April 1998
CSXT Renames its Chicago Service Lane
CSXT has renamed its Chicago Service Lane. It is now the Nashville Service Lane. A new Chicago Service "Unit" has been established to represent the Chicago Terminal area and the line extending south to Woodland Junction, Illinois.
CSXT's Damaged Freight Ratio Lowest Ever Recorded
CSXT has announced that its damaged freight ratio for 1997 was the lowest ever recorded by the railroad, surpassing all other major U.S. freight railroads. Freight claims by customers amounted to 19 cents per hundred dollars of freight value handled.
Amtrak Shows Ridership Increases in Illinois
Ridership on Amtrak's state-supported Illinois trains through the first two months of the year showed increases ranging from 12 to 18 percent. The trains involved operate from Chicago to St. Louis, Quincy and Carbondale, respectively, with February's on time performance for the three routes being nearly 96 percent.
UP and BNSF Open Joint Dispatching Center in Texas
Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe opened a joint regional dispatching center in Spring, Texas, March 15 to control operations between Houston and New Orleans over about 340 miles of jointly owned track.
BNSF Completes Double Track Project in New Mexico
Burlington Northern Santa Fe recently completed 14 miles of additional double track on the Clovis Subdivision between Cantara and Tolar, New Mexico, with an additional 23-mile segment slated to be completed this month between Melrose and Taiban, New Mexico. The segments involved see an average of 75 trains a day, according to a BNSF news release.
Amtrak Performance Improves on Conrail
Conrail reports its Amtrak on time performance in 1997 improved 11.2 percent, the biggest improvement of any host carrier on the Amtrak network.
Surface Transportation Board Sets Deadline for Oral Argument Intentions
The Surface Transportation Board has issued a notice stating that interested parties to the proposed Conrail acquisition must inform the board by April 10 of their intentions to participate in oral arguments, now slated to begin June 4 in Washington.
Depot at New Freedom, Pennsylvania, to be Rebuilt
After several failed attempts to restore the historic Pennsylvania Railroad train depot at New Freedom, Pennsylvania, a decision was finally made to tear the thing down and start over. Some of the original lumber, about 10 percent, can be used in the new structure; it will be rebuilt in stages with a pavilion-type structure appearing at first. Later increments to replicate its original design will proceed as funding permits.
Southern Railway Roundhouse in Alexandria, Virginia, Demolished
The circa 1916-1917 Southern Railway roundhouse, located off of Holland Lane in Alexandria, Virginia, met its fate during the first two weeks of March 1998. The building, which in recent years had been home to a lumber company, was demolished to make room for further progress on the Carlyle Project, a joint effort of Norfolk Southern with the Carlyle Development Company to develop the former Southern yard property in Alexandria.