A Durango & Silverton train crosses the Animas River on its return from Silverton in October 2018. The D&S has pushed its planned opening back from May into June, and is facing questions on how to operate under social distancing requirements. TRAINS: David Lassen Monday morning rail news: — The Durango & Silverton has extended […]
More Monday morning rail news: — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will shut down a portion of its Blue Line subway for 14 days beginning May 18 to allow for accelerated track and infrastructure work. Subway service will be replaced by shuttle buses for the seven-station stretch between the Bowdoin and Airport stations through May […]
Trains’ International news round-up for May 11, 2020 — MONGOLIA (via AKIPress.com) Construction of more than 400 miles in rail line continues in southern Mongolia despite threats posed by Coronavirus, according to AKIPress. The new lines connect two settlements in the south part of the country with the border with China at Gashuunsukhait. One of […]
The pandemic-related collapse of rail traffic in April — U.S. carload volume down 25%, intermodal off 17% — was unprecedented as large sectors of the economy shut down. The impact varied on the big six Class I systems, however, with Canadian railways faring better than their U.S. counterparts, thanks in no small part to record […]
WASHINGTON — The Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association is excited to announce its 2020 Undergraduate Scholarship Program. This year REMSA is awarding one President’s Scholarship in the amount of $7,500 as well as one $5,000 runner-up scholarship, and one individual scholarship at $2,500. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, May 29, 2020. Please note due […]
Orlando’s SunRail has resumed its regular service schedule as of today. TRAINS: David Lassen Still more Monday rail news: — Orlando-area commuter railroad SunRail returned to its regular schedule as of today, ending the abbreviated operations it had introduced because of the coronavirus pandemic on March 31. It becomes the first of the state’s three […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has pulled the plug on its innovative Cold Connect reefer service, which the railroad had touted as a way to return long-lost perishables business to the rails. The service linked growers in California and the Pacific Northwest with consumers in the Northeast and New England via a mammoth refrigerated warehouse […]
Sunday morning rail news: — Vermont Rail System will acquire “certain assets and operating rights” from New England Southern Railroad of Canterbury, N.H., to expand its operations, the company, which operates four short lines in Vermont and one in New York, announced on its Facebook page. New England Southern, a 39-year-old, 22-mile short line, operates […]
Saturday Canadian rail and coronavirus news: — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau views aid for Canada’s ailing transit systems as a responsibility of local and provincial governments rather than the federal government, he said during a Friday press conference. “Operation of transit is more of a municipal and provincial responsibility, and we hope to see […]
A Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train heads toward downtown from O’Hare Airport. The CTA is among agencies asking for $32 billion in federal aid. TRAINS: David Lassen Saturday morning rail news: — Chief executives of 15 major transit agencies, including New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Los Angeles Metro, and the Chicago Transit Authority, have […]
Editors’ note: The author and photographers are graduates of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s rail engineering program. This is their first Trains byline. In North America, the days of steam railroading are a distant memory, and coal traffic is slowly headed the way of steam. In Europe and Japan, steam enthusiasts eagerly attend steam […]
A northbound Amtrak Acela Express passes through Elizabeth, N.J., in August 2019. Amtrak will resume some Acela service on the Northeast Corridor as of June 1. TRAINS: David Lassen WASHINGTON — Amtrak will begin restoration of Acela Express service on the Northeast Corridor as of June 1, with three Acela round trips between Washington and […]
