Articles Tagged: Railroads

By earlier this year, it looked like the end was in sight with hopes to see the first quiet zone formally established this fall. Now, completion of the first phase has been pushed to next year.

The nation's largest railroad union has joined the list of entities endorsing Union Pacific's proposed $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern to create the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.

CSX and the other major freight railroads seem focused on finding ways to cooperate more to improve service without merging.

In the past 6 months, railcars with hazardous materials passed the homes of at least 2.5 million people living within a mile of the tracks.

Also in The Gazette’s Capitol Notebook, Canadian National Railway announces $38 million investment in Iowa

The state’s five-year plan for transportation infrastructure features billions of dollars in planned investments in Iowa road, bridge, aviation and railway infrastructure, construction and repair projects.

Two residents of a southeast Cedar Rapids neighborhood implored the city council this week to do something about the noise from a nearby rail yard.

Hundreds of people from across Iowa and perhaps beyond gathered in the Benton County city of Belle Plaine on Thursday to see the world’s largest operating steam locomotive in action.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference filed its strike notice against Canadian National shortly after it announced that it plans to challenge a government order that forced it into arbitration with both CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. railroads to end a lockout, said union spokesperson Marc-André Gauthier.

Union Pacific’s Big Boy due in Belle Plaine and Cedar Rapids after Labor Day.

A passenger train on its way to a stop in Marion in 1959 derailed near Atkins

In Cedar Rapids’ delayed quest to establish “quiet zones” to reduce the number of train horns sounding throughout downtown and NewBo, city staff anticipate the first phase will be complete within approximately the next year. Some City Council members were skeptical of the completion.

The move comes in the wake of a fiery derailment last year of a train carrying toxic chemicals in eastern Ohio that set off evacuations, a federal investigation and concerns about the effect the derailment and the fire could have on health and the environment.

Closures aim to stop migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico via trains, but Iowa Republicans say the move will slow transport of Iowa exports

The purchase of the Iowa rail line adds 275 track miles to the Canadian line.