North-American rail

Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, the Maine-based railroad whose oil train caused the explosion in July that claimed 47 lives in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today.

FreightCar America reported a net loss of $3.4 million in the second quarter of 2013, compared with a net income of $5.6 million in the second quarter of 2012.

Trinity Industries reported profit in the second quarter of 2013 was $88.2 million, improving from $67.5 million in the second quarter of 2012.

Twenty years after BNSF Railway opened its first logistics park in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad this year will open its fourth, a sprawling 433-acre intermodal terminal with up to 7 million square feet of adjacent industrial real estate capacity about 550 miles to the north.

Genesee & Wyoming reported its profit in the second quarter of 2013 was $65.1 million, versus $36.4 million in the second quarter of 2012.

BNSF Railway has opened a new economic development office in Bismarck, N.D., to expand the company’s presence in the state and allow it to better serve existing and new customers in the region...

Florida East Coast Holdings reported its net income in the second quarter of 2013 was $3.8 million, improving from a net loss of $4.1 million in the same period last year.

American Railcar Industries reported its net income in the second quarter of 2013 was $23.6 million, jumping 76 percent from $13.4 million in the second quarter of 2012.

Canadian Pacific reported its profit in the second quarter of 2013 was C$252 million (about US$245 million), spiking 145 percent from C$103 million in the second quarter of 2012.

Norfolk Southern reported its profit in the second quarter of 2013 fell 11 percent year-over-year to $465 million, compared with $524 million.

Canadian National today reported its profit in the second quarter of 2013 was C$717 million (about US$693.6 million), rising 13.6 percent from $610.4 million in the same quarter last year.

Pacific Imperial Railroad has signed a construction deal with Watkins Environmental for the necessary reconstruction of 57 bridges, 17 tunnels and about 70 miles of track on the Desert Line...

Kansas City Southern reported its profit in the second quarter plummeted from $120.4 million in 2012 to $15.4 million in 2013.

GATX reported its profit in the second quarter of 2013 was $35.1 million, spiking 49.4 percent from $23.5 million in the second quarter of 2012.

Union Pacific today reported profit in the second quarter of 2013 was $1.1 billion, compared with $1.0 billion in the same quarter last year.

Norfolk Southern has completed $22.6 million in track, bridge and signal improvements along its major coal line through Pennsylvania’s Monongahela Valley.

The amount of crude oil delivered by rail and truck to U.S. refineries is soaring, climbing 62.6 percent in 2012 thanks to rising shale oil production output.

CSX today reported profit rose 4.5 percent in the second quarter, from $512 million in 2012 to $535 million in 2013.

Pacific Harbor Line and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have signed a new five-year labor agreement covering the short line railroad’s nearly 120 operating and maintenance of way employees.

K+S Potash Canada and Canadian Pacific have signed a long-term, volume-based contract for the transportation of potash products from K+S’s Legacy site.

As U.S. crude oil production outpaces pipeline capacity, the U.S. is depending more on railroads to move crude oil to refineries and storage centers...

Investigators trying to determine what caused the crude oil train derailment that killed at least 15 people in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, are focusing on the train's engineer, according to news reports.

The chairman of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway expects tougher safety regulations in the wake of the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, and he told CBC/Radio-Canada the MMA is already planning to change its operations and policies.

Di-Corp, a distributor of specialty chemicals, parts and accessories serving mining and drilling industries in Canada and the United States, is building a frac sand transloading terminal north of Grande Prairie, Alberta.

The Greenbrier Companies reported net earnings, excluding a non-cash goodwill impairment charge, were $15.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2013, ending May 31, 2013...

GATX Corp. has named Thomas A. Ellman as executive vice president and president of Rail North America, Michael T. Brooks as senior vice president of operations and...

Canada’s new Fair Rail Freight Service Act, which requires Canadian rail companies to offer a service agreement to companies shipping goods by rail, if the shipper requests one, has become law...

Norfolk Southern has opened its new Thoroughbred Bulk Transfer terminal in Columbia, S.C., which will allow customers without rail sidings to transfer a large array of commodities between railcars and trucks.

Canadian Pacific has hired Robert Johnson as vice president of U.S. operations.

Canadian Pacific has launched a new intermodal service between Toronto and Calgary, Alberta, that is 20 hours faster than previous schedules.

The new Canadian National-Indiana Rail Road intermodal service to Indianapolis will offer export “matchback” opportunities for steamship lines and shippers when it launches on July 1.

Norfolk Southern has officially unveiled its Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility in Pennsylvania.

The Railway Association of Canada has applauded the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s request for installation of in-cab video cameras and voice recorders in all mainline controlling locomotives in the nation.

Train passengers and the family of one of the three engineers who died in last year’s VIA Rail derailment in Burlington, Ontario, are joining the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s call for improvements in rail technology.

Class 1 railroads are making a big push to convert over-the-road freight to intermodal, and for CSX Intermodal, its 2-year-old Northwest Ohio hub is proving to be a force multiplier in that strategy.

Six trucking companies have sued Los Angeles and the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission to block the construction of a recently approved $500 million railyard near the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex.

A study by the nation’s Advisory Council on Rail Safety’s Working Group on Locomotive Voice and Video Recorders calls for the voluntary installation of voice and video recording devices on locomotives by railway companies.

The Dow Chemical Co. and Union Pacific have released a report on the progress of their memorandum of cooperation that began in 2007 to improve rail safety and security.

ACF Industries has reopened its rail car manufacturing plant in Milton, Pa., after it was closed in 2009 because of declining sales.

Textainer Group Holdings and Trifleet Leasing have signed an agreement under which Textainer will invest in new intermodal tank carriers to be managed by Trifleet, marking Textainer’s entry into the tank container market.