 announced a partnership with the New Orleans Saints during See Tracks? Think Train® Week, taking place Sept. 15-19.

As part of the campaign, CN Police officers will join members of the New Orleans Saints in visiting schools across New Orleans to raise awareness about the importance of staying safe around railway tracks. Students will take part in activities designed to empower them to be safety leaders in their communities.

“We’re proud to partner with CN on this important safety initiative,” said Matt Webb, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for the New Orleans Saints. “Our organization has strong ties to young people across New Orleans, and with rail safety more important than ever, we’re committed to delivering this life-saving message in a way that truly resonates with our community.”

“We are incredibly proud to partner with the New Orleans Saints. This collaboration underscores our commitment to safety and our determination to reduce unsafe behaviors on or near railway property. Together, we can strengthen the efforts of community organizations and inspire youth to be role models when it comes to rail safety,” said CN Chief of Police and Chief Security Officer Shawn Will.

This initiative, the Class I says, is another example of how CN supports communities along its network and beyond. Together with the New Orleans Saints, CN is working towards a shared vision of zero track tragedies.

CPKC on Sept. 15 announced that it has joined OLI Canada and OLI in the U.S. this week to raise rail safety awareness in communities across Canada and the U.S.

“Rail safety is a priority at CPKC. We remain focused on public education across our network on how to stay safe around tracks and trains,” said CPKC Chief of Police Canada Dale Ruzycki. “Our goal is that everyone has the knowledge to make safe choices and get home safely each day.”

“See Tracks, Think Train® Week serves as an important opportunity to inform the public about the risks associated with unsafe behavior around railways and the importance of making safety a priority,” said CPKC Chief of Police U.S. Kelly Clough. “Through collaboration with Operation Lifesaver and our partners, we are committed to promoting awareness and reducing incidents through proactive education and outreach.”

“Every incident, every injury, every death related to trespassing is preventable – our goal is to get to zero. As we have work to do to get there, Rail Safety Week is an opportunity for us to remind Canadians that rail safety is a shared responsibility. We all have a role to play. When it comes to a person vs. a train, there is no undo button,” Chris Day, National Director, OLI Canada.

“Rail safety education is important for everyone, whether you’re driving, walking or riding near the tracks. See Tracks? Think Train® Week is a vital reminder that safe choices save lives,” said OLI Executive Director Rachel Maleh. “OLI is grateful for CPKC’s partnership in raising awareness and encouraging safe behaviors around tracks and trains. Know the facts, recognize the signs, make good decisions and share the message. Together, we can help #STOPTrackTragedies.”

In Mexico, Rail Safety Week is Sept. 22-27, 2025, and CPKC de México will be out all week as employee volunteers deliver the rail safety program, Alto Total, to schools and museums distributing information to pedestrians and motorists.

The post Class I Briefs: CN, CPKC appeared first on Railway Age.

This grassroots effort to keep massive trucks off the highways includes county and municipal officials, as well as public works directors and county engineers from all 50 states. Their joint letter (download below), delivered on Sept. 15 to congressional offices, was organized by CABT.

The number of local leaders lining up against bigger trucks—a 40% increase compared to a similar effort in 2023—”underscores broad-based opposition around the country to measures under consideration in Congress,” according to CABT.

“Large shipping companies are pushing numerous proposals that would raise the allowable federal weight limit on trucks from the current 80,000 pounds. They are trying to attach the proposals to the critical, must-pass surface transportation reauthorization, known as the highway bill,” the non-profit coalition noted.

These include a pilot project for 91,000-pound trucks to assess their crash rate, allowing huge log trucks weighing up to 154,000 pounds, “arguably the most dangerous trucks on the road,” according to CABT, and a proposal that would give governors control over setting interstate weight limits in their states, “creating a patchwork of state weight limits that would be devastating to interstate commerce.”

“Local communities across the country feel the impact of policy decisions made in Washington, D.C. Congress needs to understand their decisions have real consequences to local governments, including our budgets,” said Supervisor Jeff Krueger of New Market Township, Minn.

The joint letter states, “Local communities and our residents are what drive this country. We work every day to make sure the needs and safety of our residents are met. Allowing heavier and longer trucks will most certainly set us back in our efforts.”

Krueger, who also serves as Executive Director of the Minnesota Association of Townships, as well as on the National Association of Towns and Townships Board of Directors, said that “while these proposals are for interstate weight and length increases, local infrastructure will be impacted.”

“It is very simple—trucks do not load and unload on interstates. Whether for gas or meals or to deliver their freight, trucks ultimately make their way onto local roads and bridges. This impacts us all,” he said.

According to CABT, studies have shown heavier and longer trucks damage infrastructure, especially bridges, adding that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), in its 2016 Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight Limits Study, recommended against any such increases.

And a recent study by CABT, The Impacts of Heavier Trucks on Local Bridges: 2025 Update, concluded that more than 68,000 local bridges would be put at-risk by 91,000-pound trucks, which is five and a half tons over the current weight limit, the coalition noted. The study found the cost to replace those bridges is more than $78 billion, which would be borne by state and local governments. None of the various proposals to increase truck weight includes any additional funding for infrastructure.

Kevan Stone, CEO/Executive Director of the National Association of County Engineers, explained the importance of the local bridge study in light of the proposals Congress is considering.

“A number of our members worked on the initial report and the 2025 update. The results are alarming,” said Stone. “The cost to replace local bridges at-risk from 91,000 pounds has skyrocketed by $18 billion in just two years. Where does that money come from? Not from Washington and state budgets are already stretched. Once again, local taxpayers will have to pay in both funding and public safety.”

“While major corporations will profit, it is local governments who have to figure out how to pay for that damage,” said Johnson County, Texas Commissioner Rick Bailey, an author of the bridges study. “The proposals would destroy our aging, failing, off-system roadways; as highlighted in the study, bridges are at the greatest risk and would not be budgetarily attainable. If lawmakers approve bigger trucks, this is nothing more than Congress creating an unfunded mandate on local governments and our taxpayers. It is not right.”

The post Local Officials Oppose Increases in Truck Size Weight appeared first on Railway Age.

The directive, issued by the NTSB on Sept. 3, 2025, calls for railroads to equip maintenance vehicles with collision avoidance technology that can detect people or objects before a crash. The recommendations were delivered to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), all Class 1 railroads, and other associations, including the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA).

Piper’s flagship Limits Compliance and Collision Avoidance System (LCCAS) is currently installed on more than 800 maintenance vehicles in the U.S., most operating in Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC), the company noted. The system integrates GPS with Real-Time Kinematics (RTK), advanced LiDAR, and Ultra-Wideband sensors to provide precise positioning of rail bound vehicles. This technology, Piper says, “helps ensure that vehicles remain within their designated work limits, protects workers operating in close proximity to those vehicles, and prevents collisions with obstacles or other vehicles in the vicinity.” LCCAS is integrated with back-office dispatch systems for the delivery of work orders to both vehicle operators and employees-in-charge (EIC), and monitors vehicle telemetry in real time to report any rule violations or incidents.

Piper’s new offering leverages the comprehensive safety functionality of the LCCAS in the form of a “lightweight, easy-to-deploy kit” that addresses the specific recommendations issued by the NTSB, according to the company. It includes Piper’s advanced solid-state LiDAR devices to provide 360-degree visibility for vehicles to detect the presence of obstacles or workers and provide immediate alerts and braking if required. This safety overlay, Piper says, “ensures that all maintenance vehicles, including those with swinging or articulating booms can operate safely alongside track workers.” The kits include quick mounting in-cab vehicle displays to provide audible and visual alerts for operators. It also includes ruggedized tablets for foremen and workers in charge to monitor operations in real-time to ensure compliance with safety regulations.

“This new kit is the product of many years of experience with our broadly deployed Limits Compliance and Collision Avoidance System,” said Piper Networks CEO Robert Hanczor. “Our ability to package this technology in a way that meets the very specific recommendations of the NTSB demonstrates our commitment to railroad maintenance safety and gives our customers a robust solution that’s ready to deploy with minimal configuration.”

Piper’s LiDAR technology plays a critical role in the safe operation of railroads and transit agencies, the company noted. Designed for use in rugged terrain and urban areas, including tunnels, it offers many advantages over traditional camera-based perception systems, including the ability to detect obstacles and workers in total darkness while also remaining resilient to bright lights from other vehicles operating in the area. Its IP-67 housing, Piper says, ensures that it meets the environmental standards set by the industry. Additionally, when used in conjunction with Piper’s digital twin rail mapping software, it identifies the dynamic clearance envelope of the track to ensure that fixed infrastructure, such as signal or catenary poles, doesn’t create false alerts for the operator.

The ready-safe kit can be expanded to include additional functionality, including integration into braking for full-service braking and the real-time data management provides control centers with comprehensive awareness of operational safety across entire fleets of maintenance vehicles.

Piper will introduce the kit to the industry at the 2025 AREMA Annual Conference and Expo, Booth 823 in Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 14-17, and the 2025 APTA TRANSform Conference and Expo in Boston, Mass., Sept. 14-17.

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As Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena makes the rounds in Washington, including a visit to the Oval Office, to lobby for support of UP’s acquisition of Norfolk Southern, the intended merger partners continue their media blitz with announcement of a new domestic intermodal service they say will “increase supply chain options for customers between Louisville and key Western and Southern markets.”

Described as an “intermodal gateway” with a scheduled mid-October launch (prior to their merger application’s STB filing), the bidirectional service will originate and terminate in the Louisville market, interchanging between NS and UP at the latter’s new Kansas City Intermodal Terminal (KCIT). Railcars will be routed to and from Los Angeles and Lathrop, Calif.; Seattle, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Houston, Tex. It will provide automotive, consumer goods, food and beverage, healthcare and manufacturing customers “truck-competitive transit times and expanded market reach.”

At its Louisville terminal, which NS said has been “historically focused on international intermodal,” the railroad is “modifying its terminal footprint to expand parking and track capacity, enabling service tailored to the domestic market’s growing needs. Norfolk Southern continues to modernize its intermodal franchise through strategic investments in terminal infrastructure, advanced technologies, and customer-focused tools and processes.” NS noted that it operates “the most extensive intermodal network in the eastern U.S., with 54 terminals and connections to every major container port on the Atlantic Coast, as well as major ports along the Gulf Coast and Great Lakes.”

UP said KCIT “provides a critical interchange point, connecting domestic and international shipments of grains, consumer goods, refrigerated products and auto parts in the growing Midwest region to major markets across the U.S.,” adding that recent changes to its network operations allow domestic containers to move 25% faster, saving up to 25 hours of transit time to and from Southern California to KCIT. Union Pacific has invested $1.4 billion in its intermodal products, opening four new terminals and modernizing 12 others since 2021 to proactively support market demand and compete with trucks.”

“Our customers want easier, more reliable freight solutions that they can depend on, and our robust service delivers that,” said Kenny Rocker, Executive Vice President – Marketing and Sales at Union Pacific. “Enhancements to the newly expanded KCIT and Norfolk Southern investments in Louisville allow us to compete with trucks, removing thousands from the nation’s congested highways.”

“Our enhancements in the Louisville market reflect how intently we listen to our customers and translate their feedback into thoughtful planning and strategic infrastructure investments,” said Ed Elkins, Chief Commercial Officer at Norfolk Southern. “This is a growth area for our customers, so we are stepping up with service to help them reach untapped markets with a more reliable, sustainable alternative to trucking.”

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The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Sept. 8 granted an Association of American Railroads (AAR) petition to open a proceeding to consider revisions to the Board’s regulations governing ex parte communications. Ex parte is a Latin term meaning “from one side only” or “for one party.” In legal matters, it refers to actions or communications that happen without the involvement or knowledge of all parties.

In Docket No. EP 782, PETITION FOR RULEMAKING—AMENDMENTS TO REGULATIONS GOVERNING EX PARTE COMMUNICATIONS (download below), STB concluded that “a proceeding should be opened to consider changes to the rules governing ex parte communications,” granting AAR’s petition “to the extent that it requests that the Board open a proceeding.” STB noted that it “makes no determination regarding the merits of the petition.”

AAR filed its petition May 16, 2025, contendingthat revisions to the Board’s regulations “will improve stakeholder engagement and make it easier for the agency to process matters efficiently while maintaining transparency and fairness.” The AAR asserted that each of its petition proposals “is consistent with practices at other federal agencies.” STB received replies to AAR’s petition June 5, 2025, from the Private Railcar Food and Beverage Association (PRFBA) and the Freight Rail Customer Alliance (FRCA) opposing the petition, arguing that “AAR’s proposal is unnecessary and likely to reduce transparency in Board proceedings.”

Prior to granting AAR’s petition, STB T conducted several listening sessions with practitioners, led by Vice Chairman Michelle Schultz, that generated recommendations for streamlining the Board’s processes and procedures for ex parte communications. “AAR’s proposal thus raises issues that the agency has already begun to explore and the Board concludes that it is appropriate to open a rulemaking proceeding to consider the petition and the responses,” STB said. “Accordingly, to the extent that it requests that the Board open a proceeding, the Board will grant AAR’s petition to institute a rulemaking proceeding… In view of the feedback received during the practitioner listening sessions, the Board also anticipates inviting the public to comment on other ways the Board’s rules on ex parte communications could be modified. The Board will establish procedures for public comment in a subsequent decision.”

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The Finger Lakes Rail Experience, which started earlier this year on the Finger Lakes Railway, is extending its season into fall with a series of trips from Waterloo, N.Y. The 90-minute rides are scheduled to run every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday starting September 19 and ending October 19 (excluding the first weekend of October). 

“This special excursion celebrates everything there is to love about fall in the Finger Lakes,” said Chris Homco, General Manager of the Finger Lakes Rail Experience. “It’s a relaxing, nostalgic journey perfect for couples, families, and groups looking to make new memories.”

The excursion features five vintage passenger cars provided by URHS, some of which became available when Amtrak cancelled charters out of New York Penn Station earlier this year due to an extensive tunnel repair project affecting the schedule. The cars include observation-lounge Hickory Creek (Pullman, 1948, the tail car from New York Central’s famed 20th Century Limited), tavern-lounge NYC 43 (Budd, 1947), and NYC sleeper-buffet-lounge Swift Stream (Budd, 1949). To support this expanded service schedule, URHS also refurbished tavern-lounge NYC 37 (Budd, 1947) and Pennsylvania Railroad coach 1547 (Budd, 1949, ex-PRR sleeper Cambridge Inn). The trains are led by Finger Lakes locomotives (usually one of the road’s B23-7s). 

Tickets are on sale now. For detailed schedules and reservation information, please visit the FLX Rail Experience website.

—Railfan & Railroad Staff

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