JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Shortline operator Pinsly Railroad Co. today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Hondo Railway, a short line railroad company in Hondo, Texas, just west of San Antonio. Pinsly and its partner, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, have requested that the transaction be exempt from Surface Transportation Board review, as is common […]
WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway’s safety practices are improving and the company has a commitment to safety, according to a Federal Railroad Administration review. But FRA recommended that BNSF take steps to foster trust between management and labor, better respond to safety concerns fairly and consistently, and to improve training for new employees and maintenance of […]
PENINSULA, Ohio — Larry Stevenson has been named the new president and CEO of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, the heritage rail operation announced today. Stevenson was most recently CEO of the Island Corridor Foundation, the non-profit on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island overseeing the right-of-way of the former Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway. That organization has […]
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Union Pacific Railroad‘s Big Boy No. 4014 is en route for its second outing of the 2024 steam season. During its “Heartland of America” tour, the 4-8-8-4 will travel eastbound toward Illinois before pointing its headlight south to Texas. Before looking more into the fall trip, here’s a recap of both the […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has received thousands of pages of documents as part of its investigation into the substandard on-time performance of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited. And yet regulators still have a mystery on their hands. The key question they want answered: Which railroads officially host the easternmost 15.5 miles of the Sunset Limited’s […]
While searching the Trains archives the other day, I stumbled upon a December 1973 commentary by Editor David P. Morgan, who was pondering the future of railroading. I was struck by how many of the same concerns that he raised during one of the darkest periods in rail history still ring true today as the […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has outlined in more detail plans for an extended shutdown of Red Line rapid transit service between the JFK/UMass and Braintree stations, set for Sept. 6-29. The agency has also announced two weekends of commuter rail outages between South Station and Braintree, Sept. 7-8 and 14-15. The Red […]
CASS, W.Va — Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, the facility including the 11-mile heritage railroad and preserved lumber company town, will add its first campground as part of $13 million in improvements in the state park system announced by Gov. Jim Justice. The campground will feature 100 campsites with water and electrical connections, two bathhouses, […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. —Charlotte would pay $91 million to Norfolk Southern for right-of-way and other land needed for a long-discussed commuter rail line running to the north under a proposal presented to city council members on Monday. The plan includes $74 million for 22 miles of rail line and $17 million for 1.6 acres of land […]
CHICAGO — Metra’s “Rails, Trails, and Ales” program — a series of Saturday trips on the normally weekday-only Heritage Corridor — will return for a fourth straight year starting Sept. 7, the commuter operator announced Monday. The trains will operate on six consecutive Saturdays from Sept. 7 to Oct. 12, with three round trips each […]
Pennsylvania’s U.S. 22 It takes less than 6 hours to drive across Pennsylvania using Interstate 80 (boring) or the Pennsylvania Turnpike (expensive and boring). Instead, drive through Pennsylvania on U.S. Route 22 for a plethora of really interesting railroad sites and plenty of trains. Even on a multi-day trip there is almost too much to […]
PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will expand Regional Rail schedules as of Sept. 8, adding 99 weekday trains and 24 on weekends, the agency announced today (Monday, Aug. 26). The additional trains will increase weekday service to 80% of pre-pandemic levels (up from 77%) and weekend operation to 84% (up from 63%). Ridership […]
