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For at least the past decade, America’s railroads have been toying with the notion of freight trains moving at speeds approaching some passenger bullet trains.

More than $311 million in funding is available for projects designed to improve freight and passenger rail connectivity, federal railroad regulators announced this month.

Implementation of automatic braking technology for freight railroads is nearly complete, an industry group indicated recently.

Canadian Pacific closed its acquisition of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway, the Alberta-based rail company said in a Dec. 30 news release.

Canadian shipments of crude by rail are poised to surge next year, spurring investment in new export infrastructure.

The backers of a new rail line to link Alaska to Canada and Lower 48 markets insist it would generate upward of $5 billion of freight revenue through the state.

The complexity of building a bullet train through Southern California’s urban maze is leading state officials to consider two major additions: a tunnel under the Burbank airport and a project that would help a freight railroad expand its switching yards in the Inland Empire.

Canadian National Railway is making a quick recovery from the eight-day strike by 3,200 Teamsters Canada Rail Conference conductors and yard crews, according to the Montreal-based railroad.

The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a proposed rule that would require states to develop highway-rail grade crossing action plans — or update the action plans they have.