MARKETS

NS Railway orders $US100M in coal cars

LARGE coal rail shipper Norfolk Southern Railway has placed a $US100 million order with FreightCar America for 1500 new high-capacity coal railroad cars.

Donna Schmidt
NS Railway orders $US100M in coal cars

The cars will be produced at FreightCar America’s facility in Roanoke, bringing about 200 jobs to the site.

NS chief executive Wick Moorman said the purchase was good news for the rail company on several levels.

"It's an important step in our long-term plan to rejuvenate our coal fleet, it's a recognition of a rebound in the economy, it supports a very important supplier to the railroad industry, and it brings jobs back to Roanoke, a city that's very important to us," he said.

FreightCar America president Ed Whalen said the transaction reflected an upturn in production activity for the company’s facility.

“We are very pleased to be selected to meet Norfolk Southern's demand for coal cars in these difficult economic times,” he said, adding that the new employees would start over the next few months.

The timeline for the completion of the coal cars was not provided.

NS operates North America's largest coal terminal at Norfolk. Overall, it covers 20,000 route miles in 22 US states, and is the most extensive intermodal network in the eastern region of the nation.

TOPICS:

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Automation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations using autonomous solutions in every region and sector, including analysis of the factors driving investment decisions

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2023 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of current exploration rates, trending exploration technologies, a ranking of top drill intercepts and a catalogue of 2022 Initial Resource Estimates and recent discovery successes.