Rail News

Intermodal container lessor Textainer Group Holdings has acquired about 24,000 20-foot-equivalent units of standard dry freight containers from its managed fleet for approximately $32.6 million.

Fast food chain Jack in the Box is moving more of its freight via 53-foot containers on intermodal trains.

Class I railroad Canadian National Railway has completed the merger of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company into its Wisconsin Central subsidiary.

Watco Railroad Company Holdings has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the stock of Ann Arbor Railroad.

Short-line and regional railroad company Genesee & Wyoming said Thursday that the U.S. Surface Transportation Board has approved its application to control RailAmerica and that company’s railroads, effective Dec. 28, 2012.

French competition regulators fined SNCF, the state-owned rail company, 61 million euros ($80.5 million) for preventing new companies from entering the freight market following liberalization in 2006.

Railcar maker The Greenbrier Companies’ advisors have engaged in discussions with Carl Icahn and his associates regarding an acquisition of Greenbrier by American Railcar Industries...

Russian intermodal container transportation company TransContainer reported rail container volume in the first nine months of 2012 was 1.1 million 20-foot-equivalent units, rising 10.2 percent year-over-year.

American Railcar Industries, a railroad freight car manufacturing and repair company controlled by investor Carl Icahn, has offered to buy The Greenbrier Cos., which also makes and refurbishes railroad freight cars...

The U.S. government forecast is far from robust, but railroads would welcome any improvement, or even stabilization.

The Florida East Coast Railway has signed a joint marketing agreement with Port Everglades to promote its new 42.5-acre intermodal container transfer facility in South Florida.

U.S. intermodal volume fell 0.3 percent year-over-year in the week ending Dec. 8, while carload traffic dropped 1.6 percent in the same period, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Intermodal shippers tapping the two major Canadian railroads can look forward to better service — and likely more competitive pricing on lanes in which the carriers compete — in 2013.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, Maintenance of Way Division, representing 2,600 track maintenance workers, and Canadian Pacific Railway today reached a tentative five-year contract settlement...

India’s state-owned Indian Railways moved 81.75 million metric tons (about 90.11 million tons) of revenue earning freight traffic in November, increasing 0.76 percent from 89.43 million tons in November 2011.

The Michigan Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration and Norfolk Southern Railway have signed a sale agreement that transfers ownership of 135 miles of NS railroad to MDOT for $140 million.

The freight trucking industry in China has been increasing at 13.8 percent per year to about $59.3 billion in 2012, according to IBISWorld’s “Freight Trucking in China” report.

Total revenue of Indian Railways, operated by the Indian government’s Ministry of Railways, reached Rs. 78868.17 crore (approximately US $14.5 billion) from April 1 to Nov. 30...

Freight rail system Florida East Coast Railway has acquired 200 new 53-foot containers to expand its domestic business and replace older trailers.

Etihad Rail, developer and operator of the United Arab Emirates' national railway network, has signed a memorandum of agreement with supply chain management company Sharaf Logistics...

Canadian Pacific Railway’s announcement this week of plans to trim its network and cut a quarter of its work force over the next four years is just the beginning of the changes coming down the tracks for the railroad.

Canadian Pacific Railway plans to run faster and longer trains, cut roughly 4,500 positions and possibly sell rail lines in the U.S.

Canadian National Railway in 2013 will continue to strengthen its intermodal connections to the ports of Prince Rupert and Metro Vancouver and build on its terminal network.

The American Waterways Operators and Waterways Council continue to warn the federal government of the detrimental economic effects of further restrictions or possible closure of...

Dordrecht, Netherlands-based Trifleet Leasing, a tank container lessor, has appointed Blue Service as its agent to develop markets in Czech Republic and Slovakia for tank container leasing.

The U.S. Department of Transportation today awarded more than $3.2 million to Washington state to improve capacity and reliability for freight and intercity passenger rail in the Pacific Northwest.

The trucking and railroad industries face little risk of regulatory surprises in the next few years, as the pipeline of rules laid out in President Obama’s first term will continue to flow through his second.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States; Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, Kazakhstan’s state-owned national railway company; and KTZ’s subsidiary Joint Stock Company Lokomotiv recently signed an agreement for a $425 million loan to finance the sale of 200 General Electric Evolution Series locomotives and locomotive kits to KTZ.

U.S. spot intermodal rates, particularly lanes west to east, are gradually weakening off of the peak holiday volume period earlier in the fall, according to data from 3PL IDS Transportation.

Canadian Pacific Railway will move most of its head office from downtown Calgary in Alberta to office space in Ogden, as part of the company’s operational cost cutting...

China and India today signed a memorandum of understanding to promote technical cooperation in the railway sector, including high-speed rail, heavy cargo and station development.

Etihad Rail, developer and operator of the United Arab Emirates’ national railway, recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Sharjah Cement Factory, a subsidiary of Sharjah Cement & Industrial Development Company...