Today's Headlines

Testimony continues in NTSB hearings

CHICAGO (AP) -- A railroad signals expert testified yesterday he found no evidence that a crossing gate hit a steel-loaded truck that drove into the path of an Amtrak train, setting off a crash that killed 11 passengers.

The testimony of John Sharkey, a communications and signals general manager for Canadian National-Illinois Central Railroad, contradicted a witness who told of watching the descending gate hit the truck as it tried to beat the train across the tracks.

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NTSB asks for three mystery motorists to come forward and testify about Amtrak crash

CHICAGO -- Conflicting and sometimes emotionally charged testimony, the refusal of a key participant to appear, and a plea for three mystery motorists to come forward marked the opening on Monday of public hearings aimed at pinpointing the cause of the fatal truck-Amtrak train accident near Bourbonnais six months ago, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"I don't know anything that is clear one way or the other after today," said George W. Black Jr., the head of a special panel from the National Transportation Safety Board.

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Engineer told official that truck smashed through the gates

CHICAGO -- Moments after his train smashed into a truck filled with steel beams last March, Amtrak engineer Angel Flores told one of his rescuers the trucker had ignored downed gates and entered the crossing, according to a statement made public Tuesday.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Illinois Central Railroad track supervisor John Tuckett was one of the first to reach Flores, who was still trapped in his overturned locomotive in Bourbonnais.

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CN launches truck/train freight service

Canadian National has launched a state-of-the-art truck/train freight service between Toronto and Montreal with new dual-mode RoadRailer equipment.

The 53-foot RoadRailer trailers feature air ride, 110-inch interior height, more than 4,000 cubic feet of capacity and maximum payload of 70,000 pounds.

CN said it spent $13 million to acquire 200 RoadRailer Mark V trailers and 130 RoadRailer railroad bogies for the five-day-a-week,door-to-door service between Toronto and Montreal. Trains of up to 60 RoadRailers depart Toronto and Montreal at 9 p.m., arriving next morning at 5 a.m. Train length will increase as demand warrants. The trailers carry consumer goods, including foods, beverages, paper and building material.

CIT Group will buy 90 locomotives from GM

The CIT Group said Tuesday it would buy 90 high horsepower and 'road switcher' diesel electric locomotives from the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors Corp.

Deliveries for the high horsepower units will begin in the fourth quarter 1999, and deliveries for the GP15D road switchers, the largest order for new switcher locomotives in over 15 years, will begin in the first quarter 2000. The acquisition marks the first ever of new locomotives for CIT and the first for new locomotives for an operating lessor, said Nikita Zdanow, president and ceo of the CIT Group/Capital Finance.

The sale of the new locomotives is EMD's first to an operating lessor.

CIT will purchase 40 SD90MAC/4300 high horsepower and 50 GP15D and GP20D 'road switcher' diesel electric locomotives.

The SD90MAC/4300s employ alternating current (AC) traction motors, self-steering trucks, advanced microprocessor control. GP20D, while using the high-efficiency, low-emission 170 series engine, can pull more tonnage than other switchers currently in service, the company said.

Head of German railway fired

BERLIN (AP) -- Transport Minister Franz Muentefering has fired the head of the German Railway, Johannes Ludewig, the ministry said Tuesday.

Ludewig has been under growing criticism for his management of the nation's vast rail system, which has suffered financial setbacks and a loss of prestige in the wake of a series of accidents.

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Poland's government considering restructuring railroad

FRANKFURT -- Poland's government is considering a long-term reorganization of the struggling national railroad, Polskie Koleje Panstwowe, that may involve partial privatization of PKP's cargo division, the Journal of Commerce reported.

At least two Western railroads -- Wisconsin Central Transportation and Germany's Deutsche Bahn AG -- have reportedly expressed possible interest in PKP cargo shares if a privatization plan goes forward.

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