SEATTLE — Amtrak has begun maintaining and repairing locomotives at a recently opened, $32 million service station in Seattle, just south of King Street Station. The 330-foot-long, 55-foot-high repair shop will work on locomotives used on Amtrak’s Cascades service, the Empire Builder, and Coast Starlight, as well as locomotives used on Sound Transit’s Sounder commuter […]
TORONTO — Ontario transit agency Metrolinx has announced it will buy 36 new bilevel railcars from Bombardier for GO Transit. The order will include 31 standard coaches and five accessible cars, and will add more than 6,000 new seats for GO Transit operations. The cars will be built at Bombardier’s Thunder Bay, Ont., plant, which […]
The interior of one of the new heated waiting areas at Metra’s Healy station. The station was completed earlier this year but formal opening ceremonies were held Tuesday. TRAINS: David Lassen A conductor announces information for passengers as a Metra Electric train stops at the Homewood Station in 2016. Homewood has received funds for a […]
DENVER — The Colorado Department of Transportation is close to buying a closed Union Pacific rail yard near downtown Denver, which could figure into the state’s efforts to begin Front Range passenger rail service or could help address a bottleneck in Denver’s light rail system. Colorado Public Radio reports that Colorado DOT would like to […]
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Trailers will not be disappearing from intermodal trains anytime soon, despite their status as an ever smaller niche in a world dominated by domestic containers that can be double stacked. Trailers enjoyed an intermodal moment in the sun last year, with volume spiking nearly 15% as truckers couldn’t find enough over-the-road […]
Rebuilt GP40H-2B No. 4024, an ex-Penn Central unit, pushes NJ Transit Main Line train No. 1118 out of Secaucus toward Hoboken in August 2019 afternoon. Additional PTC funds ensure that this unit will be able to operate until replacement locomotives arrive at the end of 2020. Ralph Spielman NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit’s board of […]
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Norfolk Southern will redesign its intermodal network the same way it brought merchandise traffic under the umbrella of Precision Scheduled Railroading: Improve terminal operations first, then make sweeping changes to road trains. Last year, under its shift to Precision Scheduled Railroading, NS began clean-sheeting its yard and local network. Then, on […]
PORTLAND, Ore. — A second westbound lane has been opened on Portland’s North Going Street Bridge, damaged by a Union Pacific derailment on Sept. 7. The lane was reopened Sunday, the Oregonian reports. Two locomotives and three tank cars derailed, hitting and damaging two support beams, which led to damage to the bridge deck. [See […]
New dining options with trays on display in the dining car ‘Tallahassee,’ boxed meal examples are in the background. Bob Johnston WASHINGTON – When the New York-Miami Silver Meteor and New York-New Orleans Crescent become the last single-level long-distance trains to offer cooked onboard dining car meals to both sleeping car and coach passengers on […]
BOSTON — A broken axle caused the June 11 derailment which has led to long-term disruptions of MBTA Red Line subway operations, the transit agency said in a report issued Monday. Arcing electricity damaged a 27-year-old axle, which fractured and led to the derailment, Boston Magazine reports. The derailment caused extensive damage to signal hardware […]
LONG BEACH, Calif. — CSX Transportation is done making major changes to its intermodal network and is poised for growth as it provides much more reliable service, Maryclare Kenney, vice president of intermodal and automotive, told an intermodal conference audience on Monday. In its shift to Precision Scheduled Railroading during the past two years, CSX […]
LONG BEACH, Calif. — A variety of factors, including trade wars, increased truck capacity, and the Class I railroad shift toward Precision Scheduled Railroading — are to blame for this year’s intermodal doldrums. That’s the consensus of a panel of intermodal experts who spoke at the Intermodal Association of North America’s annual Intermodal Expo on […]
