Mexican president again says Maya Train will be completed by September

Two women and two men on passenger train

CANCÚN, Mexico — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has again promised the Maya Train project will be completed by mid-September, before he leaves office, while President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has endorsed the controversial project on the Yucatan Peninsula. Mexico News Daily reports that López Obrador and Sheinbaum traveled on two segments of the Maya Train […]

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White paper urges public ownership of U.S. railroads

Green and yellow box-cab diesel pulling freight train

Rail labor groups today released a report calling for public ownership of Class I freight railroads in the U.S., arguing that the current system is broken because it’s beholden to Wall Street. The 98-page report contends that the Class I railroads’ relentless focus on cost-cutting has hurt safety, service, employees, infrastructure investment, and passenger service. […]

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Appropriators proposal trims Amtrak fiscal 2025 budget: Analysis

Passenger train passing boarded-up two-story station

WASHINGTON — The process that determines how much money Amtrak will receive for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2024, began Wednesday with release of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Committee’s “Department of Transportation Appropriation Act of 2025.” Funding levels for the U.S. DOT and its related highway, rail, and […]

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Federal court orders FRA to allow BNSF Railway to expand track inspection program

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has ordered the Federal Railroad Administration to allow BNSF Railway to expand its automated track inspection program while simultaneously reducing the frequency of traditional visual inspections. Railroads are permitted unlimited use of automated track inspection systems that rely on lasers and other technology to find track geometry defects. But […]

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CSX unveils Georgia Railroad heritage locomotive

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX’s 16th heritage locomotive honors the Georgia Railroad. The unit, No. 1834, was released yesterday at the railroad’s paint shop in Waycross, Ga. “Here is our 16th CSX Heritage Locomotive – the Georgia Railroad #1834. Founded in 1833, the company was originally the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company and the banking side […]

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Hydrogen trainset arrives in San Bernardino, Calif.

Passenger train next to ornate Spanish-style station at night

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — More than 20 months after it was unveiled in Berlin and nine months after its U.S. debut, the first Stadler hydrogen-fuel-cell powered FLIRT H2 trainset has arrived in San Bernardino, where it will operate on Southern California’s Arrow commuter rail line. The first-of-its-kind trainset arrived on June 21, after leaving Pueblo, […]

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News photos: Chargers debut on Auto Train

Four locomotives assemble passenger train

LORTON, Va. — Amtrak has begun testing its Siemens Charger ALC42 long-distance locomotives in Auto Train service, with two of the diesels making their first appearance as part of a four-locomotive consist on the southbound train on Friday, June 21. Photographer Sol Tucker shot the locomotives putting the train together in Lorton; Nathan Richters photographed […]

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