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July was the busiest month on record in the Port of Los Angeles’s 117-year history, according to the Port. It processed 8.5% more TEUs than in July 2024. This followed a busy June, when it handled 892,340 TEUs, up 8% from last year.

July 2025 loaded imports came in at 543,728 TEUs, 8% more than last year and the most imports ever in a month at the Port, it reported. Loaded exports landed at 121,507 TEUs, a 6% improvement from 2024. Additionally, the Port processed 354,602 empty container units, 10% more than last year. 

Seven months into 2025, the Port of Los Angeles has handled 5,975,649 TEUs, 5% more than the same period in 2024. 

“Shippers have been frontloading their cargo for months to get ahead of tariffs and recent activity at America’s top port really tells that story,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, who recently gave a cargo briefing with Dr. Zachary Rogers, Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management at Colorado State University, to discuss the impacts of tariffs on transportation, warehousing, and inventory (watch below). “Port terminals in July were jam-packed with ships loaded with cargo, processed without any delay—much to the credit of our dedicated longshore workers, terminal and rail operators, truckers, and supply chain partners.”

A pause in tariffs in recent months lifted the Port of Long Beach to its most active July on record and the third-busiest month in its 114-year history, according to the Port, which predicted the trade rebound in its June cargo report.

The TEUS processed by dockworkers and terminal operators in July were up 7% from the previous record set in July 2024. Imports rose 7.6% to 468,081 TEUs and exports declined 12.9% to 91,328 TEUs. Empty containers moving through the Port increased 12.3% to 384,824 TEUs.

The Port has moved 5,690,863 TEUs through the first seven months of this year, up 10% from the prior-year period.

“Retailers are now seeing the arrival of goods that were purchased for lower costs during the temporary pause placed on tariffs and retaliatory tariffs earlier this year,” Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero said. “Due to the ongoing uncertainty caused by shifting trade policies, our Supply Chain Information Highway digital tracking tool forecasts that cargo will be down about 10% in the second half of 2025, resulting in a flat year for volume.”

“We appreciate our terminal operators, truckers, dockworkers and all the individuals who are moving cargo through the Port at a record-setting pace,” Long Beach Harbor Commission President Frank Colonna added. “We continue to work closely with labor and industry to meet the evolving needs of our customers.”

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles recently announced they are extending their agreement with Pacific Harbor Line to provide railroad operating and maintenance services within the San Pedro Bay ports complex. Union Pacific and BNSF move cargo in and out of the complex.

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• Watch: California ‘State of the Port’ Priorities for 2025

The post For Ports of LA, Long Beach, ‘Record’ July Cargo appeared first on Railway Age.

Here we go with another shutdown of democratic free speech by a POTUS and his inner circle consolidating power in pursuit of a unitary form of government controlling every aspect of American life from the arts, to Congress, to the courts, to education, to independent federal agencies, non-government organizations, corporate decision making and transportation.

In a formal statement issued by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Aug. 13 and citing instructions from POTUS 47 and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, FRA announced it is deconstructing its Rail Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) and “refocusing [it and other Executive Branch] federal advisory committees on what matters.”

Without specifics, the statement asserts that “some committees have lost sight of the mission and have been overrun with individuals whose sole focus is their radical DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and climate agenda.” The statement says DOT has “intent to reconstitute membership” without providing a date or preferred membership qualifications.

Duffy previously weaponized the Department of Transportation against transit, high-speed rail and Amtrak funding, and ordered DOT agencies to cancel DEI programs whose appreciation of cultural, racial and gender differences offends POTUS 47.

Notably, FRA has been without a Senate-confirmed Administrator since POTUS 47 took office. His nominee, former Pan Am Railways President David Armstrong Fink, cleared a Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing in May, but his name has yet to reach the Senate floor for a confirmation vote.

There is no evidence RSAC has offended the POTUS as asserted. FRA, under previous Republican and Democratic Administrations, celebrated RSAC’s “invaluable input” toward improving railroad safety nationwide, terming RSAC “a unique tool of democratic government.” RSAC’s mission, say previous FRA statements, is to “develop new regulatory standards, through a collaborative process, with all segments of the rail community working together to fashion mutually satisfactory solutions on safety regulatory issues.”

RSAC was created in 1996 by the longest serving (1993-2000) and first female FRA Administrator, Jolene Molitoris, whose legacy is consensus building. She convened an informal version of RSAC in 1994 to focus on reducing track worker deaths and injuries. Its success drove its expansion.

Participating in RSAC, up to POTUS 47 and Duffy’s ordered execution of it, have been representatives of railroads; rail labor; and organizations representing rail passengers, rail shippers, manufacturers, suppliers and states.

At its October 2024 meeting—RSAC typically convenes formally twice each year, but its working groups more often—discussion topics included C3R (confidential close call reporting), train braking modernization, wayside detectors, roadway worker protection and electronic devices. RSAC is the only forum for such a diverse group to share knowledge on these and other complex rail safety issues.

“The process has not always been perfect nor always productive, but there were outcomes beneficial to everyone,” says a former Class I mechanical officer who participated two RSAC Working Groups—locomotive crashworthiness and locomotive cab sanitation and working conditions—in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “We incorporated the existing AAR standards for crashworthy noses and fuel tanks into FRA locomotive safety regulations. That effort alone by my estimate saved lives by preventing ‘cab crush’ and fuel fires. Overall, I believe the RSAC WG process allowed the unions to see that railroad managers were like them—people—and capable of reaching commonsense solutions.

“Cab sanitation was a ‘rapidly boiling pot’ situation as the unions had made the FRA aware that cab sanitation on some railroads was truly deplorable. One eastern railroad took the extreme step of replacing ‘dry hoppers’ with a welded angle-iron ‘seat frame’ on which each employee would attach a black plastic ‘disposal bag’ that was to be placed after use in a sanitary waste dumpster upon arrival at their destination. To enforce use, each bag was serial-numbered and recorded as to which employee was issued which bag. Many bags eventually ended up in trees along the right-of-way. Residents threatened to sue the railroad. The unions threatened a strike. FRA, in the first RSAC cab sanitation Working Group meeting in 1998, gave the railroads one month to come up with a joint solution, or FRA would quickly issue a regulation without any involvement by anyone, and the unions would strike. The eastern railroad said ‘hell no.’

“I returned to headquarters at my railroad and met with the executive vice president of operations, suggesting he talk with his eastern counterpart to urge common sense. He did, and they ‘saw the light.’ That railroad subsequently installed airliner-style microprocessor-controlled vacuum toilets (though after about 10 years they discovered the toilets were unsuited for a locomotive environment).”

Railroads, as described above, have had difficulties with RSAC, but it has everything to do with FRA Administrator neutrality. The RSAC advisory process, when respected, brings together a peer group representing a variety of academic disciplines, practical experience, diverse viewpoints and data open to collegial scrutiny.

Its low point came in 2014 with allegations that then Administrator Joseph C. Szabo—a former union officer—placed the agency’s thumb on the scale in pursuing rail labor’s objective of minimum two-person crews on intercity freight trains and in switch yards nationwide.

The Szabo-led FRA said its two-person minimum crew-size mandate was collaborated with RSAC. But the Association of American Railroads, whose members were and are seeking to operate some trains with one-person crews, termed the process “a sham,” saying “there was no consensus. There was no vote taken. [FRA] spurned the collaborative RSAC process by declaring in advance the only result it would accept.”

When FRA published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in March 2016, following Szabo’s departure, it confirmed “FRA cannot provide reliable or conclusive statistical data to suggest whether one-person crew operations are generally safer or less safe than multiple-person crew operation.”

The NPRM was eventually withdrawn when career railroader Ronald L. Batory was Administrator, but his successor, Amit Bose, in 2024 finalized a minimum two-person crew requirement now being challenged in federal court as running afoul of a Supreme Court holding that regulatory agency edicts have “a rational connection between the facts found and the choice made.”

As to the crew-size matter, the RSAC process is not to blame if FRA, as alleged, failed to consider the full record before it as presented by all RSAC stakeholders. Overall, RSAC has performed as advertised and enjoyed, prior to this Administration’s attack, laudatory bipartisan comments.

At the independent (of the Executive Branch) Surface Transportation Board, several advisory groups continue to function, with the agency seeking to fill membership vacancies.

RSAC participating organizations include:

• American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners
• American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
• American Chemistry Council
• American Petroleum Institute
• American Public Transportation Association
• American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association
• American Train Dispatchers Association
• Association of American Railroads
• Association of State Rail Safety Managers
• Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
• Brotherhood of Maintenance of Ways Employes
• Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen
• The Chlorine Institute
• Commuter Rail Coalition
• The Fertilizer Institute
• Heritage Rail Alliance
• Institute of Makers of Explosives
• International Association of Machinists
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
• National Conference of Firemen & Oilers
• National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association
• Rail Passengers Association
• Railway Supply Institute
• SMART Transportation Division
• Transportation Communications Union
• Transportation Workers Union

Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner is author of “Railroads & Economic Regulation,” available from Simmons-Boardman Books, 800-228-9670. 

The post DOT Dumps FRA’s Collaborative RSAC appeared first on Railway Age.

NS on Aug. 12 reported bringing together 17 railroaders (see list above) to serve as its representatives at local events, “fostering relationships with community organizations and stakeholders.” Selected through a competitive application process earlier this year, the Community Impact Ambassadors will also recruit volunteers, “inspiring fellow employees to get involved and give back,” and promote safety, becoming Operation Lifesaver-certified and supporting safety education efforts.

“In partnership with NS Community Impact, they’re helping us build bridges between our work and the people it touches,” NS said. Through its Community Impact program, the railroad last year contributed approximately $18.3 million to charitable organizations across its 22-state network. Of that total, $1 million was awarded to 65 Hampton Roads, Va., nonprofits.

The Community Impact Ambassadors team includes:

1. Shawn Bruderly, Foreman
2. Katie Byrd, Assistant Director Executive Communications
3. Trevor Cain, Track Patrol Foreman
4. Ariana Draine, Wayside Detection Analyst
5. Marijoy Halitzka, Bridge Tender
6. Mark Goin, Telephone Maintainer
7. Andrew Homick, Senior Supervisor Equipment Engineering
8. Ernest “Leon” Jackson, Manager Public Safety
9. Kelly Keil, Supervisor C&S II
10. Paul Lawson, Locomotive Engineer
11. Shawn McCauley, Signal Maintainer
12. Willie Mills, Road Foreman of Engines
13. Taylor Morton, Payroll Business Analyst
14. Thomas Saathoff, Terminal Manager
15. Christopher Slasinski, Field Sales Manager
16. Matthew Wade, NSPD Special Agent
17. Courtland Wheat, Conductor

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“CSX is helping Sappi North America, a global leader in sustainable wood fiber products, achieve its supply chain goals through dependable freight rail service and a collaborative partnership,” the Class I reported Aug. 12.

CSX works with the company to develop shared key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor progress and prevent delays.

“We’ve established some good KPIs around congestion and service visibility,” said Mike Segal, Director of Logistics and Operations Planning for Sappi North America, which produces graphic papers, packaging, and dissolving pulp used in textiles, hygiene products, and pharmaceuticals. “This has strengthened our relationship with CSX and helped us move things forward.”

The CSX-Sappi partnership, he added, is built on communication and collaboration. “I’ve been very pleased with our relationship with CSX because I feel like they really understand our challenges and our network,” Segal reported. “We’ve had a number of meetings with them to identify potential issues and solve them ahead of time.”

According to Segal, the railroad’s transparency has been a standout feature of the partnership, CSX reported. “CSX has been very honest with us,” Segal said. “If things aren’t going a certain way, they’ve been very clear with us, and then we can make a plan.”

That level of openness and alignment supports Sappi’s commitment to reliable service and continuous improvement, Segal pointed out.

“Freight rail is a key component of our transportation network,” he said. “We fully expect that our rail volume will grow, and CSX will be a key partner in that.”

“We appreciate the investments they’re making in the network,” Segal added, “and we hope to support that moving forward.”

• CSX ‘Elevates Freight Efficiency’ With CSX Howard Street Tunnel Bridge Project
• CSX: ‘We Continue to Stay Focused’

The post Class I Briefs: NS, CSX appeared first on Railway Age.

Dwight A. Smith, founder of the Conway Scenic Railroad, died on August 8, 2025. He was 100 years old.

Smith was on a Boston & Maine “Snow Train” excursion in February 1968 when he arrived at the railroad’s small terminal in North Conway, N.H., in the heart of the Mount Washington Valley. He was immediately captivated by the station, roundhouse, and yard there. “When I got off the train and looked at that station, and the roundhouse, and the turntable, and the views… I thought ‘Oh my God, what a great place for a tourist railroad,” he would say years later.

Smith was born in 1925 and later served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he started working for the Boston & Maine. Following that 1968 visit to North Conway, he became involved in an effort to bring an excursion train to Mount Washington Valley. However, the B&M was initially uncooperative about hosting excursions on its soon-to-be-abandoned branch. Despite this, Smith and his business partners persisted and spent five years trying to buy the railroad from the B&M. Confident he would succeed, Smith purchased a steam locomotive: Canadian National O-18s 0-6-0 7470, which had been stored in a roundhouse in Ontario since the end of steam. After buying it in early 1968, Smith moved the locomotive to Maine Central’s Rigby Yard in South Portland, Maine.

Persistence paid off for Smith and his partners. On August 4, 1974, the Conway Scenic ran its first revenue excursion between North Conway and Conway, N.H. Over the years, the railroad expanded to include the former MEC Mountain Division. Today, it’s the premier tourist railroad in northern New England.

Smith would go on to sell the railroad but would remain connected to it long afterwards. In 2019, the Conway Scenic named 7470 the “Dwight Smith.”

“Conway Scenic Railroad mourns the passing of its founder and visionary, Dwight A. Smith, who passed away last week at the age of 100 years old,” the railroad said in a statement. “Dwight will always be memorialized by steam locomotive 7470, an engine that he purchased in 1968 and restored to service in 1974 to begin excursions on the Conway Scenic Railroad.”

—Justin Franz 

The post Dwight A. Smith, Founder of Conway Scenic, Dead at 100 appeared first on Railfan & Railroad Magazine.

Union Pacific (UP) via a LinkedIn post congratulated Conagra Brands on the opening of its newest distribution center in Fort Worth, Texas.

“We are proud to provide safe and reliable service to your state-of-the-art facility,” the Class I wrote.

TexAmericas Center has taken a major step forward in expanding its logistics and infrastructure capabilities with the arrival of two new locomotives. The additions are a part of a $3.15 million dollar investment into “strengthening its fleet and bolstering rail services across the industrial park.”

As one of just a few UP Focus Sites across the country, TexAmericas Center is “uniquely positioned to support tenant connectivity and logistics operations. The new locomotives further strengthen the Center’s ability to provide in-house rail movement and support a wider range of tenant operations. With increased power and flexibility, the new equipment allows the organization to aid in the growth of its tenants, Spring Creek Holdings, transload service offerings, connect its tenants to broader markets, reduce delivery times, and improve Speed-To-Profit offerings.”

“This investment gives us the horsepower to meet our tenants’ needs today and scale for what’s next,” said Scott Norton, CEO and Executive Director of TexAmericas Center. “We’re eliminating barriers and enabling businesses to adjust and expand their logistics strategies right here on our footprint—all while supporting safer, more efficient operations.”

The project was funded in part through a $1.5 million Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant (DEAAG) from the Texas Military Preparedness Commission (TMPC). This support, the industrial park says, empowered TexAmericas Center to upgrade its locomotive fleet with remarkable efficiency. The need for upgraded locomotives emerged after TexAmericas Center acquired a railcar storage business in 2021, inheriting two aging locomotives and a growing demand for its rail system. “With rail use expanding, leadership identified a clear opportunity to invest in infrastructure that could better support existing tenants, attract new business, and strengthen logistics capabilities for the nearby Red River Army Depot and its contractors,” the Center said.

“The support we received from the TMPC through the DEAAG program was instrumental in accelerating this investment,” said Norton. “Their partnership not only helped us move quickly but also allows us to enhance regional logistics capabilities, including those supporting the Red River Army Depot. We’re deeply grateful for their continued commitment to economic development in defense communities like ours.”

These new locomotives directly support industries that rely on heavy commodities or long-distance shipping and position TexAmericas Center as a unique rail-served location in the mid-south region, the Center noted.

“We now have the rail power, the trained staff, and the long-term vision to grow a competitive logistics platform,” said Norton. “This aligns with our broader strategy to be responsive, aggressive, and future-ready.”

TexAmericas Center is also moving forward with broader rail expansions, including new track on the south end of East Campus, additional spurs, and the development of sit yards, all aimed at “increasing capacity and flexibility for tenants.”

“Our success comes from listening to the needs of our tenants and prospects,” said Norton. “When tenants or prospects bring us challenges or ideas, we respond with solutions. These locomotives are just one example of how we turn feedback into forward motion.”

With the arrival and service of these new locomotives, TexAmericas Center says it “continues to strengthen its reputation as a high-performance industrial park serving the four-state region of Texarkana.”

The post Industrial Development Briefs: Conagra Brands, TexAmericas Center appeared first on Railway Age.

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) announced another record-breaking year in truck diversion through its freight rail programs, allowing the Commonwealth of Virginia to continue “leading the way in rail efficiency.” In 2024, a total of 16,234,884 trucks were successfully diverted from Virginia’s highways, a significant increase from 15,054,707 trucks diverted in 2023.

This milestone, DRPT says, reflects a consistent upward trend in truck diversion that has continued every year since 2017, supported by the Youngkin Administration’s focus on modernizing infrastructure and maximizing taxpayer return on investment.

According to the agency, these results highlight the transformational impact of rail investments across the Commonwealth. On average, one railcar removes 3.4 truckloads from the road. In 2024 alone, 4,774,966 railcars contributed to this achievement, “demonstrating that freight rail is playing a crucial role in improving transportation efficiency and reducing highway wear.”

Virginia’s success is made possible through the combined efforts of several targeted DRPT programs, including the Rail Preservation Fund, the Rail Industrial Access Program, the FREIGHT Program, and its predecessor, the Rail Enhancement Fund. Each program, DRPT says, “plays a strategic role in strengthening and expanding the Commonwealth’s freight rail infrastructure, while helping businesses shift goods off crowded highways and onto rail.”

All recipients of DRPT rail grant funding are required to report annually on project performance for several years after completion. This performance tracking, the agency says, “enables DRPT to evaluate long-term project success and ensure that taxpayer dollars are being invested responsibly and effectively.” In 2024, 32 grantees submitted carload data for projects completed that year, contributing to the overall truck diversion count and providing insight into the sustained impact of these public investments.

“This progress demonstrates that rail is not only a smart investment, but it is a strategic solution to some of Virginia’s biggest transportation challenges,” said DRPT Director Tiffany Robinson. “Every truck we keep off the road means less congestion for drivers, lower maintenance costs for our infrastructure, and a more efficient supply chain for Virginia businesses. These results show that our freight rail programs are delivering meaningful benefits to communities and the Commonwealth as a whole. We’re proud of the momentum we’ve built, and we’re committed to taking it even further in 2025.”

“Freight rail is essential to Virginia’s economy, and this new data proves that our investments are making a measurable difference,” said Secretary of Transportation Shep Miller. “Under Governor Youngkin’s leadership, we are focused on infrastructure solutions that are efficient, fiscally responsible, and designed to support long-term growth. By leveraging public-private partnerships and targeting smart infrastructure projects, we’re supporting growth, while also helping to ensure that Virginia remains a competitive and connected place to live and do business.”

Virginia’s freight rail network spans more than 3,000 route-miles and includes nearly 6,000 miles of active track, reaching every region of the Commonwealth. The system is served by two Class I railroads, Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX, as well as nine short line railroads that connect local industries to national and global markets.

The post Virginia DRPT Breaks Record in Truck Diversion Via Freight Rail Programs appeared first on Railway Age.

Total U.S. weekly rail traffic came in at 511,194 carloads and intermodal units, a gain of 3.0% from the same week in 2024, according to the AAR. Total carloads were 227,327, up 2.4%, while intermodal volume was 283,867 containers and trailers, up 3.4% from 2024.

Results were similar for the week ending Aug. 2, 2025: U.S. Class I railroads carried 513,529 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.9% from the same point last year, according to the AAR. That comprised 233,805 carloads, up 6.4% from 2024, and 279,724 containers and trailers, up 0.2% from 2024.

For the week ending Aug. 9, 2025, seven of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2024. They included metallic ores and metals, up 1,825 carloads, to 21,247; grain, up 1,052 carloads, to 19,454; and coal, up 810 carloads, to 61,843. Commodity groups that posted declines were petroleum and petroleum products, down 232 carloads, to 10,092; chemicals, down 123 carloads, to 32,838; and farm products excluding grain, and food, down 33 carloads, to 16,161.

For the first 32 weeks of 2025, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 7,055,736 carloads, a 2.8% gain over the year-ago period; and 8,618,069 intermodal units, a 4.6% increase from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 32 weeks of this year came in at 15,673,805 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.8% from 2024.

In comparison, for the first 31 weeks of this year, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,828,409 carloads, up 2.8% from the same period in 2024; and 8,334,202 intermodal units, up 4.7% from 2024. Total combined traffic for this period was 15,162,611 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 3.8% from 2024.

North American rail volume for the week ending Aug. 9, 2025, on nine reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads totaled 324,349 carloads, down 0.04% from the same week last year, and 371,325 intermodal units, up 5.3% from last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 695,674 carloads and intermodal units, up 2.7%. North American rail volume for the first 32 weeks of 2025 was 21,639,091 carloads and intermodal units, rising 2.9% from the same point last year.

Canadian railroads reported 84,689 carloads for the week ending Aug. 9. 2025, down 5.6%, and 74,518 intermodal units, up 11.4% from the same week last year. For the first 32 weeks of this year, they reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 5,194,861 carloads, containers, and trailers, up 1.6%.

For the week ending Aug. 9, 2025, Mexican railroads reported 12,333 carloads, dipping 3.2% from the same point last year, and 12,940 intermodal units, rising 14.5%. Their cumulative volume for the first 32 weeks of 2025 came in at 770,425 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, a 4.8% drop-off from the prior-year period.

The post AAR: U.S. Rail Traffic Up Through Week 32 appeared first on Railway Age.