Locomotive Spare Parts and Inventory

We've just posted our Q2 2009 Newsletter. If you are registered but not subscribed, you can edit your settings by clicking the Employees tab under your account. If you have industry news or would like to be a featured supplier, please contact us

If it can get started, the California high-speed train would almost certainly be the most expensive single infrastructure project in United States history. Judging by the experiences of Japan and France, both of which have mature high-speed rail systems, it would surely slow the growth of highway traffic. Other potential benefits are also intriguing: a probable economic windfall for several cities along the route, with rejuvenated neighborhoods and center cities; Read more...

The dramatic drop-off in freight traffic has driven Class Is to store locomotives in droves. As of May 20, Union Pacific Railroad had stowed away 2,100 locomotives, or 25 percent of its 8,400-unit fleet. A bullet point on a PowerPoint slide in BNSF Railway Co.’s Q1 presentation (“Near-term Initiatives”) read thusly: "Over 900 locomotives stored or returned." Read more...

Rail infrastructure company Network Rail (NR) made a pre-tax profit of £1.52 billion last year but its net debt rose to more than £22 billion. The pre-tax profit for 2008/09 was roughly comparable with the £1.59 billion figure achieved in 2007/08. Read more...

Ross Capon of the National Associations of Railway Passengers (NARP) submitted a statement to the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on May 26th, 2009 strongly supporting Amtrak's funding request. You can read the full statement by clicking here.

Los Angeles redevelopment officials are drawing closer to an agreement with an Italian rail car company that hopes to build a manufacturing plant on a prized city site east of downtown, it was reported today. The company, AnsaldoBreda, is angling for a $300 million contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 100 light- rail cars, some of which would be used for the expansion of Metro's Gold and Expo lines, the Los Angeles Times reported. Read more...

CN has landed agreements to sell three Mississippi line segments to Grenada Railway L.L.C. and Natchez Railway L.L.C., both non-carrier affiliates of A&K Railroad Materials Inc. and V&S Railway L.L.C., which operates short lines in Kansas and Colorado. Read more...

The idea of a high-speed train that runs on solar power is still in its early stage, but the project's creators are pitching the idea to area cities and potential investors. The idea is to start a train system that connects Tucson and Phoenix in a first phase. In the future it would extend north to Grand Canyon and south to Nogales. The cost for the first phase alone is estimated at $27 billion. Read more...