Railroad News

Cross–border traffic into and out of Mexico currently generates about 10 percent of UP's annual volume.

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Union Pacific Railroad reduced highway-rail crossing accidents by 3 percent in 2015, the Class I announced on Friday.

UP reduced the total number of Federal Railroad Administration reportable grade crossing accidents to 2.28 per million train miles.

Norfolk Southern Corp. assisted 93 facilities in locating or expanding business along its rail lines in 2015, resulting in an investment of $4.2 billion by NS customers, the Class I announced yesterday.

The customers' investments are expected to generate more than 85,000 carloads of new rail traffic annually, NS officials said in a press release.

The Arizona Corporation Commission has approved a $120 million project that includes a major upgrade to a Union Pacific Railroad crossing in Tucson, the commission announced this week.

Designed to improve safety and traffic flow, the project will remove a grade crossing at Interstate 10 and Ina Road in Tucson. I-10 will be lowered to ground level and widened to eight lanes, with Ina Road raised to cross over Camino de Oeste, the tracks, and I-10, commission officials said in a press release.

Canadian Pacific today released its third white paper on issues related to its proposed acquisition of Norfolk Southern Corp.

The latest paper, titled "CP-NS: A Comprehensive Approach to Regulatory Approval," details the comprehensive, merit-based process a railroad merger application would be subject to at the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, CP officials said in a press release.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) in Washington, D.C., will host a meeting Feb. 10 to gather public input on the replacement or rehabilitation of the Long Bridge.

The meeting is part of the Long Bridge Phase II study, which is underway. The existing two-track bridge is owned by CSX and serves freight, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) trains.

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) has begun to receive letters from rail customers who are in favor of Canadian Pacific's proposed takeover of Norfolk Southern Corp.

Dakota Plains Holdings Inc. and multiple other shippers wrote last month to the STB to say they support CP's proposal to acquire NS. Until last week, most of the letters written to the STB were sent in opposition to the CP-NS merger.

Canadian Pacific announced Matthew Paull has been appointed to the board effective immediately, replacing Paul Hilal, who has resigned.

Hilal's departure coincides with his resignation from Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. A CP board member since 2012, Hilal chaired the board's Management Resources and Compensation Committee and was a member of the Finance Committee.

Despite an 8 percent decline in carloadings for the fourth-quarter, CN reported its fourth-quarter 2015 net income rose 11 percent to $941 million and diluted earnings per share (EPS) rose 15 percent to $1.18 (in Canadian dollars), the Class I announced yesterday.

The quarterly profit beat analysts' expectations. The railroad's operating income rose 7 percent to $1.354 billion, and the operating ratio decreased 3.5 points to 57.2 percent compared with the year-ago quarter, according to a CN press release, which reported all figures in Canadian dollars.

NS posted net income of $361 million, or $1.20 per diluted share, for Q4 2015, down nearly 30 percent when compared with $511 million, or $1.64 per diluted share in fourth-quarter 2014. Analysts expected NS to earn $1.23 per share for Q4 2015.

Railway operating revenue for the quarter totaled $2.5 billion, down 12 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. Income from railway operations fell 28 percent to $642 million compared with Q4 2015.

CN has submitted an application to the Canadian Transportation Agency for approval of the Class I's proposed logistics hub in Milton, Ontario.

The application outlines the infrastructure required for the $250 million project (in Canadian dollars) and what CN anticipates will be the economic benefits of the logistics hub, CN officials said in a press release.

Canadian Pacific expects to reduce its workforce by about 1,000 employees in 2016, company officials said during an earnings conference call with analysts yesterday.

The job reductions are necessary to adjust to lower traffic volumes. Positions will be eliminated across the board, but most of the unionized positions will be eliminated by attrition, said Chief Executive Officer E. Hunter Harrison. Most of the cuts will have kicked in by the middle of 2016, he said.

A decrease in traffic volume, a hurricane in Mexico and flooding in the United States resulted in Kansas City Southern posting lower revenue, profit and earnings for the fourth-quarter and full year in 2015, the company announced this morning.

KCS posted fourth-quarter 2015 net income of $140 million on revenue of $598 million, compared with net income of $142 million on revenue of $642.5 million for the same period in 2014, according to a KCS press release.

Pricing gains weren't enough to offset the decline in traffic volume in fourth-quarter 2015 at Union Pacific Railroad. As a result, UP posted net income of $1.1 billion, or $1.31 per diluted share for the period, compared with $1.4 billion, or $1.61 per diluted share, in fourth-quarter 2014, the railroad announced this morning.

Operating revenue for the quarter fell 15 percent to $5.2 billion compared with Q4 2014. Fourth-quarter business volumes — measured by total revenue carloads — declined 9 percent in 2015 compared with a year ago. Volumes fell in each business group except for automotive. Coal led the decline; freight revenue for that category fell 31 percent, according to the company's press release.

CSX Corp. announced yesterday that it's consolidating operations administration from 10 divisions to nine divisions and closing administrative offices in Huntington, W.Va.

Huntington Division administration will be reassigned to the Atlanta, Baltimore, Florence, Great Lakes and Louisville divisions, the company said in a press release.

CSX will develop a major freight-rail intermodal terminal in Johnston County, N.C., the company and Gov. Pat McCrory announced yesterday.

The proposed "Carolina Connector," or CCX, will serve as an intermodal transportation hub in the south, transferring a range of goods — from food to furniture to appliances — between trucks and trains, CSX officials said in a press release.

Effective Feb. 1, Norfolk Southern Corp. will consolidate its Virginia and Pocahontas divisions to form a new Pocahontas Division, with its headquarters in Roanoke, Va., the Class I announced yesterday.

The consolidation is part of the company's efforts to improve operating efficiency and support long-term growth, according to an NS press release.

CSX Corp.'s fourth-quarter 2015 revenue and profit were down compared with the same quarter in 2014, but the Class I's results beat Wall Street's expectations.

CSX reported yesterday that fourth-quarter 2015 net earnings declined 5 percent to $466 million, or 48 cents per share, compared with $491 million, or 49 cents per share, in the prior year's quarter.

Kansas City Southern Railway Co. (KCSR) will spend about $15 million this year on rail and bridge improvements at the Beaumont Subdivision between DeQuincy and DeRidder, La., Kansas City Southern (KCS) announced yesterday. 

The projects are aimed at increasing capacity and maintaining and enhancing safety on Kansas City Southern's cross-border network, company officials said inn a press release.

CSX yesterday announced new leadership appointments to its sales and marketing organization.

Dean Piacente has been named vice president-intermodal; Clark Robertson, VP-chemicals; and Tim McNulty, VP-agriculture. All three will report to Fredrick Eliasson, executive VP and chief sales and marketing officer, according to a CSX press release.