By TIM BLACKWELL/Cowcatcher Magazine

For the second consecutive year, the Cowcatcher has taken the pulse of model railroading, and once again readers believe the hobby is thriving. However, some subtle changes in rating the state of model railroading suggest a little more concern about its direction than 12 months ago.

In December readers answered 25 questions about the overall state of the hobby, their personal preferences and skill levels and spending habits. The survey attracted the highest number of responses in its history.

Respondents rated the hobby’s value, product quality and ease of use and reliability of models, scenery products and more. The consensus is that model railroading continues to provide a great experience and is still a good value. Nearly 80 percent rated the overall state of model railroading as excellent or good.

OMAHA, NE — Union Pacific Railroad is taking additional steps to reduce global supply chain congestion with a weekend incentive to help relieve intermodal shipment backlogs. By offering refunds on some containers, the railroad hopes to speed goods and products moving across the United States from West Coast ports.

The move comes as railroads experience continued intermodal shipment backlogs, which is contributing to a decline in North American rail traffic. The Association of American Railroads, which charts weekly traffic, reports steady dips in North American carload and intermodal shipments since the end of July.

In the U.S., intermodal shipments have been down an average of 8 percent since the week ending Sept. 18.

To encourage weekend in-gates and reduce port backlog, UP will run a pilot program through Dec. 31 offering a $60 per container refund to its ocean carrier customers for each container in-gated Saturdays and Sundays at its near-port Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) in Long Beach, CA. The refund will apply to containers in-gated incremental to each customer’s current 2021 weekend average.

Terminals set for Dallas, Bryan/College Station and Houston

Texas high-speed rail investors plan to form an entity to develop train stations in Dallas, Houston and Grimes County near College Station, where the Texas Central Railway’s high-speed rail line terminals will be built.

The Texas High-Speed Rail Station Development Corp. (SDC), independently owned and separate from Texas Central, will build three stations along the planned line from Houston to Dallas.

SDC will undertake planning, design, development, construction, improvement, commissioning, operation, maintenance and funding of the terminals, station sites, platform surfaces and circulation area. The company will engage with governmental agencies and private companies seeking to deliver high-speed rail to Texas.

The company, to be led by investors John Kleinheinz and Jack Matthews, is an offshoot of Cadiz Riverfront Holdings and Cadiz Development Houston, LLC. SDC owns approximately 52 acres south of downtown Dallas, approximately 45 acres in Houston formerly known as Northwest Mall and approximately 59 acres in Grimes County.

As expected, Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern last week re-entered into a merger agreement under which CP will acquire KCS in a stock and cash transaction representing approximately $31 billion USD.

The agreement follows a Surface Transportation Board ruling earlier this month that rejected Canadian National’s request to form a voting trust agreement in an effort to acquire KCS. Also, KCS terminated CN’s offer of $33.6 billion last weekWednesday to pursue the deal with CP.

CP and KCS agreed in March to form Canadian Pacific-Kansas City (CPKC), but KCS backed out when CN put in a higher offer the following month.

Like the previous deal, CP will assume $3.8 billion of outstanding KCS debt. The transaction, which has the unanimous support of both boards of directors, values KCS at $300 per share, representing a 34 percent premium, based on the CP closing price Aug. 9, 2021.

Siemens Mobility has been awarded $34 billion in contracts in the United States to design, manufacture and technically support 73 multi-powered trains for Amtrak, the company said this week. There is also a possibility for up to 140 additional trains and further maintenance agreements.

The order is Amtrak’s latest endeavor to acquire the most sustainable and efficient trains on the market, which include dual powered and hybrid battery vehicles.

The trains will operate across the Northeast Corridor and various state-supported routes, including those in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. With expanded capacity and the ability to shorten trip time, Amtrak expects the new trains will add over 1.5 million riders annually.

“These new trains will reshape the future of rail travel by replacing our aging 40-to-50-year old fleet with state-of-the-art, American-made equipment,” said Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn. “This investment is essential to preserving Northeast Regional and state-supported services for the future and will allow our customers to travel comfortably and safely, while reducing carbon emissions.”