Prototype News

Wabtec Corporation has landed its third Class I locomotive order in roughly as many months; this time from CSX. The Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad on Feb. 9 reported signing a $670 million deal with Wabtec to provide 100 new Evolution Series units, to modernize 50 aging D9s by converting them from DC to AC traction, and to equip all of the locomotives with Trip Optimizer with Smart Horsepower per Ton, which is described as “an EPA-certified system intended to support fuel efficiency.”

Mike Cory, CSX (Courtesy of CSX)

Delivery of the new Evolution Series locomotives is expected to begin this year, with deliveries of the modernized locomotives starting in 2027.

According to CSX, the Evolution Series units will support its fleet “by improving fuel efficiency, tractive effort, and overall reliability,” as they are “designed to reduce fuel consumption while maintaining performance for long-haul and heavy-duty operations.” Additionally, the modernization of the D9s will “extend service life, improve fleet standardization, and enable the use of advanced control and diagnostic technologies, with expected improvements in fuel efficiency, tractive effort, and reliability,” it said.

“Our locomotive fleet is a fundamental element of our safe and reliable railroad,” CSX Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Cory said. “Modernizing these critical assets strengthens network performance and supports the level of service our customers depend on.”

Rogerio Mendonca, Wabtec (Courtesy of Wabtec)

“CSX’s fleet modernization initiative underscores its strong commitment to enhancing operational efficiency and delivering reliable customer service,” added Rogerio Mendonca, President, Freight Equipment at Wabtec. “Our unique partnership supports CSX’s strategic approach to long-term fleet planning. By combining new and modernized locomotives with our industry-proven digital solutions, we expect to continue supporting improvements in fuel performance, operational efficiency, and reliability across CSX’s rail operations.”

CSX in 2024 extended its AC4400 modernization program with Wabtec to give the remaining 200-plus locomotives in its 460-plus unit fleet improved fuel efficiency, reliability, utilization and tractive effort. The contract added to the 260 modernizations that CSX previously ordered. The railroad also selected Wabtec in 2021 to revitalize its yard fleet using the supplier’s Tier 4 switcher modernization program, which upgrades 40- to 50-year-old locomotives and Tier 0 non-emissions switchers to the Wabtec Tier 4 platform.

Separately, Union Pacific on Feb. 4 announced signing a $1.2 billion agreement with Wabtec in fourth-quarter 2025 for the modernization of UP AC4400 locomotives with deliveries expected to begin in 2027, and Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Norfolk Southern last month announced acquisitions of new Tier 4-compliant road units from Wabtec and Progress Rail.

The post For CSX, $670MM Power Upgrade Order appeared first on Railway Age.

This is the third in a five-part series about railroad growth coming from truck conversions. Given the Union Pacific’s proposed acquisition of Norfolk Southern, UP’s Dec 19, 2025 merger application sent to the Surface Transportation Board predicts there will be more than two million trucks converted to rail from this new network within three years.

In Part 1, we established the five-year 26% Domestic Intermodal growth (conversion from truck to rail) goal has not been achieved during the past 15 years per IANA (Intermodal Association of North America). The same statement applies even more so to the applicants submitted three-year proposed timeframe.

In Part 2, we examined the Carload Watershed Market, which is roughly 150 miles west and 100 miles east of the Mississippi River Valley, where major East/West rail interchanges such as Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans are located. We established that the Watershed markets are underserved because of the financial return requirements of two separate railroads for short hauls into these dead zones. Yes, a single railroad can apply a single price equation and put in place more competitive rates than what exists today, but we will not see very much truck-to-rail conversion in three years? Ten years is possible, but it depends on the next best alternative.

Per the chart below from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Intermodal underwent two “growth” periods over the past 25 years, the first in 2001 to 2007 due to International Intermodal growth of almost 5% per year. After the housing crisis and resulting recession, Domestic Intermodal growth began in 2011 through 2018 with a little more than 3% growth per year. Note that overall Intermodal volume has been flat since 2018—zero growth Why? Service has been better since PSR (Precision Scheduled Railroading) was implemented, but with no growth. Is there something else at play?

U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics

That the merger applicants believe there are about two million potential convertible trucks to rail from this acquisition seems viable. The data sets can be bought to replicate the analysis. The question is, how much is realistically convertible in three years? Let’s focus on the 1.17 million trucks to convert to Domestic Intermodal. Looking at Intermodal maps of the UP and NS networks, what are the new Domestic Intermodal lanes being added? One in the application is the EP-AL (El Paso, Tex., to Birmingham, Ala.)—not a huge truck lane in terms of demand, but let’s use it as an example.

Once the transaction completes, rates and service need to be put in place. UP’s Santa Theresa Intermodal Terminal in New Mexico is a relatively new facility. Let’s assume it has lift, parking and gate capacity. I’m not as familiar with Birmingham, but let’s assume it also has lift, parking and gate capacity for the conversions. We need 53-foot containers and chassis at both locations. The IMCs (intermodal marketing companies) that own containers on UP (e.g. Hub Group, Schneider and Knight-Swift) and the rail container programs (let’s focus on EMP and ignore the UMAX/CSX question for now) should have some capacity—maybe 6-8% available, not 26%. New containers will need to be acquired.

Will there be adequate chassis in time for the new business? Like the containers, I have concerns. I don’t see an excess of 6% capacity on 53-foot chassis currently. UP sold off much of its chassis fleet to DCLI (Direct ChassisLink Leasing), so it will depend on how much additional capacity DCLI and/or the IMCs can get their hands on, if they’re willing to invest and buy new chassis. Chassis take time to build and are more expensive than containers. And recall, this is a UP+NS transaction; CSX and BNSF haven’t said they’re going to “get married” and therefore won’t be committing container, chassis or car capacity to UP+NS growth. 

Are there enough well cars in the fleet? Between TTX and BNSF, the largest domestic well car providers, there may be 5-7% available capacity. Cars will need to be acquired and built, and this takes a willingness to invest and time to build. Will BNSF buy cars so UP+NS can grow? Will TTX buy cars for UP+NS? BNSF’s and CSX’s ownership in TTX will have a say. A key element of PSR is maximizing utilization of resources, which is great in flat or down markets. But as history shows us, a lack of resources historically retards rail growth in bull markets. Will UP+NS and their IMCs bet on the future and have additional capacity to capture this growth on day 1? We should be skeptical based upon past experiences.

Having access to capacity when these new lanes are put in place is one element of the equation. An additional element is the sales process. More than 90% of domestic intermodal moves are wholesale moves where the railroad provides rail service to an IMC. That IMC provides the retail price and the door-to-door service, including the container, dray service, rail service and customer service to the shipper. The railroads are largely insulated from the freight payor and the overall door-to-door experience by the intermediary.

Why does this matter? The wholesale model puts a lot of price on the first- and last-mile execution, with which the railroads aren’t involved. There isn’t the same amount of “ownership” for service performance by the railroads as with truck, since there are multiple parties involved and priorities at terminals or handoff points aren’t always aligned. Think of ramp dwell. In addition, much of the truck conversion in the application like the EP-AL lane is short-haul freight that is “messier”: multiple stops, time sensitive, not balanced. It is difficult for customers who truck their freight today to convert to intermodal. It often means that they get a reduced-service product that is more complicated than “just trucking” it. This makes intermodal harder for the railroads to sell. Again, more complicated and not necessarily cheaper.

Converting truck freight to Intermodal isn’t easy. Of all the railroad growth methods, new conversions are the hardest. From experience, it’s far easier to grow with an existing Intermodal shipper who is growing (think Amazon) or “stealing” someone else’s Intermodal business with a better price or leverage in a large buy contract. For the large IMCs vs. smaller niche IMCs, size and scale often wins. Look at J.B. Hunt or Hub Group as examples.

In the existing intermodal network, there isn’t much freight left to grab outside of arbitrage opportunities if fuel prices surge or truck capacity unexpectedly tightens, as it did back in 2013. The main Intermodal lanes like Los Angles to Chicago are largely penetrated by rail in the 60%-70% range. Why not 100%? There are many reasons: Using rail often requires a regular steady volume pairing inbound with outbound to get the right economics. Irregular loads, rush loads, back haul pricing, triangulation, leverage from large truck carriers, diversification of modal portfolios are numerous reasons some portion of convertible freight never converts.

In addition, not all Intermodal lanes offer the same savings. The rail-competitive Intermodal lanes (Los Angeles-Chicago, Los Angeles-Dallas, Chicago-New York/New Jersey, Chicago-Atlanta) are largely penetrated because there is rail-to-rail competition. In Los Angeles-Chicago, BNSF and UP go head-to-head. Pricing and service in this lane are competitive. Shippers can save 20%-30% using rail vs. truck with good service. In Chicago-New York/New Jersey, a similar dynamic exists for CSX and NS. In single-served rail lanes like Laredo, Tex.-Chicago, where there is no BNSF rail competition to UP, the rail rates are 15%-50% higher than the equivalent rates in competitive lanes, making the resulting savings lower or even nonexistent vs. truck.

A desire for rail-to-rail competition is why ocean carriers pushed BNSF to open International Intermodal service from Los Angeles/Long Beach to Salt Lake City, historically a lane where UP only competed against trucks. BNSF entering this market is a great win for shippers in the Salt Lake City area. Rates will come down and service will improve. Container volume currently trucked from Los Angeles/Long Beach to Salt Lake City will convert to rail with service and rail rate competition—better rates, better service and less risk for the shipper than a sole-source provider. Competition will bring growth. More on this in Part 4.

The new proposed UP-NS lane from El Paso to Birmingham may have some freight to convert. How much will convert will be a function of service, rates and available capacity. If the asset capacity investments are made, will a single rail solution lead to 60%-70% conversion? Based on history, I say no. A 25%-35% conversion of the 1.17 million truckloads to Doestic Intermodal, 300,000 to 400,000 loads over five years, is more achievable. Again, this will ultimately depend on service, rates, asset capacity, and balance vs. the truck alternative.

We’ve had three years of stagnant truck rates while rail rates increased at above-inflation levels. The North American rail industry has not grown since 2017 and has consistently lost share to truck and other modes since 2018. Rail is a precious commodity, and the benefits of rail transportation cost savings, access to capacity, environmental benefits and better jobs) are without dispute. Generating new rail-to-rail competition is critical for this transaction to be beneficial. Join us in a few weeks for Part 4 as we peel back the veil on the benefits to shippers and the railroads to competition. Adding competition through reciprocal switching among the Class I’s, like in Canada with interswitching, could make this transaction a win-win for all parties.

Rob Russell, Managing Partner, Russell-Kroese Partners (RKP), is a seasoned transportation executive who operates fluidly from the boardroom to the shop floor. A certified six sigma black belt and a LEAN champion, Rob is a proven business leader who has a track record of strategy development, financial planning, business development, operations and performance management to accomplish an organization’s desired goals. RKP partners with railroads, ports, shippers and land developers on growth strategy, market development, competitive positioning and operational execution. They help clients translate complex transportation dynamics into clear, execution-ready business decisions.  You can learn more about RKP at www.russellkroese.com.

The post Part 3 of 5: Intermodal Conversion – It’s Not Easy appeared first on Railway Age.

Nevada Northern Railway 2-8-0 81 is returning to service after spending more than two and a half years in the shop. On February 3, the engine was fired up, and the following day it successfully ran in the East Ely yard. In the days that followed, the Nevada Northern’s crews worked to reassemble the locomotive, including reinstalling the headlight and pilot, before finally returning it to regular service. 

Locomotive 81 was built by Baldwin in 1917 and hauled iron ore on the NNRy until 1958. After being on display in town for decades, it was moved back to the rail yard in the 1990s, where it sat in the back shop, often overshadowed by the railroad’s two other steam engines, Baldwin 4-6-0 40 and Alco 2-8-0 93. 

In the late 2010s, the railroad began to work on locomotive 81. The plan was to have the engine in service before 4-6-0 40 received a major overhaul, including much-needed running gear work. Not only would 81 provide the railroad with another operating steam engine, but it would also give it a locomotive much better suited to current operations: the 2-8-0 is more powerful than 40 but slightly more efficient than the larger 93. In 2021, 81 was fired up and run for the first time in 63 years. The engine would be NNRy’s primary motive power for the 2022 and part of the 2023 season, but then issues emerged with the pilot truck. As the shop crew began addressing the pilot truck, additional issues arose. Over the next few years, crews replaced the boiler knuckle, boiler rivets, installed new safety valves and more. 

With locomotive 81 back in service, NNRy plans to refocus its efforts on returning 40 and 93 to the main line, with the goal of eventually having all three engines under steam simultaneously. 

—Justin Franz 

The post Nevada Northern 2-8-0 Returns to Service appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

Established in 2016, our annual awards are presented to top North American railroaders under the age of 40 for making an impact in their respective fields or within their companies in the United States, Canada and Mexico. They represent freight and passenger railroads, as well as the supply and consultant/contractor and government communities. Candidates, who were required to be under age 40 as of Jan. 1, 2026, were judged on criteria that included industry experience and education, leadership skills, industry contributions, and community service involvement.

(Shutterstock/Manop Boonpeng)

“Submissions covered job content and brought it to life by describing impacts, results, and, wherever possible, describing examples applying leadership skills and dynamic thinking. Most importantly, it was not just about ‘getting the job done’ but making sure safety was foremost. One take-away I noted this year was that change was not feared but embraced. It was recognized as an opportunity to develop oneself in order to achieve business success,” said former Michigan State Center for Railway & Education Nick Little, program judge. 

Nick Little, Retired Director, Railway Education, Michigan State University (MSU) Center for Railway Research and Education, Broad College of Business, Lansing, Mich.

While in high school in Britain, Little started his career with clerical and operating internships at Plymouth on British Rail’s Western Region in the early 1970s. He won a scholarship program with the British Railways Board that gave him a supply management degree plus training in all aspects of BR’s organization. Little then spent 15 years with BR in many locations, including Derby and London. In 1995, he came to MSU, initially for one year on loan to work on a research program, but stayed to follow his passion of helping to develop future generations of railway industry expert managers and leaders. He took charge of MSU’s Railway Management Certificate Program at the Broad College of Business in 2013 and retired in 2024.

Kyle Anderson, Communications Director, Amtrak

Anderson is a strategic communications leader who has made meaningful contributions to the passenger rail and transportation industry by elevating how major infrastructure investments are understood, valued, and supported. He has led or supported communications for some of the nation’s most complex and high-profile rail projects, including WMATA’s Silver Line Extension, SafeTrack, and Platform Improvement Program, as well as Amtrak’s capital delivery portfolio—spanning the Connecticut River Bridge Project, East River Tunnel Rehabilitation, B&P Tunnel Replacement Program, and multiple billion-dollar initiatives. Through clear, compelling storytelling, Anderson has helped position Amtrak not only as an essential transportation provider, but as a builder of nationally significant infrastructure. His work translates technical, multi-agency projects into accessible narratives that highlight safety, reliability, accessibility, and long-term economic value, strengthening support among policymakers, media, customers, and industry partners.

Devin Berci, Manager Application Delivery and Support, CPKC

Berci is a technology and business leader who has made significant contributions to the rail industry by modernizing critical lead-to-cash systems and setting new standards for SAP-based rail processes. At CPKC, he led the implementation of an integrated quoting, rating, and assessment solution within SAP Transportation Management, replacing multiple legacy platforms and streamlining processes that support billions of dollars in freight and non-freight revenue. His disciplined approach—leveraging standard SAP functionality and minimizing customization—has positioned CPKC for long-term scalability, smoother upgrades, and future migration to SAP S/4HANA. Berci played a pivotal role during the CP–KCS merger, providing critical guidance to integrate U.S. lead-to-cash processes into a unified system under intense timelines, ensuring continuity for customers across North America. Beyond delivery, he is known for influence-driven leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and a strong commitment to developing future talent through mentorship and safe learning environments. He also gives back through volunteer work with the CPKC Mini Train program, promoting rail safety education in communities across North America while fostering positive connections between the railroad and the public.

Steven Bybee, Senior Vice President of Operations, Southern Region, Union Pacific

Bybee is a seasoned rail operations leader whose career at Union Pacific spans nearly two decades of hands-on experience, progressive leadership, and measurable results across the network. Beginning his career as a Brakeman, Bybee brings deep craft knowledge to every role he’s held, from Field Manager Trainee to senior executive leadership across transportation, network planning, locomotive distribution, and crew management in nearly 20 locations. Today, Bybee serves as Senior Vice President of Operations for Union Pacific’s Southern Region Transportation team. Since stepping into this role in 2024, he has led the region to back-to-back years of best-ever safety performance, with double-digit reductions in personal injuries, derailments, and serious incidents. Under his leadership, the region has also delivered record-setting service reliability, cost control, car velocity, and dwell—driving customer growth through a consistently strong service product. Bybee is known for motivating teams through transparent, safety-first leadership, and continuous improvement. He is deeply committed to developing future leaders and gives back through community service, employee mentorship, and industry engagement, including serving on the Board of Directors for the Alton & Southern Railroad.

Paola Cala-Ortiz, Director, Telos Advisers

Cala-Ortiz is a trusted advisor and infrastructure leader whose work has helped shape some of the most significant rail and transportation initiatives in the U.S. She began her U.S. career at the New York City Department of Transportation and later became one of the first staff members at the Gateway Development Commission, where she played a key role in securing funding and advancing early construction for the Hudson Tunnel Project. At the Commission, Cala-Ortiz led industry outreach forums that brought together construction leaders and federal officials, directly informing procurement strategies, construction risk allocation, dispute resolution frameworks, and insurance and bonding requirements. Today, Cala-Ortiz advises public- and private-sector clients at Telos Advisers on complex transportation and rail programs. Her recent work supporting an Amtrak and NJ Transit collaboration to improve NEC service was recognized with a Distinguished Award from ACEC–New Jersey. She is deeply committed to public service, mentorship, and strengthening governance and delivery models that build long-term public trust in major rail investments.

Matt Denham, General Superintendent of Transportation, BNSF

Denham is a proven rail operations leader with more than 14 years of experience at BNSF, currently serving as General Superintendent of Transportation. Throughout his career, he has held 12 roles of increasing responsibility across 10 geographic locations, building deep operational expertise and a reputation for delivering results. Early on, Denham played a key role in establishing BNSF’s crude-by-rail program and supporting double-track expansion on the Glasgow Subdivision—investments that increased capacity, unlocked new business, and strengthened service across the broader rail network. As a General Manager, Denham consistently elevated safety, service, and efficiency. On the Twin Cities Division, his leadership drove best-ever safety performance, including a 143-day injury-free streak. On the Northwest Division, he led record-setting crude and grain deliveries, achieved industry-leading customer service, restored unit train service for major customers, and supported public safety improvements through community partnerships. He also led landmark operational milestones, including the first PTC train to operate in Canada.

DJ Ezell, Vice President of RWIC Operations, RailPros

Ezell is a rail safety leader with nearly two decades of industry experience and a nationally recognized track record in contract flagging services. Beginning his career as a conductor and Roadway Worker In Charge (RWIC), Ezell built deep frontline expertise before rising into leadership at RailPros, where he has spent more than a decade shaping one of the largest and most advanced flagging programs in the country. Starting as a flagger himself, he helped strengthen audit programs, expand operations nationwide, and develop best practices that now serve all Class I railroads, numerous short lines, and commuter agencies. Today, as Vice President of RWIC Operations, Ezell leads a team that has grown by more than 800 employees and driven more than 250% industry growth. Under his leadership, RailPros became the first FRA-approved flagging program under Part 243 and achieved ISO 45001 certification. Ezell is known for fostering a strong safety culture, advancing innovative tools like the award-recognized On-Track Supplemental Safety app, and setting standards that continue to elevate safety and performance across the rail industry.

Lewis Fitzgerald, Director of Intermodal Operations Planning and Design, CSX

Fitzgerald is a rising operations leader at CSX who has quickly distinguished himself by taking on complex challenges and delivering meaningful, lasting improvements. Recently promoted to Director of Operations Planning and Design – Intermodal, Fitzgerald has demonstrated an exceptional ability to drive operational excellence while strengthening workplace culture. At the Bedford Park Intermodal terminal, he played a key role in implementing major operational changes that improved performance and efficiency. He later led the complete turnaround of the Jacksonville Intermodal terminal, addressing both operational shortcomings and cultural challenges to create a more productive, collaborative environment. Fitzgerald is widely respected for his hands-on leadership style, transparent communication, and “can-do” mindset. He leads by example, inspires trust, and empowers teams to take ownership of their work. Through mentorship and collaboration, he fosters environments where employees feel supported, motivated, and aligned around shared goals. 

Felipe Horta Gomez, Quality Coordinator, Currie & Brown

Gomez is a civil engineer and QA/QC specialist who has made significant contributions to Mexico’s railway infrastructure sector over the past seven years. His work focuses on ensuring safety, regulatory compliance, and technical quality for major rail projects, including the Tren Maya, the Tren Interurbano México–Toluca, and new national rail initiatives under the current federal administration. Gomez plays a key role in the safety certification process, serving as an interface with Independent Safety Assessors to resolve non-conformities and support the development of Safety Cases for commercial operation. As a quality leader, he has professionalized on-site QA/QC practices by standardizing documentation, implementing quality assurance plans for complex subsystems, and coordinating inspection teams across large, multi-section projects. His “boots-on-the-ground” verification ensures civil works meet Mexican regulations and international standards. Beyond project delivery, Gomez is committed to developing future talent through training programs for new inspectors, and he supports local economic development as a small business owner and employer in rural Mexico.

Josh Huster, Chief Strategy Officer, Alpenglow Rail

Huster is an entrepreneurial rail executive who has played a central role in building one of North America’s fastest-growing rail terminal platforms. After beginning his career at OmniTRAX, where he rose to Director of M&A and built the company’s research and analysis team, Huster co-founded Alpenglow Rail in 2016 with a vision to create a premier rail infrastructure business. Under his leadership, Alpenglow secured institutional investment from Stonecourt Capital and BlackRock, completed its first major acquisition, and later formed a long-term partnership with CC&L Infrastructure. Through multiple acquisitions—including USA Rail Terminals, Orange Rail, and Alberta Midland Railway Terminal—Huster has helped grow Alpenglow into a leading terminal operator with six facilities across Canada and the U.S. Gulf Coast. Today, the company switches more than 125,000 carloads annually, manages more than 6,000 railcar storage spots, and provides transloading and cleaning services to blue-chip customers. As Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Huster leads long-term strategy, M&A, and commercial growth while championing safety, ESG initiatives, and community engagement.

Sahand Jafarian, Senior Manager, Track Engineering, Metrolinx

Jafarian is a rail engineering leader whose work has strengthened track design, safety, and workforce capability at Metrolinx. After joining the organization in 2020 as a Track Specialist, he led the development of a comprehensive track design course based on Metrolinx Track Standards, improving technical understanding and collaboration across engineering, project management, and inspection teams. Promoted in 2022 to Manager—and later Senior Manager—of the newly established Track Engineering department, Jafarian built Metrolinx’s first in-house track design team, reducing consultant dependency while delivering 16 design projects to date. Under his leadership, design costs were reduced by 55% per project and delivery timelines by 50%, while reliability improvements tripled the mean time between track geometry failures and cut surfacing costs by two-thirds. Jafarian has modernized track standards, led root-cause initiatives to eliminate recurring defects, and spearheaded one of Canada’s first autonomous track inspection programs. 

Jason Maidment, General Superintendent, British Columbia South, CN

Maidment has made significant contributions to the railway industry through frontline leadership, operational innovation, safety advancement, and people development across CN’s national network. Beginning his career as a conductor in Prince George, he advanced into leadership roles by leading with humility and adapting to diverse operational and cultural environments across Canada. He drove practical innovations to improve network performance, including piloting air cars in intermodal service to enhance winter resilience and network fluidity. A strong safety advocate, Maidment developed a standardized derailment response checklist to guide teams through high-pressure incidents, improving consistency and decision-making. He has led teams through extreme weather, derailments, major disruptions, and a workplace fatality, reinforcing a safety-first culture that prioritizes employee well-being. He also supports leadership development by co-facilitating CN’s LINK program and mentoring employees. His customer-focused approach has strengthened partnerships and improved service reliability across multiple regions.

Ben Miller, Vice President of Engineering, The Greenbrier Companies

Miller is Vice President of Engineering at Greenbrier, overseeing the company’s Engineering organization and advancing tank car safety, innovation, and quality across North America. With a strong mechanical engineering background and regulatory expertise, he was appointed Executive Committee Chairperson of the Railway Supply Institute’s Committee on Tank Cars in 2023, assuming industry leadership following the East Palestine derailment. In this role, he has promoted new technologies, designs, and collaboration to strengthen tank car safety and regulatory alignment. At Greenbrier, Miller has led the modernization and expansion of the tank car portfolio, helping establish the company as North America’s leading producer. He anticipates market and regulatory changes, including introducing an anhydrous ammonia tank car to meet evolving fertilizer needs. A collaborative mentor, he supports workforce development through Greenbrier’s mentoring network and Emerging Leaders ERG while engaging regulators, customers, and industry partners to drive long-term industry value.

Bernie Miller, Quality Manager, Stacy Witbeck / Modern Railway Systems

Miller has built a distinguished career in the railroad industry through a combination of hands-on field experience, technical expertise, and a solutions-oriented approach to quality and client service. He began as a union foreman, pipe layer, and grade checker, building a foundation in construction before earning a degree in construction management. Miller joined Stacy Witbeck as a quality control field supervisor and advanced to Quality Control Manager on major light rail projects, gaining expertise in track and signal installation, testing, and commissioning. In 2015, he joined Modern Railway Systems, where he spent the past decade developing and leading a comprehensive quality program supporting engineering, installation, and testing on complex rail projects across North America. His work has supported agencies including Amtrak, BART, Caltrain, Sound Transit, and Brightline, with key contributions to large-scale cutovers, PTC integration, and high-speed and electrified rail systems. This spring, Miller will assume the role of Corporate Quality Manager for Stacy Witbeck and MRS.

Tim Morris, Hub Manager, Mid-Atlantic IMAU, Norfolk Southern

Morris contributes to the rail industry through safety performance, operational reliability, and improved coordination between railroad teams and third-party partners at a key NS intermodal hub. As lead officer in the Harrisburg Intermodal Yard (HIY), he has consistently reinforced a strong safety culture, and in 2021, the yard marked a milestone: a derailment-free year with no derailments caused by a rule violation. That performance was driven by clear communication, accountability, transparency, and focused checks in identified weak areas. Morris has also improved terminal efficiency and performance. In 2025, he led the implementation of a bobtail lane at HIY, creating an additional entry and exit outside of the main lane and helping expedite drayage flow. The result was driver dwell time consistently below the 37-minute goal. Additionally, Morris helped to establish a new Standard Operating Procedure requiring pad placement for inbound trains four hours in advance, reducing chassis-related drayage issues by roughly 70% and helping HIY consistently meet its availability goals. These improvements translate into better service reliability for thousands of customers each day.

Kendel Ortiz, Deputy Director, M/W Training, MTA Metro-North Railroad

(Honorable Mention, 2025)

Ortiz’s work at Metro-North reflects a deep commitment to safety culture, operational excellence, and the development of the next generation of rail leaders. He played a key role in designing the award-winning Train Approach Warning VR training program, which has become a nationally recognized model for immersive, high-risk safety instruction, and helped to develop the QR-code qualification card system, a breakthrough in credential tracking that allows employees and supervisors to instantly view training status and certifications by scanning a code. Within M/W, Ortiz has modernized critical programs such as the Track Foreman School, MW-4 Refresher, and Track Car Pilot Qualification plan, ensuring consistency, transparency, and strong safety alignment. He has also pioneered microlearning, interactive job aids, and SharePoint-based learning hubs that make complex rules and standards more accessible to employees in the field. One of his most impactful initiatives outside of work is his leadership in organizing the Los Rancheros Unidos Softball League, a community-based program that not only brings people together but also promotes mentorship and teamwork.

Matthew Peagler, IHB Terminal Operations & Network Coordinator at CIROC (Chicago Integrated Rail Operations Center), Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad

Peagler is working to improve operational efficiency, workforce management, and interline coordination within one of the most complex rail environments in North America, the Chicago Terminal. In his roles with IHB and Terminal coordination functions, he has supported daily interline operations involving multiple Class I’s by improving communication, planning, and execution during periods of high-traffic volume. Peagler led initiatives to standardize operational processes, reduce service disruptions, and improve reliability at critical interchange points on the national freight network, and played a key role in advancing workforce and crew-management modernization efforts, including planning and governance for new crew-management systems and improving transparency, compliance, and operational readiness. He has also developed dashboards, forecasting tools, and governance frameworks so leadership can better understand manpower utilization, terminal constraints and service impacts. Through these efforts, Peagler has contributed to safer, more efficient and more reliable rail service. 

Krystal Perepeluk, Director Passenger Rail, Ontario Northland

Perepeluk is leading the reinstatement of Canada’s Northlander passenger rail service between Timmins and Toronto, with connections to the Polar Bear Express. She oversees a nine-figure program budget and leads cross-departmental and multi-stakeholder coordination to ensure service is delivered on time and on budget. Previously, at Metrolinx, she helped to establish the practice of sponsorship to support delivery of multi-billion-dollar transit projects, and she served as lead sponsor for the Northeastern Passenger Rail Service expansion. Perepeluk was also instrumental in creating a dedicated negotiation team in the Capital Projects Group, directly advancing GO Expansion through agreements on grade separations and level crossings. Earlier in her career, she contributed to the 2041 Regional Transportation Plan at Metrolinx, and the Northern Ontario Multimodal Strategy and High-Speed Rail initiatives at MTO. Her career reflects a consistent commitment to building strong partnerships, advancing innovation in passenger services, and delivering transformative rail projects that strengthen regional connectivity. 

Ryan Ramirez, Engineer V–Senior, Project Engineer, RailPros

Ramirez has contributed to high-profile projects for the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, Southern California Regional Rail Authority, and Port of Long Beach, leading teams and demonstrating an exceptional ability to coordinate, communicate, and guide others. He served as Deputy Project Manager and Resident Engineer on the $67 million Los Angeles Union Station Rehabilitation and Modernization Project, and helped RailPros successfully complete extensive outage coordination while ensuring that no SCRRA trains were delayed because of construction. The project earned both regional and national awards from the Construction Management Association of America. For SCRRA’s 25-Year Metrolink Rehabilitation Plan, Ramirez assisted with strategic goals and multi-year budget development, and provided recommendations for rehab projects. He has also served as Terminal Track Inspection Lead for POLB and helped update the crossing inventory of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the Pacific Harbor Line for the FRA and California Public Utilities Commission. Within RailPros, Ramirez is a mentor, helping team members grow their careers.

Max Schwartz, U.S. Director-Rail, Hatch

A Professional Civil Engineer and Certified Reliability Engineer, Schwartz’s training and experience is in project management, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, signal systems, and telecommunications. He served CSX for nearly 10 years as Manager of Track Testing, Manager of Network Operations, Communications & Signals, and Engineer Standards II, before joining Hatch in 2023 as a project manager. Schwartz was a member of the Executive Steering Committee for the Howard Street Tunnel Expansion project, and led diverse teams in his work on projects in Mexico, Jamaica, Panama, and Australia that demanded cultural, regulatory, and logistical adaptability. He overcame the challenge of designing under severe constraints for the SPCT Redevelopment and SunCoke expansions, which involved restricted space and operating limitations. Schwartz’s goal is to lead and grow Hatch’s freight rail group, deliver high-impact rail infrastructure projects, advance industry standards, integrate multidisciplinary engineering approaches, and strengthen stakeholder relationships. He supports and is a member of AREMA committees 1 (Roadway & Ballast) and 5 (Track).

Shannon Simonds, Chief, Office of Rail Planning & Implementation, Caltrans, Division of Rail

Simonds has delivered transformative improvements to rail governance and project delivery in California. She modernized the state’s delivery framework to strengthen accountability, improve interagency coordination, and ensure projects advance clear public benefits. According to her nominator, Simonds’ work has reshaped how Caltrans, the Joint Powers Authorities, and partner agencies collaborate, creating a unified and efficient model that maximizes funding and protects critical timelines. She also positioned California to take full advantage of federal opportunities by aligning state programs with the FRA Corridor ID initiative. Through her leadership, the nominator said, California is better able to compete for federal funding and advance corridor development in a structured, compliant, and strategic way. Simonds also gives back. Within the Division of Rail, she has created a year-long training program that builds staff proficiency in rail operations, delivery practices, and program management. Additionally, she serves on the TRB’s Committee on Rail Transit Systems to help shape research priorities and elevate best practices across the passenger rail industry.

Susannah Sullivan, Senior General Attorney, Law, Union Pacific

As a first-generation railroader and fifth-generation lawyer, Sullivan has represented the nation’s Class I’s across multiple states since 2017. At UP, she works to defend the railroad in personal injury and employment lawsuits and has been part of cases whose favorable resolutions were reached after employing innovative litigation discovery techniques and motion practice. She has also been part of a specialized team to help accelerate the law department’s AI processes and resources. Whether arguing in the courtroom or providing advice to her operating partners, her creativity and common sense help drive results for UP. Licensed to practice law in Illinois, Missouri, the U.S. District Courts of Illinois (Southern, Central and Northern), and the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Sullivan was recognized four consecutive years as an “Illinois Emerging Lawyer.” Additionally, she was selected to participate in UP’s Uplift Program, where high achieving employees are paired with executives for mentorship and professional advocacy. Outside of work, she serves on the Lake Forest (IL) Preservation Foundation’s Executive Committee Board and the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel’s Executive Committee.

Aditya Umesh, Systems Engineer, Hitachi Rail

Umesh is a Systems Engineer who over the past six years has rapidly progressed from verification and validation and commissioning into technical leadership for global driverless metro systems. He has led and supported onboard system-level integration for major programs including the Honolulu Skyline, Copenhagen Metro, Rome Line C, Milan metro projects, and others. Through improved requirements traceability, early integration planning, and structured validation strategies, his work contributed to an approximately 15% reduction in rework and measurable efficiency improvements across projects. Umesh also supports early-stage bidding and planning efforts for future driverless systems across Europe and Asia. He earned Hitachi’s 2024 Rail Values Award–Grand Prix (Global) for contributions to the Global Onboard Vital Platform Development Project and Rail Values Award–Pioneering Spirit (Global) for innovation and leadership on the same global platform initiative. As a University of Massachusetts alumnus, Umesh engages with students and recent grads to introduce them to rail industry opportunities in signaling, automation, and driverless systems, where he sees a need for more young talent and fresh perspectives. 

Satish Vijayaraghavan, Head of Quality, North America, Rolling Stock and Components, Alstom

A 15-year Alstom veteran, Vijayaraghavan started as an engineer and progressed to roles in Operations, Supply Chain and Quality. He is now accountable for the quality of rolling stock products developed and manufactured in North America. He oversees 250-plus people across nine sites, and manages a 15-project portfolio, including Toronto’s Citadis LRVs; Vancouver’s Mark V metro trains; NJT and Metra commuter rail vehicles; Amtrak Next Generation High Speed Trains; BART rapid transit cars; SEPTA LRVs; and Automated People Mover vehicles for the Denver, Atlanta and Tampa airports. He has reduced defects per unit by 40% across the portfolio; reduced external defects detected by customers by 33%; improved customer satisfaction scores by 7%; reduced the backlog of safety issues from an average of eight to zero; and increased gender diversity to more than 40% on his team. In 2021, he was instrumental in developing a strategic plan to preserve Alstom’s La Pocatière facility in Quebec as it approached the end of major program work, resulting in a $C56 million investment by the Quebec government and protecting more than 300 manufacturing jobs. 

Ben Wahlen, Regional Vice President, Transportation–West, Patriot Rail

Wahlen began his railroad career in 2018 with the Golden Triangle Railroad in Columbus, Miss. He earned conductor and engineer certifications and played a key role in upgrading safety and service standards across Patriot Rail properties. He later became the company’s first management trainee and was appointed Trainmaster when Patriot acquired Salt Lake Garfield & Western in 2021. He has since transitioned to Operations Manager and to Regional Manager at multiple locations. In his current role, he has spearheaded the operations team through the acquisition of a scenic railroad (now called the Granite State Railway) and rail bikes operation, one of the company’s most complex integrations. Wahlen turned a challenging transition into an opportunity for growth, according to his nominator, navigating cultural differences, aligning operational processes, building trust across teams, and elevating the rider experience. He also led the successful launch of the Gettysburg Railway. According to his nominator, Wahlen “exemplifies what it means to lead through change.” His goal: to grow and develop leaders who make the railroad industry an innovative, safe place to work.

Ben Wilson, Senior Financial Analyst, Anacostia Rail Holdings Company

Wilson joined Anacostia Rail Holdings in 2014 as a Staff Accountant for subsidiary Louisville & Indiana Railroad Company. LIRC created the position to support a new joint facility arrangement with CSX and a $130 million project upgrading 106 miles of track between Indianapolis and Louisville and replacing a more than 100-year-old bridge. Based on his successful management of the project’s complicated accounting, he was promoted to Senior Staff Accountant. Upon completion of construction in 2019, he rose to Financial Analyst for the ARH corporate team and now provides executive and senior management with monthly revenue results, overview analysis, and annual projections, including analyzing the revenue process across the company’s six U.S. railroads. Wilson was integral to LIRC’s recent conversion to a new freight revenue management system and is working closely with operations and marketing to evaluate current business and prospective customer opportunities to ensure company growth. He is fast becoming a company leader, demonstrating not only a strong work ethic but also a desire to grow. He rode with train crews and shadowed maintenance-of-way workers when he signed on and now participates in customer safety audit rides to gain a hands-on understanding of capital investments. In 2025, he earned an MBA from Purdue University.

(All Honoree Photographs Courtesy of the Respective Organizations)

For more on the Railway Age “Fast Trackers” 25 Under 40 program, read:

• Railway Age 25 Under 40 Awards 2025
• 25 Under 40 2024: Part 1 of 4
• 25 Under 40 2024: Part 2 of 4
• 25 Under 40 2024: Part 3 of 4
• 25 Under 40 2024: Part 4 of 4
• Railway Age’s 2023 “Fast Trackers” 25 Under 40 Honorees
• Railway Age’s 2022 “Fast Trackers” 20 Under 40 Honorees
• Railway Age’s 2021 “Fast Trackers” 20 Under 40 Honorees
• Railway Age’s 2020 “Fast Trackers” 10 Under 40 Honorees
• Railway Age’s 2019 “Fast Trackers” 10 Under 40 Honorees
• Railway Age’s 2018 “Fast Trackers” 10 Under 40 Honorees
• Railway Age’s 2017 “Fast Trackers” 10 Under 40 Honorees

The post Railway Age 25 Under 40 Awards appeared first on Railway Age.

MBTA (Photograph Courtesy of Michael Rooks, Chief Railroad Officer, MBTA, via LinkedIn)

In continued recognition of the passenger railroads that “laid the foundation” for today’s MBTA Commuter Rail network, the transit authority on Feb. 6 released an overhauled F40 locomotive painted in the legacy orange, white, and black paint scheme of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (the New Haven; see above). It is now serving Commuter Rail lines that operate in and out of South Station.

The New Haven unit is the second of a series of three heritage units—all F40s—that have been updated and repainted in legacy schemes. A unit with the Boston & Maine Railroad scheme was introduced last September, and a unit with the New York Central Railroad scheme will debut “in the coming weeks,” according to MBTA.

MBTA Chief Railroad Officer Michael Rooks reported via LinkedIn that “a third-generation railroader, whose father and grandfather both worked for the New Haven, took the throttle for the first revenue trip” of MBTA’s New Haven heritage unit on Feb. 6. (Courtesy of Michael Rooks, via LinkedIn)

They represent the last of 37 MBTA locomotives that originally entered service between 1987 and 1991 and were recently overhauled and upgraded with remote monitoring and diagnostics, forward-facing and cab cameras, and modern brake and control systems, according to the transit authority.  

The New Haven Railroad formed the bulk of the Southside Commuter Rail lines. In 1973, MBTA purchased ex-New Haven commuter rail infrastructure and rolling stock, including the Providence/Stoughton Line, Fairmont Line, Franklin Line, Needham Line and the Old Colony Lines (Kingston, Greenbush, Fall River and New Bedford). The Boston & Maine Railroad once made up the entire Northside of MBTA’s current network, and the New York Central (Boston and Albany) Railroad historically operated what is now the Worcester Line. 

Separately, MBTA last fall paid tribute to the 1970s by putting a refurbished locomotive with a retro paint scheme into service. The locomotive sported a classic yellow stripe on the front with a purple wraparound.

PATH (Courtesy of PANY/NJ)

PATH in 2025 welcomed aboard 60.7 million riders, up 6.1% from 2024 and representing 74% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, according to parent company PANY/NJ. In December, PATH reached 79% of December 2019 levels, tying September 2025 for highest monthly recovery relative to pre-pandemic figures, PANY/NJ reported Feb 6. The system carried 5.1 million passengers in December, up 6% from the same month in 2024.

Average weekday ridership in December 2025 was 187,930 passengers, up 3.3% from December 2024. Across 2025, the annual average weekday ridership of 198,401 passengers represented a 6.6% increase over 2024.

Weekend ridership outpaced pre-pandemic figures across 2025, according to PANY/NJ. Annual average Saturday ridership was up 2.4% from 2019 and annual average Sunday ridership grew 3.3% from 2019.

PATH Map (Courtesy of PATH)

Average weekday PATH ridership in November 2025 was 210,325 passengers, the fourth highest for any month since the pandemic, PANY/NJ reported in early January. That was 6.5% higher than average weekday ridership in November 2024, it said. November 2025’s average Saturday ridership of 117,658 was up 9.6% from November 2019, and average Sunday ridership of 84,149 was up 9.2% from November 2019. PATH reached 75% of pre-pandemic ridership in October 2025.

Further Reading:

• PATH: $2.6B Capital Plan for 2026-2035
• Garcia Tapped to Lead PANY/NJ

Amtrak

The Amtrak Board of Directors last month held its public board meeting, offering what “America’s Railroad” called “a transparent look at the company’s financial and operational performance and previewing key strategic priorities for 2026” (watch above). Leaders, it said, also shared updates on major infrastructure projects that will “continue to modernize the passenger experience and strengthen the national network” (download presentation below).

Amtrak-Public-Board-Meeting-Presentation-012826Download

According to Amtrak, key highlights from the meeting were:

• “Capital investment up 5.8% over last year, reflecting continued momentum across infrastructure and fleet programs.
• “First-quarter ridership up 4.7%, building on sustained demand for passenger rail nationwide, including strong demand from state services in California, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
• “Customer On-Time Performance up 4.7 points compared to last year, underscoring improvements in reliability and service delivery, especially among our Class I freight railroad partners, such as Norfolk Southern, who have shown dramatic improvements in moving more Amtrak trains on time.”

The previous Board meeting was held Dec. 5, 2025. To learn more, read Railway Age Contributing Editor David Peter Alan’s report here and download the presentation below.

Amtrak-Public-Board-Meeting-Presentation-120425 copyDownload Further Reading:

• Want Your Funding? Name That Train Station After Me!
• PSNY Master Developers Shortlisted. Now What?
• Portal North Bridge Cutover Coming Soon
• AmeriStarRail’s Amtrak L-D ‘Grand Conveyance’ Trains
• No Clear Track Ahead
• Amtrak 2025: The Rest of the Story
• For Amtrak, ‘A Year of Records’
• Amtrak Board: ‘We’re Just Getting Better, Year After Year’

The post Transit Briefs: MBTA, PATH, Amtrak appeared first on Railway Age.

CN

CN recently announced that January 2026 was its “second-best” January on record for grain movement. It shipped more than 2.72 million metric tons (MMT) of grain from Western Canada, down slightly from the 2.85 MMT “all-time record” set in January 2020. Despite extreme cold weather across its 20,000-mile rail network, CN said it “adjusted its operations to safely and efficiently move Canadian grain to market supporting farmers, along with supply chain and agriculture partners.” The railroad noted that it continues to execute its winter operations plan.

CN also reported setting a new monthly record for grain movement in December, marking its fourth consecutive record month. It moved 2.82 MMT-plus of grain from Western Canada, surpassing its previous December record set in 2020 by more than 80,000 metric tons.

Separately, CPKC in January moved 2.395 million MMT of Canadian grain and grain projects, beating its previous January tonnage record set in 2023, the railroad reported Feb. 2. January 2026’s 24,688 carloads also set a new monthly record, it said, surpassing the previous high set in January 2023. Through the first 26 weeks of the 2025-26 crop year, CPKC shipped more than 15.1 MMT of grain and grain products. These are the largest totals since the record-setting 2020-21 crop year, according to the CPKC.

Further Reading:

• CN: ‘Disciplined Execution, Relentless Focus’
• CPKC: ‘Exceptional Execution in Challenging Market’
• CTA Releases Annual Maximum Grain Revenue Entitlements for CN, CPKC (part of Class I Briefs)
• CN, CPKC: Ready for 2025-26 Grain Service
• CTA Sets CN, CPKC 2025-2026 VRCPIs

Meanwhile, CN recently reported teaming with Stanley Robotics. “Together, we’re testing autonomous technology at our Concord automotive compound to explore smarter, safer, and more efficient ways to move finished vehicles,” the Class I wrote in a social media post that shared a specially produced Stanley Robotics video (see above).

(Screen Grab from Stanley Robotics Video)

“This successful implementation [at CN] is the result of close, ongoing collaboration between the CN and Stanley Robotics teams to tailor the solution to CN’s environment,” the supplier said in the video. “Today, robots are moving vehicles with precision and reliability through CN facilities, running 24/7 in all weather conditions, and delivering significant efficiency and increased productivity.”

(Screen Grab From Stanley Robotics Video)

“Running a site in the finished vehicle logistics industry requires synchronizing countless moving elements,” pointed out Abdoulahi Deme, Vice President Operations at Stanley Robotics, in the video. “Our end-to-end-solution connects all the dots, ensuring sites remain operational with maximum flow efficiency. Athena is the heart of the solution. It monitors robots in real time, orchestrates workflows, and enables full autonomy delivering actionable insights.”

Separately, CSX subsidiary Total Distribution Services Inc. last spring rolled out an autonomous electric shuttle at its Selkirk facility in New York, which it said “is transforming daily transportation for employees.”

CPKC

One year ago today, we dedicated the second span of the Patrick J. Ottensmeyer International Railway Bridge, the only railroad bridge crossing the Rio Grande, linking Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, across the U.S.-Mexico border.

By providing new capacity, the… pic.twitter.com/zUkvmaL5aJ

— CPKC (@CPKCrail) February 6, 2026

“One year ago today [Feb. 6], we dedicated the second span of the Patrick J. Ottensmeyer International Railway Bridge, the only railroad bridge crossing the Rio Grande, linking Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, across the U.S.-Mexico border,“ CPKC reported via social media.

By providing new capacity, the Ottensmeyer bridge, it said, “enables more secure and more efficient international trade via our new services providing expanded options and reach to our customers.“ The railroad noted that its premium MMX service connects Chicago to Mexico while its SMX provides “those secure, efficient cross border service options“ to customers moving goods from the Southeast and Dallas to Mexico.

(Courtesy of OpenRailwayMap.org)

”The name Patrick J. Ottensmeyer will forever be a part of the proud history of Kansas City Southern and the legacy of CPKC,” CPKC President and CEO Keith Creel said during the 2025 ribbon-cutting ceremony dedicating the bridge. “Pat believed strongly in the work our railroaders do every day enabling trade amongst great nations. His leadership and vision led to the development and completion of the second span of the international bridge between the United States and Mexico at North America’s largest inland gateway. Having it bear his name is a fitting tribute to a remarkable leader and person.”  

Completion of this $100 million rail bridge and track work, built to accommodate growing trade between the U.S. and its largest trading partner, Mexico, “expands the capacity of the most secure and efficient railway trade corridor between the U.S. and Mexico,” CPKC said upon the bridge’s completion. “The Ottensmeyer bridge is the only railroad bridge crossing the Rio Grande River linking Laredo and Nuevo Laredo across the international border.”

KCS broke ground on the project in late 2022. Key features of the Ottensmeyer Bridge, for which a U.S. Presidential Permit for construction was received in July 2020:

• New second bridge with total length of 1,170 feet.
• Ballasted deck plate girder bridge built with six reinforced concrete piers.
• Second track bridge constructed on the right-of-way roughly 35 feet from the existing bridge, allowing bidirectional cross-border movements.
• 4,500 feet of new track.
• Enhanced border security investments, including a new VACIS X-ray railcar inspection system and surveillance cameras.

“Completion of this internationally important project more than doubles our capacity to move freight through the border at the largest international trade port of entry in North America,” said Creel, Railway Age’s 2021 and, with Ottensmeyer, 2022 Railroader of the Year, in February 2025. “This is an important milestone that keeps Laredo-Nuevo Laredo at the center of North American trade, allowing the secure and efficient movement of more imports and exports across the U.S.-Mexico border. By linking expanding markets for our customers, this CPKC investment will accelerate growth between the industrial heartland of Mexico and points across the United States and Canada. Pat’s leadership and vision were instrumental in the development and successful completion of this project. His legacy lives on in the work we do at CPKC each and every day, enabling growing international trade across three great nations—Canada, the United States and Mexico.”

Join Railway Age on March 10, 2026, for our “Next-Gen Freight Rail Conference” at the Union League Club of Chicago. Among the confirmed speakers are Keith Creel, Jim Vena (UP), Mark George (NS), Tracy Robinson (CN), Tom G. Williams (BNSF), and Patrick Fuchs and Michelle Schultz (STB).

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

Fuchs also released reports last year in May, June and September.

Following are the 13 recent actions the agency said it has taken “to facilitate and expedite the resolution of several outstanding Board proceedings”:

• “Great Redwood Trail Agency—Adverse Abandonment—Mendocino Railway in Mendocino County, Cal. (AB 1305 (Sub-No. 1)). In April 2024, the Great Redwood Trail Agency filed an application under 49 U.S.C. § 10903 requesting that the Board authorize the third-party, or ‘adverse,’ abandonment of an approximately 40-mile stub-ended rail line owned by Mendocino Railway between Fort Bragg and Willits, California. Chairman Fuchs has offered a draft action for consideration by the full Board and expects the Board to issue a decision in February 2026.

• “Consolidated Rail Corp.—Abandonment Exemption—in Hudson County, N.J. (AB 167 (Sub-No. 1189X)). This long-standing proceeding involves a request from Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) for authority to abandon an approximately 1.36-mile portion of a line of railroad, known as the Harsimus Branch, located in the City of Jersey City, New Jersey.  In May 2025, the Board, through the Acting Director of the Office of Proceedings, rejected the City of Jersey City’s Offer of Financial Assistance to purchase certain of Conrail’s interests in the Harsimus Branch, which has been appealed to the full Board. Chairman Fuchs has offered a draft action for consideration by the full Board and expects the Board to issue a decision in February 2026.

• “The Great Walton Railroad Company—Petition for Declaratory Order (AB 1242 (Sub-No. 1)). This long-standing proceeding involves a request for the Board to issue a declaratory order clarifying that a portion of the Great Walton Railroad Company’s runaround track in Hart County, Georgia, is a rail line subject to the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction. Chairman Fuchs intends to offer a draft action for consideration by the full Board and expects the Board to issue a decision in February 2026.

• “Improving STB Environmental Regulations. Consistent with Executive Order 14154, Unleashing American Energy, issued January 20, 2025, and related guidance from the Council on Environmental Quality issued in September 2025, Chairman Fuchs has offered a draft action for consideration by the full Board and expects the Board to issue a decision in February 2026.

• “Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway—Operating Rights—Southern Pacific Transportation Co. (FD 22218). In May 2023, the Board granted a petition by Union Pacific, as successor to Southern Pacific, to reopen this proceeding to revise conditions governing trackage rights of BNSF, as successor to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, over a 67.8-mile UP-owned rail line between Kern Junction and Mojave, California, known as the Tehachapis Line. In February 2025, following a discovery dispute, the Board restarted the procedural schedule. Chairman Fuchs intends to offer a draft action for consideration by the full Board in February 2026.

• “National Association of Reversionary Property Owners—Petition for Rulemaking (EP 778). On Aug. 11, 2025, the National Association of Reversionary Property Owners filed a petition for rulemaking requesting that the Board institute a proceeding to revise to the agency’s regulations implementing the National Trails System Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1247(d). Chairman Fuchs intends to offer a draft action for consideration by the full Board in February 2026.

• “CPKC Oversight Canadian Pacific Railway—Control—Kansas City Southern (General Oversight) (FD 36500 (Sub-No. 6)). In March 2023, the Board approved the acquisition of control by Canadian Pacific of Kansas City Southern, resulting in Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). The Board’s approval is subject to a seven-year oversight period, during which the Board is closely monitoring CPKC’s compliance with, and the effectiveness of, the conditions imposed by the Board. In September 2025, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific filed separate letters with the Board raising concerns related to service commitments made by CPKC in the merger proceeding regarding the Meridian Speedway, a rail line between Meridian, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana. Chairman Fuchs intends to offer a draft action for consideration by the full Board in February 2026.

• “Ohio Rail Development Commission—Petition for Declaratory Order (FD 36822). In December 2024, the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) filed a petition for declaratory order asking the Board to find that (1) a rail line owned by ORDC, which extends 43.2 miles from North Warren to Ashtabula, Ohio (the Line), remains subject to the Board’s jurisdiction; (2) certain state law adverse possession claims asserted by an individual with respect to the Line are preempted; and (3) the Line was railbanked pursuant to federal law prior to the issuance of the railbanking regulations.  In March 2025, the Board instituted a proceeding and set a procedural schedule. Chairman Fuchs intends to offer a draft action for consideration by the full Board in March 2026.

• “Richmond Waterfront Industrial Park, LLC—Petition for Declaratory Order (FD 36710). On July 28, 2023, Richmond Waterfront Industrial Park, LLC (RWIP), filed a petition for a declaratory order requesting that the Board declare that a purported railroad easement owned by the Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad and traversing RWIP’s property is not, and has never been, subject to the Board’s jurisdiction. In May 2024, the Board instituted a proceeding and set a procedural schedule, which was extended several times at the parties’ request. Chairman Fuchs intends to offer a draft action for consideration by the full Board in March 2026.

• “Norfolk Southern Corporation—Acquisition of Control—Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Company (FD 36836). In February 2025, Norfolk Southern (NS) sought Board approval to acquire control of Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Company, a Class III rail carrier operating in Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Chesapeake, Virginia, that NS has effectively controlled for 42 years. In March 2025, the Board found the transaction to be ‘significant’ under the Board’s regulations. NS filed a supplement in June 2025, and in July 2025 the Board found that the application was complete and adopted a procedural schedule. Chairman Fuchs expects the Board to issue a decision in April 2026.

• “Joint Petition for Exemption of Arbitration Rule from Application of 49 U.S.C. § 10706 and Motion to Dismiss (EP 334 (Sub-No. 8A)). In March 2024, the Railway Supply Institute (RSI) filed a petition requesting that the Board reopen this proceeding, review Rule 25 of the Code of Car Hire (the Rule), and either condition or terminate the agency’s approval of the Rule. The Rule, which established the process for setting car-hire rates, was approved in 1992. In April 2025, the Board held the matter in abeyance to permit private review of the Rule, and that review has concluded.  Chairman Fuchs intends to offer a draft action for consideration by the full Board in April 2026.

• “Policy Statement on Preemption. In September 2025, the Board received a letter from a coalition of six railroad and shipper organizations requesting that the Board issue guidance on the scope and application of federal preemption under the ICC Termination Act of 1995. Board members issued a joint response letter that month, noting the coalition’s consensus of views and stating that the Board was considering issuing a policy statement on preemption. Chairman Fuchs intends to offer a draft action for consideration by the full Board in May 2026.

• “BNSF Railway Company—Terminal Trackage Rights—Kansas City Southern Railway Company (FD 32760 (Sub-No. 46)). In this long-standing proceeding, the Board in July 2016 granted BNSF terminal trackage rights over the Rosebluff Lead, a single track approximately nine miles in length jointly owned by Kansas City Southern and Union Pacific in the Lake Charles area of Louisiana. In 2020, pursuant to a request by BNSF, the Board established conditions of use for BNSF to directly serve a LyondellBasell facility and set forth a procedure for setting compensation.  The Board received extensive briefing and analysis, held a technical conference, and required the submission of supplemental analysis and data. Chairman Fuchs intends to offer a draft action for consideration by the full Board in May 2026.

Further Reading:

• STB Prioritizing Reforms
• STB Looks to Streamline Operations
• More Productive STB to Repay Treasury
• STB Chairman Patrick Fuchs – RAIL GROUP ON AIR

The post STB Continues Clearing Case Backlog appeared first on Railway Age.

A Minnesota-based nonprofit, formed more than a decade ago to determine whether a modern steam locomotive could be built, is now being reorganized to care for and maintain the Santa Fe 4-6-4 it planned to use as a testbed. 

The Coalition for Sustainable Rail is now the Kaw Valley Rail Heritage Conservancy, which is leading the cosmetic restoration of Santa Fe “Super Hudson” 3463 in Topeka, Kan. Built by Baldwin in 1937, locomotive 3463 was assigned to passenger service on the east end of the Santa Fe through the 1940s and into the 1950s. The Hudson and its sister locomotives were fast and powerful, and were often chosen to lead the railroad’s finest passenger trains. After it was retired, it was put on display in Topeka. 

In 2021, the Coalition for Sustainable Rail launched an effort to restore the engine to service and convert it to burn biofuel in an effort to find a more sustainable fuel for preserved steam engines. Unfortunately, that effort was derailed by an ownership dispute. While CSR’s ownership was ultimately affirmed, by the time the legal issues were resolved, the project no longer made sense. Now CSR is shifting its focus toward caring for the engine. The Kaw Valley Rail Heritage Conservancy is now seeking community involvement, partnerships, and donations to assist with ongoing cosmetic work, interpretive planning, and the development of a sustainable stewardship framework to ensure that 3463 remains a source of civic pride for generations to come.

“The Kaw Valley Rail Heritage Conservancy represents a grassroots continuation of CSR’s mission—focused now on historical preservation and community engagement,” said Mark Smelser, President of KVRHC. “Locomotive No. 3463, designed by Santa Fe’s own engineers here in Topeka, is a direct link to both Kansas’ railroading legacy and the nation’s industrial ingenuity. We are inviting the community to join us in supporting the continued cosmetic stabilization and, ultimately, a full cosmetic restoration of this last surviving ‘Super Hudson.’”

—Justin Franz 

The post Non-Profit Reorganized to Care for Santa Fe 4-6-4 appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

Farrukh Bezar and Railway Age Editor-In-Chief William C. Vantuono discuss the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk merger to create the first east-west transcontinental Class I railroad in the U.S. Bezar offers his views on market conditions and the regulatory environment, truck-to-rail conversion, rail-to-rail competition, and how the merger could impact the North American rail industry, among other topics of interest.

Farrukh Bezar has more than 30 years of consulting, investment and industry experience in the transportation, logistics, financial services and supply chain industries. His areas of expertise include strategic planning and growth strategy, operations improvement, sales effectiveness and mergers and acquisitions support. A Partner at Littlejohn & Company, an integrated private equity and special situations investor focused on industrial and services companies in North America, Bezar is a strategic advisor, board member and investor across the transportation and logistics sector. Bezar spent five years at CSX as Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer and Senior Vice President, Marketing. Launching his career as a Senior Analyst, Intermodal Marketing & Sales at the Santa Fe Railway, he has also held senior-level positions at The Clarendon Group, Oliver Wyman, A.T. Kearney and Booz Allen & Hamilton. He also was a Founding Partner of Miami-based Lynwood Capital Partners.

Farrukh Bezar is a featured speaker at the Railway Age “Next-Gen Freight Rail Conference” at the Union League Club of Chicago, March 10, 2026. Confirmed participants include Jim Vena (UP), Mark George (NS), Keith Creel (CPKC), Tracy Robinson (CN), Tom G. Williams (BNSF),Patrick Fuchs and Michelle Schultz (STB), and 2026 Railroader of the Year John Orr.

The post UP-NS Merger Perspectives, With Farrukh Bezar: RAIL GROUP ON AIR appeared first on Railway Age.

Once again, POTUS 47’s efforts at creating chaos have been trumped: Federal Judge Jeannette A. Vargas of the Southern District of New York late Friday, Feb. 6 blocked the Administration from freezing billions in funding for the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project (HTP), centerpiece of the Gateway Program, pending ongoing litigation. “Plaintiffs have adequately demonstrated that they would imminently suffer” irreparable harm, Judge Vargas wrote in her 11-page ruling, if the HTP was “forced to shut down its operations.”

“The Gateway Development Commission is pleased with the court’s decision today,” GDC said in a statement. “We thank our partners in New York and New Jersey for taking action to help us access the federal funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project. As soon as funds are released, we will work quickly to restart site operations and get our workers back on the job. The Gateway Program is the most urgent major infrastructure program in the country—a comprehensive set of rail investments that will improve commuter and intercity services, add needed resiliency, and create new capacity for the busiest section of the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The NEC is the most heavily used passenger rail line in the country, hosting more than 2,200 train movements and 800,000 passenger trips daily.”

HTP workers had been preparing for a pause of unpredictable duration. Under the direction of GDC CEO Tom Prendergast (Railway Age’s 2017 Railroader of the Year), they did not remove cranes and other equipment from the job sites just yet. “If the pause is going to be days and weeks, it could stay here,” Prendergast told The New York Times. “If it’s going to be months, that would be a different story.” Prendergast, a public transportation icon, especially in the New York Metropolitan area, had guided Phase 1 of MTA New York City Transit’s Second Avenue Subway to revenue service in 2016, among numerous other accomplishments in his decades-long career.

The GDC has been seeking release of HTP federal funding withheld since October 2025. POTUS 47 has said the project is “terminated,” though he and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have given conflicting public statements on its status.

That’s par for the course. POTUS 47, most of the time unhinged, spluttering nonsense and out of touch with reality, says and does what he wants. Administration officials must be exhausted continuously having to say, “Well, what the President really meant was … ” Eventually, when the air and energy have been sucked out of the room, one escapes to a more peaceful place, where breathing is easier and the dark clouds seem further away.

On Feb. 6, HTP construction halted at 5:00 p.m. EST, resulting in the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs—which thankfully proved temporary. In October, POTUS 47 and the USDOT began withholding federal funding payments for the HTP and Phase 2 of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Second Avenue Subway projects in October, stating that payment requests could not be processed during project reviews it had ordered. Such “reviews” have been based on USDOT’s nonsensical notion that it needed to investigate whether “any unconstitutional practices” are occurring within the projects after the agency ruled that “race and sex-based presumptions of social and economic disadvantage that violate the U.S. Constitution” should be removed from the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, which is intended to favor small businesses when awarding contracts for federally funded projects.

How ridiculous is that?

Better days, August 2025: Gateway Development Commission CEO Tom Prendergast (center) shows FTA Administrator Marc Molinaro and FRA Administrator David Fink progress across five active construction sites in the year since securing full funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project. In my opinion, career railroader David Fink is one of the few people in this Administration 100% qualified for his position, much like former FRA Administration Ron Batory, who served during the POTUS 45 Administration. During the Biden Administration, the FRA under Amit Bose took ten steps backward. But that’s another story. GDC photo.

US DOT officials had said that funding halt “would last until a review of the project’s contracts for compliance with new policies regarding diversity could be completed,” The New York Times reported. GDC Executive Vice President Catherine Rinaldi said the Commission had responded to all of the USDOT requests and that all of its contracts with DBEs had been “appropriately certified.”

Additionally, the GDC sued the USDOT for breach of contract in a federal court in Washington Feb. 2, contending that it was owed more than $200 million in expenses that had not been reimbursed. The States of New York and New Jersey filed a separate suit in federal court in Manhattan.

The White House has accused Democratic politicians of failing to negotiate with the POTUS 47 Administration to secure a “deal” (POTUS 47’s most frequently used word in his rather limited lexicon) for the project’s future. The Administration blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats for refusing to negotiate, and “alluding to their stances on immigration policies,” according to the New York Times.

On top of that, POTUS 47, displaying his usual extreme sense of entitlement and grandiosity, had approached Schumer offering to releasethe funds in exchange for Schumer supporting naming Penn Station New York after him as well as Dulles International Airport, to include changing its IAD designation to DJT.Schumer rebuffed POTUS 47.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) responded Feb. 5 on social media to POTUS 47’s proposed “my name in very, very big letters if you want your train money” offer. “These naming rights aren’t tradable as part of any negotiations, and neither is the dignity of New Yorkers,” Gillibrand said on X. “I demand that the President put people first and unfreeze this project and all the others his Administration has been holding hostage for his personal gain.”

The governors of New York and New Jersey expressed satisfaction at Judge Vargas’ ruling. “Today, a judge affirmed what we’ve said from the start: Our case against the [POTUS 47] Administration is likely to succeed, and [POTUS 47’s] attempt to rip away funding and derail the Gateway Project is likely to be found unlawful,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York.

Newly installed Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey agreed: “I am thrilled that the court has granted temporary relief, lifting the freeze of billions of dollars of federal funding for Gateway. [POTUS 47’s] arbitrary and politically motivated decision to freeze this funding is plainly illegal, and we will continue to pursue full relief so the nation’s most urgent transportation project can keep moving forward—and workers can keep putting food on the table.”

GDC’s lawsuit, in my humble opinion, rightfully and accurately argues that USDOT and GDC are legally bound by the terms of Capital Investment Grants (CIG), Federal-State Partnership (FSP) Grant and RAISE Grant agreements, as well as Railroad Rehabilitation and Investment Financing (RRIF) loans, since full HTP funding was secured in July 2024 during the Biden Administration. But of course, anything done during the Biden Administration to advance critical infrastructure projects was “a terrible disaster,” according to POTUS 47.

Yeah, OK …

Let’s get back to work. Give ’em hell, Tom and Cathy!

The post Judge Vargas to POTUS 47: You Will NOT Stop Gateway appeared first on Railway Age.

Theatre of the Absurd: Major media outlets have been reporting that POTUS 47 recently approached Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to offer releasing the funds for the now-halted Hudson Tunnel Project (centerpiece of the Gateway Program) in exchange for Schumer supporting naming Penn Station New York after him as well as Dulles International Airport, to include changing its IAD designation to DJT.

“The White House declined to comment, and Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment,” NBC News reported. “A source close to Schumer told NBC News that ‘there is nothing to trade.’ ‘The President stopped the funding, and he can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers,’ the source said.”

”It seems like blackmail to me,”  NJ Transit customer Brandon Ellis told The Gothamist after arriving at Penn Station.  ”If you want to appeal to a narcissist sure, go ahead … it’s a stupid thing to have to do to get funding that’s already been appropriated by Congress. Maybe they should do a cage fight about it. We can pit [Mayor Zohran] Mamdani and [POTUS 47] together. That sounds just as stupid as putting [the President’s] name on it.“

But wait! New York’s Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul seemed to come into POTUS 47’s sphere of mass delusion in April 2025. After the federal government took over the Penn Station redevelopment project last year, Hochul indicated she was open to renaming the station after [POTUS 47]. “If he puts $7 billion into it? Who knows,” she said.

Gulp! Thanks a lot, Kathy! NOT!

“POTUS 47 wasn’t in charge of selecting a design for the project two years ago,” Streetsblog writer Dave Colon opined in November. “Fast forward to 2025, and [Amtrak project head Andy] Byford has said that the President will have the final approval of the developer and its design of the project. Amtrak officials insist it’s standard practice for the President to review the project, but it’s easy to imagine would-be developers proposing extravagant and expensive touches to catch the eye of a man currently attaching gold filigree and a $300 million ballroom to the White House.”

The Hudson Tunnel Project funding was provided in a Biden era bipartisan infrastructure funding bill, and POTUS 47 had no authority to withhold the funding—or, of course, use it as a tool of extortion to add his name to yet other national treasures, like the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Aside from being afflicted with extreme cases of both ASPD and NPD,* what type of psychological needs does the President have that enable him to engage in such bizarre behavior?

Fortunately, POTUS 47’s agreeing that a Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger “sounds good to me” did not contain a demand to name the unified railroad after himself. Perhaps that‘s because several model trains have been produced with his name and/or likeness, and he has no desire to play with the 1:1 scale versions:

I have zero plans to add this abomination of a Wabtec ES44AC MTH model to my O scale collection. Shouldn’t the trucks be painted gold?

TACOs, anyone?

*ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) is characterized by a profound lack of empathy, conscience and remorse, and a disregard for social norms and others’ safety. People with this condition frequently display manipulation, deceit, impulsivity, aggression and irresponsible behavior, often struggling to form genuine emotional connections. NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) is defined by a deep-seated pattern of grandiosity, constant need for admiration and a profound lack of empathy, often paired with entitlement and manipulative tendencies. It manifests as self-centeredness, exploitation of others, arrogance, and inability to handle criticism, frequently damaging personal relationships and work environments. In POTUS 47’s case, the damage he is inflicting is affecting not just the United States, but the entire world. But this too shall pass.

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WMATA/Metro / KRC

Metro and KRC on Feb. 5 reported their “resolution of several ongoing contract disputes regarding, among other things, the [October] 2021 Blue Line derailment of a 7000-series railcar [No. 7200] that led to the entire 7000-series fleet [of 748 cars] being grounded.” A multi-party investigation, led by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and that included Metro and KRC, found that wheel migration in the 7000-series railcars contributed to the derailment.

Metro operates a 128-mile, 98-station rapid transit system that includes six lines, plus 125 bus routes throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Yonkers, N.Y.-based KRC is a U.S. subsidiary of Kawasaki Rail Car Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a Japanese company that is part of the Kawasaki Group led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.

“Following the 2021 derailment, and with support from Metro and KRC, the NTSB investigated the root cause,” Metro and KRC said. “The NTSB investigation did not assign responsibility for the cause of wheel migration, and Metro and KRC both deny responsibility or contractual liability for the wheel migration and other technical issues that are now resolved as part of a global contract resolution. The agreement reflects a mutual desire to resolve these issues without litigation, while maintaining a strong and successful partnership for the 7000-series program.”

The NTSB observed the inspection and disassembly of wheelset #4 from railcar 7200, which caused the 2021 Metro derailment in Virginia. “In accordance with wheelset design, each wheel should have been flush against its bearing when mounted,” NTSB wrote in its January 2024 derailment investigation report. “Before disassembly, the inspection identified gaps between both wheels and their respective bearings: about 0.63 inches for the right-side wheel and about 1.10 inches for the left-side wheel [see above] … The back-to-back measurement was about 55.375 inches, or about 2 inches wider than the maximum design specification.” (NTSB Image)

Metro General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke “thanked KRC leadership for their support during Metro’s return to service efforts,” according to the transit agency.

“Their technical expertise and ongoing support have been invaluable,” Clarke said. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with them to ensure our customers receive safe, frequent, and reliable service. We are happy to put this chapter behind us which will free up valuable resources for Metro to use for other capital and service projects.”

“As part of the global settlement to resolve wheel migration and other matters unrelated to the 2021 derailment, the parties agreed to reduce Metro’s remaining contractual payment obligations by up to $35 million, which will offset Metro’s costs to implement technical changes to the 7000-series railcars, address wheel migration mitigation and other unrelated efforts, and allow Metro to reallocate funding to other projects,” Metro and KRC reported. “In recognition of KRC’s strong contribution to the design, manufacture, and delivery of the 7000-series railcars, Metro also agreed to release contractual payments to KRC for successfully achieving reliability and maintainability testing benchmarks and to reduce the amount of KRC’s required performance bond.”

Clarke said: “We believe our commitment demonstrates our confidence in KRC as a partner to deliver vehicle reliability throughout the lifecycle of our 7000-series fleet.”

According to Metro, KRC President and Chief Operating Officer Yusuke Hirose “also praised the deal as a sign of the company’s longstanding support for Metro’s 7000-series program.”

Hirose said: “The state-of-the-art 7000-series railcar has been in service with Metro for over a decade demonstrating a high-level of reliability and safe operation that are essential for Metro to serve the riding public. KRC looks forward to continuing to provide Metro with the engineering expertise and technical support it needs to maximize the operational life of each 7000-series railcar.”

2026 marks 15 years since Metro awarded the contract to KRC to design, produce and deliver the 7000-series railcars. KRC has since delivered all 748 railcars.

“Based on the recommendations of engineering experts involved in the NTSB review, Metro developed a plan to press wheels on the 7000-Series fleet in-house at a higher standard,” Metro reported. “Metro and KRC disputed, among other issues, whether the original standard had been a design specification or was developed in response to a performance specification. The remediation effort has been under way at Metro since 2023 and is expected to be completed in second quarter 2026.”

Separately, Hitachi is assembling 256 8000-Series cars for WMATA under a $713 million contract awarded in March 2021 that includes a two-year warranty, parts, tools, training manuals and a cab simulator.

Further Reading:

• WMSC Audits WMATA’s Railcar Program
• NTSB Releases WMATA 2021 Derailment Report
• WMATA Addressing ‘Pressing’ Problem
• Jurisdictional Jumble
• ‘WMATA is Treading Carefully’
• NTSB Issues Wheelset Safety Alert, Preliminary Report on WMATA Derailment
• WMATA taps Kawasaki for more 7000 series cars

NCDOT (Courtesy of NCDOT)

The NCDOT’s Rail Division on Feb. 4 released a new study on restoring passenger rail service between Salisbury and Ashville that would reconnect the western mountain region to North Carolina’s existing intercity passenger rail network, NC By Train operated by Amtrak (see map, top); service was discontinued in 1975. The Western North Carolina Rail Corridor Economic Impact Report “shows how the corridor would create a critical connection between the Charlotte metropolitan area, the Piedmont Triad, the Research Triangle, and the Blue Ridge region,” according to NCDOT. “This would improve access for visitors, workers, and residents while supporting long-term economic growth.”

According to NCDOT, restoring service “responds to strong public demand as Asheville is the most requested destination not currently served by NC By Train.”

While the project is not currently funded, NCDOT said that over the course of its implementation, the corridor is estimated to generate an economic impact of 5,270 jobs per year, $360.5 million in employee earnings, $1.05 billion in economic output, and $33.6 million in state and local tax revenue.

Beyond construction, the report projects “lasting benefits for western North Carolina that extend statewide,” according to NCDOT. Service and operations on the route are estimated to support 200 sustained jobs, $23.4 million in annual employee earnings, $66.9 million in annual economic output, and $2.1 million in recurring state and local tax revenue.

Further Reading:

• NCDOT Report Shows Rail’s Importance to Economy

PennDOT (Courtesy of PennDOT)

The Scranton to New York Penn Station (NYP) Passenger Rail Corridor project continues to progress after receiving federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments, PennDOT reported Feb. 5.

The proposed project would re-establish intercity passenger rail service between Scranton, Pa., and New York Penn Station via New Jersey. “This restoration of passenger rail service has been a priority for local communities for decades,” reported PennDOT, which noted that it has also been the subject of numerous studies, including the 2021 Amtrak Connects US Corridor Vision Plan, and long-range transportation plans that show “growing demand” for intercity passenger rail service along a corridor that has heavy auto traffic and unpredictable travel times for commuters and other travelers. “The 140-mile corridor consists of 60 miles in Pennsylvania owned by the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) and 80 miles in New Jersey, primarily owned and operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) with a 20-mile section corridor of missing track owned by New Jersey DOT … The proposed corridor would connect Scranton, Pa., and New York, N.Y., with intermediate stops at Stroudsburg and Mt. Pocono, Pa., and Blairstown, Dover, Montclair, Morristown, and Newark, N.J. The proposed corridor would provide new service (three daily round trips) on mostly existing alignment, plus abandoned track to be rebuilt.”

The project was selected in 2024 to be part of the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Corridor ID program, which aims to develop formal planning studies and perform preliminary engineering for new intercity passenger rail corridors, as well as enhancements to existing passenger corridors nationwide.

With PennDOT as the lead agency and Amtrak as the proposed operator, the owners of the route—PNRRA, New Jersey DOT, NJT, and Amtrak—are all project partners in working to restore passenger service to the Scranton to New York Penn Station (NYP) Passenger Rail Corridor.

The FRA in 2025 approved PennDOT’s Service Development Plan (SDP) scope. Now PennDOT is developing the SDP, which includes:

• Stakeholder engagement with railroads, agencies, and the public.
• Service options analysis and transportation planning.
• Capital project identification, conceptualization, and cost estimating.
• Environmental analysis.
• Financial and implementation planning.

PennDOT on Feb. 19 will host an online public engagement meeting to present an overview of the Scranton to New York rail initiative, a summary of the route options, and locations for potential stations. Public comments can be provided during the meeting or through the project website.

According to PennDOT, the SDP scope’s $118,000 investment was fully funded by the Corridor ID program, and the development of the SDP—estimated at $5.46 million—will be 90% federally funded with PennDOT matching 10%.

After the SDP is completed and federally approved, the projects identified in the SDP will advance to preliminary engineering and environmental review in coordination with the FRA, according to PennDOT.

“Under Governor Josh Shapiro’s leadership, PennDOT is aggressively putting additional federal and state transportation investments to work for Pennsylvanians, whether it’s fixing our roads and bridges or restoring and improving passenger rail service,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll said. “Advancing this project ensures we will leave no stone unturned as we grow the northeastern region’s economy and mobility. We are steadfast in our commitment to the public, business leaders, and many more who look forward to restoring this passenger rail connection.”

“Amtrak looks forward to supporting PennDOT and PNRRA as they advance the proposed Scranton to New York City route through the federal planning process,” Amtrak Vice President of Network Development Nicole Bucich said. “This is an important next step to better understand the costs and benefits of this new service and to serve new communities in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We are excited about the future of this, and other, new routes across America!”

“I commend the experience, financial support, and leadership of PennDOT in advancing this vital Amtrak Corridor after many years of acquiring and developing this crucial Transportation and Economic Development Corridor,” PNRRA President Larry Malski said.

The route from Scranton to New York City last served passenger trains in 1970 as part of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. According to PennDOT, the entire right-of-way is still intact, with the majority in active use by various public rail operators:

• Starting in Scranton, the 60-mile segment of the route in Pennsylvania and across the Delaware River is owned by PNRRA and currently used for freight rail service and Steamtown excursion trains between Scranton and Slateford. One mile of track south of Slateford Junction was previously removed and will need to be reconstructed.
• The Lackawanna Cutoff, a segment of the route between Slateford, Pa., and Port Morris, N.J., carried its last freight train in 1979 as part of the Conrail network and subsequently had its track removed. The portion of this segment in New Jersey is owned by the New Jersey DOT. NJT is actively reconstructing about seven miles of track at the east end to extend its commuter service from Port Morris to Andover, N.J. The other 20 miles from the Delaware River to Andover will need to be restored.
• From Port Morris, the route will run over existing NJT commuter lines to Kearny, N.J.
• At Kearny, the route connects to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor for the last eight miles into New York Penn Station.

Further Reading:

• Amtrak, PNRAA Examine Scranton-New York Corridor
• Amtrak, Scranton to New York City?

The post Transit Briefs: WMATA/KRC, NCDOT, PennDOT appeared first on Railway Age.

Rail transit lines and transit railroads are being extended in almost every region of the United States and Canada. This phenomenon was common in past decades, but not anymore. Still, there are several new rail segments to ride in what will apparently be a short-lived situation. In this article I’ll describe these new segments and look at what we can expect for new transit starts in the future.

First a personal note. I came on board at Railway Age in the fall of 2018, and this is the first article of this sort that I have written since that time. Before then, I was Contributing Editor at the now-defunct web publication Destination: Freedom at www.nationalcorridors.org, which folded in 2017. (Founder Jim Repass died last year at 75.) Every year, I compiled a “New Starts Roundup” and wrote a shorter version for advocates that ran in the Rail Users’ Network’s RUN Newsletter. There were always enough new starts and newly opened extensions to provide enough material back in those days, but that has not happened in the past ten years or so.

On another personal note, in 2019, for 77 days, I held the distinction of having ridden every bit of rail transit in the United States (a few segments in Canada, particularly in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, had eluded me). I had essentially caught up with that feat by the end of 2024, but now there is a lot of new riding to be done, with everything that opened for service last year or will open this year.

Most of the new starts or extensions are light rail or “modern” streetcars, as opposed to the heritage style found in places like New Orleans, Dallas and San Francisco, but there are other modes, too. These lines are running or will soon run in nine metropolitan areas in the United States and three in Canada. Most regions with strong transit in the United States are represented, as are Canada’s principal cities.

U.S. Developments

Only one of the new starts is part of a transit railroad, but it’s a major addition to its system; a Y-shaped “line” serving two major destinations that had not hosted passenger trains for 67 years. It’s South Coast Rail on the “Commuter Rail” system of Boston’s MBTA, and it’s running on a temporary alignment. At this time, it runs on the Middleboro Line of what was originally the Old Colony Railroad, which later became part of the New Haven Railroad. The only town with a downtown station on the original line is Brockton, and there is a junction in Taunton (but not close to downtown) that serves as a transfer point between trains heading to or from the historic towns of New Bedford and Fall River. Cross-platform transfers are available for most trains. Service is running for the first time since 1958 and began on March 24, 2025. This writer rode in early October and filed a trip report on Oct. 17. It was a worthwhile trip to both towns. There are 74 miles of new track, with plans to move the line to the original Old Colony alignment through Stoughton, Easton and Taunton, and electrify the line, but those changes are several years off.

Chicagoland has a new line coming, but it’s not in the Windy City itself. Rather, it will be on the NICTD’s South Shore Line in Indiana. It will be a new branch off the main to South Bend Airport. It will branch off at Hammond Gateway Station, a new station in the former industrial town known for a lack of local transit and as the setting for short stories by radio personality Jean Shepherd, who wrote about growing up there in the 1930s. Local transportation will improve with the new Monon Corridor (named after its original railroad); also known as the West Lake Corridor. The nine-mile branch will have stations in downtown Hammond and in Munster. While service has not started yet, the South Shore Line’s website has posted a schedule. There will be through service to and from Chicago only during peak-commuting periods. At other times on weekdays, and on weekends, there will be shuttle runs that are poorly scheduled for connections to and from trains between Chicago and east in Indiana.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, the K.C. Streetcar in Kansas City has been a successful operation, with two extensions; one of which is now in service. That one runs south of Union Staton, a 1914 architectural masterpiece served by Amtrak trains, with most of its space now occupied by museums. The line now ends at the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC); a 4.5-mile extension. Service began on Oct. 24, 2025. At the north end, a ¾-mile extension to the River Market is scheduled to open soon.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas is the only place in the Lone Star State where rail transit is strong, and it became a bit stronger on Oct. 25. That’s when the Silver Line on Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) opened for service on track that was previously part of the old Cotton Belt Route. The line is 26 miles long, and it bypasses downtown Dallas, running north of there, between DFW Airport and a station called Shiloh Road in the northeastern part of the city. The rest of DART’s rail system consists of standard, electrified light rail lines, but the Silver Line is different. It’s considered a “commuter line” and runs with Stadler FLIRT DMU units on hourly headways, with extra service at commuting hours.

There is a lot of new rail activity in the Los Angeles area, much of it on LAMTA’s Metro Rail system. An additional 9.1 miles of the Foothills Extension, from Azusa to Pomona, opened on September 19. The light rail line was formerly identified as the Gold Line, but it’s the A Line now. A 1.2-mile light rail extension to LAX Airport entered service with a separate opening for each of the two stations. The new segment serves the C (Green) Line and the K (Crenshaw) Line. Construction is also proceeding under Wilshire Boulevard for three new segments of the D (Purple) Line. The line is currently only two stops long beyond its point of divergence from the B (Red) Line between Union Station and North Hollywood. Section 1 will bring the line west to LaCienega Boulevard, Section 2 through Beverly Hills to Century City, and Section 3 will go to UCLA in Westwood. The D and B Lines are subway lines, which run entirely underground. Plans call for completion in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

There is another project in the region, but south of the city, in Orange County. It’s the OC Streetcar, a 4.15-mile line that is slated to begin service later this year (currently planned for August) in Santa Ana and Garden Grove. It will connect at the Santa Ana station with Metrolink and Amtrak trains. It will be operated by Herzog Transit Services with Siemens S-700 cars.

Further north, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) has extended its line northward. It runs on the historic Northwestern Pacific Railiroad, now part of UP, in the area north of San Francisco Bay using Nippon Sharyo DMU units. Its southern terminal is at Larkspur, where it connects with ferries to and from San Francisco; sometimes conveniently and sometimes not. It now extends as far north as Windsor, service there having started on May 31. It stops at historic towns such as San Rafael, Petaluma, and Santa Rosa. Of interest to classic film buffs, Santa Rosa was the setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1941), which featured views of the train station, which is again in use.

In Seattle, two major expansions of Sound Transit’s Link Light Rail system (operated under contract for King County Metro) occurred in 2024. The 2 Line (East Link) in Bellevue and Redmond began operations on April 27, but that line is not connected to Seattle; at least not yet. This writer was there to cover the event and take the ride. On August 30, 2024, the line through Seattle (the 1 Line; Central Link, the original line) was extended 8.5 miles north from its former terminal at Northgate to Lynnwood (the Lynnwood Link). Since then, two new light rail segments have opened and one more is expected to begin service soon. Two new stations in Redmond, at the northeastern end of the system, opened on May 10, 2025. At the south end, 7.8 more miles opened on December 12, on the 1 Line: the Federal Way Extension from the previous terminal at Angle Lake to the new one at Federal Way, on the way to Tacoma, where Sound Transit also runs the T Line. Plans call for connecting the two lines soon. A new segment of the 2 Line, running from Seattle’s Chinatown to Bellevue over a new Floating Bridge over I-90, is scheduled to open for service on March 28, 2026.

Canadian Developments TTC Line 5, Eglinton Crosstown, opens Feb. 8.

Rail transit is limited in Canada. There are major systems in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, along with Ottawa, the nation’s capital, have smaller systems. The only other rail transit line in the country is Ion; a single line in Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, about two hours northeast of Toronto that can be reached on VIA Rail, a GO Transit train, or a bus. Three of those cities have new rail segments that either opened last year or are slated to begin service this year.

Montreal’s Metro subway system has not expanded since 2007, while the regional rail system (Exo) offers relatively limited service, at best, on five lines. The activity in Montreal today is on REM (Réseau express métropolitain), a “light metro” system that features fully automated operation using two-car units built by Alstom. The original line of this type, now known as the South Shore branch, runs from Central Station (where VIA Rail trains and Amtrak’s Adirondack stop) through the southeastern part of the city and across the river to Brossard. It opened for service July 31, 2023. On November 17, 2025, a former CN suburban line that had been converted to REM operation restored service on the line to Deux Montagnes. Today the segment between Central Station downtown and Bois Franc is considered the Main Line, and the rest of the line is called the Deux Montagnes branch. A four-station extension branching off between Bois Franc and Sunnybrooke and running southwest, the Anse-à-l’Orme branch, is scheduled to open in the second quarter of this year. The next extension will comprise two stops south of Bois Frank and will terminate at Montreal-Trudeau Airport. Service there is slated to begin at the end of 2027. 

Toronto has a reputation of hosting the best transit system in Canada and is often considered better than any system in the United States. Local transit in and near the city is provided by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). A new light rail line, Finch West (Line 6) began operations Dec. 7. The line is 6.4 miles long, has 16 stops, and extends westward on Finch Avenue from the Yonge-University subway (Line 1) to an underground terminal at Humber College. Another light rail line, Line 5 (the Eglinton Crosstown) is opening with limited service Feb. 8. Metrolinx, the provincial authority that operates GO Transit trains in the Toronto region, built and tested the line. On Dec. 2, 2025, Metrolinx announced that it would turn the line over to TTC to operate. It will run on an east-west alignment with 25 new stations

The original O-Train line in Ottawa, run by local provider OC Transpo, was a DMU operation that ran on a southerly alignment from a place near downtown Ottawa. It became known as the Trillium Line and connected with the east-west Confederation Line (now Line 1), which opened in 2019. After a four-year absence for construction, the Trillium Line came back as Line 2 on January 6, 2025. Two extensions opened for service that day. One is a southerly extension of Line 2 that runs from the end of the original line to Leitrim, makes a left turn, and ran two more stops to its terminal at Limeback. The other new service was Line 4, which makes a similar left turn at South Keys, one stop closer to Line 1, and proceeds two more stops to the airport. Extensions of Line 1 are supposed to open this year to the east and next year to the west. An additional branch to the west is slated to open next year, too, and it will be designated Line 3. While Line 1 is an electrified light rail line (Line 3 will be, too), Lines 2 and 4 are diesel light rail lines.

Companion Commentary

It has been a long time since there were enough new rail transit starts and extensions to describe them in an article of this sort. This is the first time I have written such an article for Railway Age and, sadly, it will probably be the last. The pace of construction of new rail lines, whether upgrading a railroad for passenger service, building a light rail line, or installing street-running tracks and overhead wires, has slowed, especially as construction costs are rising at an ever-increasing pace.

While Canada operates under different statutes and regulations than the United States, one important factor that has led to the recent spate of new expansion in the USA was the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) from the early days of the Biden Administration. It helped pay for capital projects, including transit projects. Elected officials and the transit agencies in their cities and states had a chance to build new projects, and they did so. The money has been spent, and that opportunity has passed, Nonetheless, some riders will benefit from it.

The current situation looks far less rosy. In 2023, there were 64 applications before the Federal Transit Administration for capital grants under 49 U.S.C. §5307 and §5309. Of those, 39 were for busways and only 25 for rail projects (including megaprojects); or 39% for rail. In 2025, there were 58 applications; 29 for busways and only 19 for rail; less than one third. From 39% to 33% in only two years represents a 15% decline, percentagewise. Given today’s political and cultural scene in the nation and the expense of building rail projects, it’s reasonable to expect the share for rail to decline for the foreseeable future.

New rail transit starts appearing to be winding down sharply and quickly. Of course, cultural or political attitudes could change, and the public and their elected officials could suddenly shift transportation priorities to rail. It’s not impossible, and young folks think differently from us seniors in many ways including about living in urbanized areas and using transit to get around. Still, the overall picture does not look good. There are several new or extended lines now, though, and I am making plans to travel to some places north and west of here, so I can ride them and report to you about the experience.

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We hosted a call with Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. Import trends are expected to be healthy in January and February, but a slowdown is expected post-Lunar New Year. PoLA is supportive of the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern transcontinental merger but noted 50% of shippers they speak to do not support it. Inland Empire warehouse vacancy rates are at healthy levels despite some reports of national tightness.

Import trends in January and February should remain healthy, though March is expected to soften following the 2/17 Lunar New Year.* Order demand post-Lunar New Year is expected to be incrementally soft, with some factories taking a longer holiday break due to less demand. Comps off 1Q25 are not clean due to the magnitude of front running of tariffs. Ocean shippers face more questions than answers as it pertains to tariffs, potential refunds and ever-changing rules, according to Seroka. He has even more concern if SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) shoots down tariffs, which would likely increase uncertainty given the Administration has promised to find other ways, potentially elongating the uncertainty period. Shippers just want to know the rules of the game, which has been expressed vehemently to the PoLA. Overall, the Seroka believes total volumes will be down 4%-5% this year.

OpenRailwayMap.org

The PoLA is supportive of UP’s transcon merger though acknowledges it must pass necessary approvals and customers must get on board (roughly 50% of shippers Seroka speaks to support the merger). A transcon merger would give the PoLA access to an additional one-third of the U.S. without having to make multiple handoffs. New York/New Jersey ports, which have a different freight mix, should be able to grow into more Latin American and European markets if the West Coast gains more share of Asia freight. Seroka seemed skeptical that a transcon rail merger would remove a significant number of trucks off the highway, considering two-thirds of the cargo from the PoLA moves via truck to local markets and warehouses in the Inland Empire, and  60% of all cargo that leaves California moves by rail.

Despite nationwide data suggesting healthy/low inventory levels, The Inland Empire is seeing healthy vacancy rates at ~7%, suggesting space is available. Commentary indicates that transcon domestic intermodal might not see a catalyst from warehousing trends in Southern California, though the possibility remains that lower inventories mid- and downstream could spur activity. Bonded warehouses are still a negligible consolation in tariff relief for shippers, given small square footage and permitting timelines.

Global manufacturing continues to diversify away from China and into alternative locations such as Southeast Asia and Mexico, but this will be a slow process, with Seroka noting that it would “take the manufacturing capacity of 10 Vietnams to match just Southern China (Guangzhou).” China used to account for 60% of LA import volumes, which fell to 40% last year amid trade shocks, and Seroka could see Chinese share falling into the 30% range.

The Port of Los Angeles remains focused on expanding capacity to enhance competitiveness. Pier 500, the first new terminal construction project in decades, is expected to be a 10-year buildout that will equip the port with two million containers of additional capacity. Other projects include the overhaul of the West Basin Terminal and the Vincent Thomas Bridge proposal, which would allow the port to handle larger vessels. In addition to large infrastructure investments, the PoLA remains engaged with technological modernization and AI adoption in the form of digital twin technology, geospatial mapping and predictive analytics.

*Lunar New Year is often called Chinese New Year because it’s China’s most important holiday, but it’s also celebrated by many other Asian cultures (like Korean Tết and Vietnamese Tết Nguyên Đán) using variations of the lunisolar calendar, making “Lunar New Year” a more inclusive term that honors all traditions. In China, it’s officially known as the Spring Festival (Chūnjié).  

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The City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, has signed a contract worth $220 million (Won 320 billion) with Hyundai Rotem for the supply of 32 light rail vehicles. Design and manufacture of the three-section vehicles for the city will start later this year, with delivery scheduled for 2029-30.

The new LRVs will replace the city’s fleet of Siemens U2 LRVs, which have been in service for 45 years and are used on the Capital and Metro lines. The new LRVs will also serve the approximately one mile (1.6 kilometer) Metro Line Northwest Phase 1 extension, which opened in 2024, and on the 2.8 mile (4.5 kilometer) Capital Line South Phase 1 extension, now under construction and scheduled to open in 2029.

Hyundai Rotem says it will customize the LRVs for operation in the local environment, where temperatures can dip as low as -40°C in the harsh Alberta winter with heavy snowfall common. The lightweight LRVs will also be equipped with a collision warning system.

Hyundai Rotem received the highest overall score in the tender process, overcoming rival bidders Siemens and CAF. The Korean supplier is also supplying 46 low-floor LRVs for the Valley Line West project in the city, the first of which was delivered in August last year. When deliveries of the latest order are complete, Hyundai Rotem will have supplied Edmonton’s entire LRV fleet.

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The Smoky Ridge Railroad (SMO) in Tennessee joined Watco’s short line network on Feb. 2.

Pittsburg, Kans.-based Watco, which provides rail, transloading, terminal and port, and logistics services, reported the news to Railway Age via email on Feb. 5. SMO is the company’s 48th railroad.

SMO map, in yellow; NS Knoxville District Oakdale Line, in orange. (Courtesy of OpenRailwayMap.org)

The Class III’s 13 track miles comprise roughly 6.63 miles of spur track in Anderson and Roane counties, and an approximately 7.07-mile line from Blair, where it interchanges with Norfolk Southern’s Knoxville District Oakdale Line, to Oak Ridge, where its depot is located (see map above). “Oak Ridge was a pivotal site for the Manhattan Project during World War II,” Watco said. 

The 7.07-mile line was originally built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and conveyed to the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), according to a Surface Transportation Board notice published last month in the Federal Register. In 2003, the notice said, USDOE granted Heritage Railroad Corporation (HRRC) an easement to provide railroad freight service over the line, and in 2009, EnergySolutions, LLC, acquired HRRC’s easement. EnergySolutions, LLC, on Feb. 2 conveyed its common carrier easement interest in the line to SMO. Operations began Feb. 5. 

The primary commodities moving on the line are waste and plastics, according to the SMO website.

Watco, which celebrated 40 years of service in 2023, acquired the 386.26-mile Great Lakes Central Railroad in Michigan last fall.

Further Reading:

• For Watco, Changes at the Top
• Intramotev, Watco Forge TugVolt Commercial Agreement
• Watco Logistics Acquires Colossal Transport Solutions
• Watco Adding GLC to Small-Road Portfolio
• Developing Our Leaders

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Railway Age’s “Fast Trackers” awards program, established in 2016, recognizes the top 25 North American railroaders under the age of 40, who are making an impact in their respective fields or companies.

This year’s honorees were selected from freight and passenger railroads; government entities; and supplier, contractor and consultant communities. They were judged on criteria that included industry experience and education, leadership skills, industry contributions, and community service involvement.  

“Submissions covered job content and brought it to life by describing impacts, results, and, wherever possible, describing examples applying leadership skills and dynamic thinking,” said former Michigan State Center for Railway & Education Director Nick Little, program judge. “Most importantly, it was not just about ‘getting the job done’ but making sure safety was foremost. One take-away I noted this year was that change was not feared but embraced. It was recognized as an opportunity to develop oneself in order to achieve business success.”

Inside the February 2026 issue, you’ll also find these feature stories on:

• Multiple Tracks: Railway Age Contributing Editor and Patriot Rail Chief Policy Officer Don Itzkoff explores the issues that merit scrutiny in this midterm election year—from federal oversight and investment, which top the list of Washington issues beyond the potential Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger, to tech policy.
• TTC Operated by ENSCO:  Transportation Technology Center’s Eric Sherrock (Program Manager and Manager, Applied Technology and Engineering Division, ENSCO) and Radim Bruzek (Research and Development Manager) highlight key Federal Railroad Administration research initiatives under way at the TTC, whose facilities enable investigations that cannot be safety or efficiently performed on revenue railroads.

Plus, Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner examines the Surface Transportation Board’s rejection as incomplete (without prejudice to refiling) the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger application, noting that it “disregard[ed] calls to rubber stamp a merger on the basis of high-level political connections and heed[ed] six-decade-old SCOTUS advice.” Also, Financial Editor David Nahass addresses, from the rail industry perspective, the “constantly shifting landscape” of the application of tariffs across the U.S. economy; American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association President Chuck Baker discusses how changes to the political and industry landscape will require short lines to work harder, smarter and more creatively than ever; and Contributing Editor Pauline Lipkewich wraps up her three-part series on leading through uncertainty in her column, The Rail Way, From the Boardroom to the Ballast Line.

These highlights and more can be accessed in Railway Age’s February 2026 digital edition:

The post Now On Line: Railway Age February 2026 Digital Edition appeared first on Railway Age.

Connecticut’s Naugatuck Railroad has repainted an SPV-2000 in its as-delivered Amtrak Phase III livery to mark the United States’ upcoming Semiquincentennial. 

The SPV-2000s were built by Budd between 1978 and 1981 as a successor to its successful Rail Diesel Car (RDC). However, the SPV-2000s proved unreliable, and only 31 were ever built. In 1980, the Connecticut Department of Transportation purchased 13 SPV-2000s for use on the New Haven to Springfield Line and the Danbury Branch. The Springfield Line cars were leased to Amtrak and painted in Phase III. The cars were later depowered in the 1990s and remained in service until the 2000s. SPV-2000 No. 1001 was sold to Orion Newall of Constellation Rail in 2017 and was later relocated to the Naugatuck, where it is often used in excursion service. 

After a busy holiday excursion season, the car was taken to Naugatuck’s Thomaston shop, where volunteers made cosmetic improvements to its interior and exterior. To honor the car’s heritage, the Phase III stripe was reapplied to the window band. The car’s ends feature a red, white, and blue livery inspired by the New Haven Railroad’s MU cars. 

​​“I always thought it’d be cool to do a heritage scheme on the SPV to represent what it looked like when new in 1980,” Newall said. “With America 250 approaching, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.”

The car is scheduled to debut on Naugatuck Railroad’s St. Patrick’s Day-themed “Leprechaun Express” on March 13 and will remain in its special paint scheme throughout the 2026 season.

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Two railroad museums on opposite sides of the country are locked in a fierce rivalry over this weekend’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. Since the matchup between the Seahawks and Patriots was set almost two weeks ago, Maine’s Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum and Washington’s Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad have been taunting each other on social media.

At times, the online feud has gotten downright nasty, with WW&F threatening to send Mt. Rainier back to “Train-ing camp,” and Mt. Rainier claiming that the narrow gauge WW&F was nothing more than a “toy train.” 

On February 4, after days of trash talk, the railroads agreed to a formal bet: the railroad whose team loses on Sunday will have to display the winning team’s flags on a locomotive for a full day of operation. 

While sources close to both WW&F and Mt. Rainier admit the online battle has gotten heated, railroaders at both museums remain friendly with each other, and it appears the spat has mostly been a good way to promote both railroads ahead of the big game.

—Justin Franz

Editor’s Note and Disclosure: While Associate Editor Justin Franz currently lives in the Northwest and would normally cheer the Seattle Seahawks, he is also a native Mainer, a long-time WW&F Railway Museum member, and a fan of the New England Patriots.

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Stephen Frasher

It’s not too often that new books are offered complimentary to anyone willing to simply click on a download link. “Conrail, the Early Years – Stories from the Front,” by Stephen Frasher, is a unique opportunity for anyone wanting a behind the scenes look at Consolidated Rail Corp. in its formative years, following its creation by the U.S. government from a deeply troubled collection of bankrupt Northeastern carriers in 1976.

Stephen Frasher, whose father was a New York Central railroader, contacted Railway Age last year, sending along a PDF of his book. We asked him if he would be interested in having Simmons-Boardman Books publish and sell it. He told us that he wanted to offer it to our readership free of charge. So, here it is, again. updated to mark Conrail’s 50th anniversary.

“With the golden anniversary date of the creation of Conrail around the corner, I  modified my book and have made it available for free again,” Frasher said. “This is the 50th Anniversary Edition, which I expanded to include notable achievements from corporate, some challenges that Conrail faced that I was not personally involved in, and a few other stories for the places I was involved in.”

Frasher, now retired and currently residing in Hillsborough, N.C., worked in the railroad, barge and shipbuilding and forest products industries. He credits his experience at Conrail as “fundamental in preparing him for the challenges he faced throughout his career.” As Frasher’s career progressed, he and his family moved 16 times, residing in cities on the East Coast, the Midwest, and the West Coast of the U.S. Before retiring, he also lived and worked in Vancouver, B.C.

“This is a book about Conrail operations,” Frasher writes in the Preface. “I spent my time at Conrail in the operating department under the leadership of Dick Hasselman, Vice President of Operations, and Don Swanson, Vice President of Transportation. The stories about my time at Conrail are drawn primarily from memory, but also from some personal notes. I kept no diary. I have arranged these stories in chronological order, starting with my first assignment as a trainmaster at Selkirk Yard in August 1976 and ending with my resignation eight years later while Division Superintendent of the Southwest Division in Indianapolis. After leaving Conrail, I never again worked in the railroad industry. 

“Nothing in these stories is intended to cast negative criticism on any person named or any event depicted. Indeed, I provide as many names as I can recall so as to ‘humanize’ the events that unfolded in the years I was there. Having said that, I find that I could not remember the names of all the people I worked with. Regardless, they played important roles in those early days of Conrail. 

“My main goal in writing these stories is to provide anecdotal background to the tremendous accomplishments achieved by the men and women of all ranks throughout Conrail. I am hoping these stories are both informative and entertaining for those who have wondered about the trials and tribulations of the front line people who helped transform six bankrupt railroads into a top-notch Class I railroad. While many books have been written about Conrail over the years, I have been unable to find any that describe the challenges faced by everyday people on the front line.”

Here’s one humorous anecdote: “One bit of ‘gallows’ humor that illustrated the kinship of those who hustled to make things happen at Selkirk Yard was the ‘toilet flush.’ There was nothing private about successes or failures as each shift unfolded because almost all communications were broadcast over the radio. So, everyone always knew what was going on in the yard at all times. And once things started to go ‘sideways’, someone would invariably call the trainmaster and transmit the sound of a flushing toilet for all to hear. Welcome to the club!” 

Frasher started at Conrail in August 1976 as a Trainmaster at Selkirk Yard. During the eight years he spent with Conrail, he held six different positions in five different locations. His last position was Southwest Division Superintendent on Conrail’s Southern Region, headquartered in Indianapolis.

After leaving Conrail in 1984, Frasher moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to work for Midland Enterprises, the second-largest inland river barge line in the U.S. at that time. Beginning in 1998, he accepted a succession of CEO assignments at four companies that were being challenged by various types of “distress”: Tidewater Barge Lines, Vancouver, Wash.; American Commercial Lines, Jeffersonville, Ind.; and Washington Marine Group (now known as Seaspan) and Western Forest Products, both headquartered in Vancouver, B.C. All those companies recovered from their “distress” and are still in existence today.

DOWNLOAD: 2026 01 27 Conrail the Early YearsDownload

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