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WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will allow a limited number of Amtrak personnel access to raw train data used by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern so the passenger operator can run its own Rail Traffic Controller capacity modeling study. In a decision issued Friday, the STB also ordered board-sponsored mediation to address the differences […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak is seeking more than $200 million in federal funding, along with money from state and local sources, in an attempt to fix a series of long-standing deficiencies, capacity limitations, and how trains from the south and east enter Chicago. The passenger operator is competing for a portion of $5 billion available between […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has received an $8 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to expand the apprenticeship program it launched earlier this year. The funds are among the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement grants announced earlier this month [see “FRA announces CRISI grants …,” Trains News Wire, June 2, 2022]. They will support […]
DEL MAR, Calif. — The California Coastal Commission has approved the San Diego Association of Governments’ stabilization plans for the Del Mar Bluffs, despite objections to parts of the project from the North County Transit District as well as residents. The San Diego Union reports that at a Wednesday, June 8, meeting, the commission unanimously […]
Amtrak has reached a settlement with the engineer who was seriously injured in the fatal 2017 derailment of Cascades train No. 501 on a curve in DuPont, Wash. In a lawsuit filed against Amtrak, engineer Steven Brown argued that he was not properly trained. The settlement, compensation for pain and suffering related to the accident, […]
CHICAGO—Non-powered control unit 90200 isn’t just any former locomotive that lost its prime mover and traction motors when converted to a glorified baggage car with cab controls. Seen here outside Amtrak’s Chicago locomotive shop on June 2, 2022, coupled to an Illinois-owned Siemens SC-44 Charger, the carbody once was number 200. It is the first […]
WASHINGTON—Effective immediately, each departure of the Chicago-Washington, D.C. Capitol Limited is accepting reservations for up to 12 full-size bicycles along the route of a train that parallels popular trails through Maryland, West Virginia, and southern Pennsylvania. Last Friday, Amtrak announced increased capacity through mid-September, “due to high demand.” For $20, passengers can check a bike […]
WASHINGTON — The National Park Service has relaunched its informative Trails and Rails program on Amtrak trains for summer 2022 after a two-year hiatus, but some previously featured segments will no longer be covered. Volunteers apply through the National Park and National Historic sites that sponsor the lecturers, who board trains and talk to travelers […]
ABOARD THE TEXAS EAGLE — “There is no Sightseer Lounge on this train. Once again, there is no Sightseer Lounge on this train,” emphasized the public-address announcement. “You must buy food to sit in the café car; if you don’t buy food and we see you sitting in the café, we will ask you to […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s continuing effort to gain access to data relating to freight traffic on the route of its proposed Gulf Coast passenger service has drawn strong protest from CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern. In a Tuesday filing with the Surface Transportation Board, the two freight railroads urged the board to reject the passenger operator’s […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak is proposing that, in extreme examples of routes with poor on-time performance, it would be allowed to take over dispatching from host railroad Canadian National as part of a new operating agreement with CN. In asking the Surface Transportation Board to set terms of a new agreement with CN, the passenger railroad […]
CHICAGO — Depending on the route, Amtrak trains can either offer a welcome alternative to record high gas prices or no relief at all. That’s because where sufficient capacity exists, fares remain flexible, but where Amtrak management has failed to marshal the resources to return sidelined equipment to duty, the traveling public suffers. Corridors offer […]
