WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has introduced a bill that would provide $200 billion in funding over five years for high speed rail and electrification of major rail corridors. The “All Aboard Act” also seeks to expand existing passenger rail service and electrify major rail yards. U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) has introduced […]
CALGARY, Alberta — The $100 million Patrick J. Ottensmeyer International Railway Bridge is officially complete. The second span across the Rio Grande— linking Laredo, Texas, with Nuevo Laredo, Mexico — doubles Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s cross-border capacity because it allows the railway to eliminate the four-hour northbound and southbound directional running windows that created bottlenecks […]
DARTMOUTH, Nova Scotia — A broken rail caused by an undetected fatigue flaw led to the derailment of a Canadian National train new Dunsinane, New Brunswick in October 2023, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in an investigation report released today (Tuesday, Dec. 17). Four cars derailed in the Oct. 30, 2023, incident, with […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway has added four more Certified Sites to its existing list of 38 trackside shovel-ready, rail-served industrial development properties. The new sites, which were announced yesterday, include in Everett, Spokane, and Plymouth, Wash.; and Springfield, Mo. “We’re excited to announce these four new locations to our growing list of certified […]
CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada State Railroad Museum has acquired a 1907 Virginia & Truckee Passenger car from the Southern California Railroad Museum, with the car arriving at the museum in Carson City last week. Coach-Smoker-Baggage car No. 20 was the last new passenger car acquired by the Virginia & Truckee, the museum said […]
WASHINGTON — Railroads appear to have the manpower resources they need to handle volume growth as we head into the New Year. Three of the country’s six Class I railroads have more train and engine (T&E) employees than they did a year ago, including three of the big four U.S. railroads. Amtrak also has 125 […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit Committee on Monday approved an order for an additional 435 new subway cars, including 80 with an open-gangway design. The full MTA board will vote on the order at its monthly meeting, this Wednesday, Dec. 18. The order will bring to 1,610 the number […]
For many of us today, Amtrak has been the only inter-city passenger railroad. While the six Class I railroads can find passenger trains in component railroads, only the Union Pacific has a direct corporate lineage to passenger service. Long gone is the competition between railroads to provide a better passenger train experience. Also, in the […]
WASHINGTON — GoRail, an advocacy group linking the rail industry with local leaders and the public in support of freight rail transportation, has announced a national essay contest for entrants to share how freight rail impacts their communities as part of its Rail Champions initiative. The 300- to 600-word essays, responding to the prompt “I’m […]
Operation Toy Train, the annual series of train trips to collect toys for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation, set records for toys collected and toys collected in a day, the organization has announced. The expanded operation — with collection efforts on 10 railroads in five states, covering 52 stops in 48 cities — […]
Sometimes successful photography depends on cultivating an eye for detail. There are train chasing days where the action seems almost endless. One train whips by only to be followed by another. Nirvana. Almost. There are also days when the weather is not cooperating. The sun is consistently in the wrong spot and as you look […]
High-horsepower, six-axle road locomotives are generally regarded to be units making between 3,800 to 4,400 hp. Over the last four decades the horsepower output has steadily grown to the high end of this range for the majority of the North American locomotives built. When this threshold was first reached with EMDs SD60 at 3,800 hp […]
