Norfolk Southern To Build Corridor Hubs

Norfolk Southern Railway hopes to begin construction by July on new intermodal terminals in Memphis, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala., now that it has a large stimulus grant to help pay for them.

"We want to start turning dirt this summer," said NS spokesman Rudy Husband. Both facilities are projected to open for traffic in 2012.

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UP, CSX Team Up On Domestic Intermodal

CSX Transportation in the eastern United States and Union Pacific Railroad in the West will soon be jointly marketing a domestic intermodal service in jumbo-sized containers.

Dubbed UMAX, the service will give customers single-bill interline routing on more than 600 traffic lanes, and the railroads are backing it up with 20,000 of the big 53-foot boxes.

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Decline in Coal Loadings Leads to Drop in Rail Freight Volume

The Association of American Railroads reported that for the week ending Feb. 20, 2010, freight traffic on U.S. railroads was down 1.6 percent compared with 2009 and 15.3 percent compared with 2008, largely caused by a 16,828-carload drop in coal loadings. Intermodal traffic, however, was up slightly from last year but still down from 2008.

Twelve of the 19 carload freight commodity groups were up in comparison with the same week last year. Double-digit increases were reported in loadings of metals (44.6 percent), motor vehicles and equipment (30.5 percent), grain (21.9 percent), metallic ores (17.6 percent), grain mill products (14.4 percent) and chemicals (13.7 percent).

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Talgo Picks Milwaukee for its Railcar Assembly Plant

Spanish train manufacturer Talgo will locate its U.S. high-speed passenger rail manufacturing and assembly facility in Milwaukee, Wis., in a move that is expected to create 125 direct jobs in that state and new orders for suppliers throughout the Midwest.

"I'm proud Talgo will locate its U.S. railcar assembly facility at the former Tower Automotive site in Milwaukee," Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said in a March 2 announcement. "Through the Recovery Act and this facility, Wisconsin will see real economic benefits of high-speed rail for generations to come."

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Oregon Department of Transportation Purchases New Passenger Trains to Enhance Train Service

The Oregon Department of Transportation has negotiated the purchase of two new passenger trains from Talgo-America. Each train has 13 cars, seats 285 people and will provide continued Amtrak Cascades passenger service in the Pacific Northwest rail corridor between Eugene and Vancouver, British Columbia.

The trains, which cost $36.6 million, will be assembled at a new Talgo plant in Wisconsin with a majority of American-made components. The Oregon Transportation Commission approved use of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds for the purchase on July 23, 2009. By pooling the train purchase with Wisconsin, Oregon saved about $6 million.

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Bombardier Wins Tender for French Regional Double-Deck Train

Bombardier Transportation has won a tender for new regional double-deck trains organized by the French Railways (SNCF) on behalf of the French Regions. The framework contract contemplates the design and manufacturing of 860 double-deck electrical multiple units (EMU), for a total amount of approximately 8 billion euros (US$11 billion), subject to exercising some technical options. SNCF also signed a first firm order for 80 trains, valued at approximately 800 million euros (US$1.1 billion), financed by the regions.

So far, six regions have placed orders, which they will finance: Aquitaine, Bretagne, Centre, Nord-Pas de Calais, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Rhône-Alpes. Bombardier said that the first deliveries on this firm order are scheduled to take place in June 2013, and they will continue until December 2015.

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Publisher's Blog: In Search of … Diversification

Pocket List Publisher Kathy Keeney takes a look at strategies railcar makers may pursue to get through the current downturn in new orders.

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