U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski is not satisfied with Amtrak’s response to his questions over a Feb. 28 incident that badly disrupted operations at Chicago Union Station. TRAINS: David Lassen WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, says he is “extremely disappointed” with Amtrak’s explanation for the […]
BALTIMORE — Precision Scheduled Railroading ultimately improves railroad service by making transit times more consistent, shippers and a company that tracks rail shipments say. Getting there, however, is not easy. That’s because PSR aims to change 150 years of learned behavior in 150 days, which initially disrupts the railroad, says Ken Sherman, vice president and […]
Michigan Central Station in 1981. A study is exploring the possibility of returning Amtrak service to the station. Ernest L. Novak DETROIT — The revival of Detroit’s Michigan Central Station could include passenger train service. Bridge Michigan, an online journalism cooperative, reports that the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority have begun a $30,000 feasibility study to […]
MIAMI — Sir Richard Branson became the media darling of South Florida this week as Virgin Trains USA rebranded MiamiCentral, the massive terminal complex revitalizing a downtrodden area bordering the city’s business district. It was the initial move in the long-expected rebranding of Brightline passenger service. The flamboyant Branson, dressed in white and attracting a […]
Watch as Trains editors discuss all the rail news that is fit to publish! This week, Jim Wrinn and Steve Sweeney talk about who really invented Precision Scheduled Railroading, a California High Speed Rail comeback, the Transcontinental Railroad, and so much more. Only from Trains. […]
The Transcontinental Railroad’s replacement 1,000-mile tree in Utah. Jim Wrinn Of all of the locations that Union Pacific marked either formally or informally in the 1860s as it worked westward toward Promontory, one of the most interesting is the 1,000-mile tree. Nestled next to the tracks in Weber Canyon between Evanston, Wyo., and Ogden, Utah, […]
A view of the Union Pacific main line from Piedmont Road near the Altamont and Alpine tunnels along the Transcontinental Railroad route. The location is where, legend has it, that Union Pacific workers delayed Thomas Durant’s train on his way to the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah. Jim Wrinn A tried and true […]
The Ames Brothers monument along the former Union Pacific and Transcontinental Railroad right-of-way in Wyoming. The monument is on the Sherman Hill grade. Richard Koenig OLD SHERMAN, Wyo. — One of my favorite places on the first Transcontinental Railroad is Sherman Hill. It was the first big obstacle in Union Pacific’s way when the railroad […]
Crews work to clear the Norfolk Southern main line in Toledo after a bridge collapsed onto the tracks on Wednesday. Michael D. Harding TOLEDO, Ohio — A bridge collapsed onto a Norfolk Southern main line in Toledo on Wednesday, temporarily shutting down train traffic on the route to Chicago. The Maumee Avenue bridge, undergoing repair […]
The 2014 deadhead move of No. 4014 through Utah’s Echo Canyon created a long line of chasers in vehicles. Trains: Jim Wrinn CHEYENNE, Wyo. — With only one month before Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 makes its inaugural run from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Ogden, Utah, law enforcement agencies in both states are reminding fans […]
ALEXANDRA, Va. — Metra, NJ Transit, and TriMet of Portland, Ore., are among the initial members of the Commuter Rail Coalition, a new association formed to advocate for commuter railroads in the U.S. Describing itself as “a single-minded advocate in Washington” for U.S. commuter railroads, the coalition website says it is “a collection of agencies, […]
With overall rail traffic down in the first quarter, only two of the big six Class I railroad systems — Canadian National and Norfolk Southern — managed volume gains through the first three months of 2019. CN’s volume was up 1 percent, while NS eked out a 0.4% gain, according to a review of Association […]
