WASHINGTON — Two workers struck and killed by a PATCO train on the Benjamin Frankin Bridge in Camden, N.J., had entered the right-of-way before a track outage for maintenance work had been established, the National Transportation Safety Board said in determining probable cause as part of its final report on the Oct. 14, 2022, incident. […]
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EMMETT, Ark. —Ten cars of a Union Pacific freight train derailed Saturday afternoon, May 25, at Emmett, Ark., about 7 miles northeast of Hope, Ark. The track continued to be blocked Sunday afternoon as crews worked to remove cars and repair the damage, according to spokeswoman Meg Siffring. A second train had derailed a day […]
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Canadian Pacific Kansas City will honor former Kansas City Southern CEO Michael Haverty by naming a new subdivision after the influential railroad executive. Assuming the deal gains the necessary regulatory approval, CPKC will name its portion of the Meridian & Bigbee short line the Haverty Subdivision. CPKC and CSX plan to […]
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NEW YORK — The Quantum intermodal service that BNSF Railway and J.B. Hunt launched in November — specifically aimed at loads that have never touched rails before — is providing 99% door-to-door on-time performance and is gaining volume, executives said today. “This is true highway conversion. It’s not intended to be a different service level […]
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ST. PAUL, Minn. — It was 43 years in the making, but the Chicago-Twin Cities corridor finally has a second Amtrak passenger train. In ceremonies in Chicago, St. Paul and intermediate points today, Amtrak and state, local, and federal official marked the first run of the Borealis, new daily service between Chicago Union Station and […]
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Well, I put a bee in Jim Vena’s bonnet when I wrote that railroads should thank the Federal Railroad Administration for its new two-person train crew rule. The thrust of that column last month: Service would suffer if the Class I railroads were to go to engineer-only operation because of delays related to having ground-based […]
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Anyone who lived through the late 1960s and cared about railroading knew that the future of the intercity passenger train was bleak, so long as it was in the hands of private companies mostly interested in exclusively hauling freight. After more than a decade’s worth of relentless abandonment and downgrading of service, it seemed only […]
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WASHINGTON — Beginning June 1, Amtrak plans to restore a dining car to the New York-New Orleans Crescent. However, initially only sleeping car passengers will be allowed to use it, and the food served will continue to be reheated “flexible” meals. As reported in the Rail Passengers Association’s weekly Hotline email, Amtrak senior leadership confirmed […]
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MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada will retire its British-built Renaissance equipment from Quebec City-Windsor, Ontario, corridor service on Sunday, May 26, the passenger operator has confirmed. The last train to use the Renaissance cars will be Ottawa-bound train No. 37, departing Quebec City at 12:32 p.m. When the train arrives in Montreal at 3:54 p.m., […]
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WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report on the April 26 derailment of a BNSF Railway train near the Arizona-New Mexico state line — an incident that led to a breach of tank cars carrying propane and fire that closed Interstate 40. No one was injured in the incident. Interstate […]
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WASHINGTON — A communication breakdown over granting permission for a train movement into the yard, as well as regarding placement of a portable derail device, was the probable cause of the August 2022 fatality of a Union Pacific conductor at a yard in El Paso, Texas, the National Transportation Safety Board determined in its final […]
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CHICAGO — Canadian National, CSX, and Union Pacific last week asked a federal appeals court to set aside the Surface Transportation Board’s new reciprocal switching rule, which will allow sole-served shippers in terminal areas to request access to a second railroad if their rail service falls below certain standards. The STB rule, which was adopted […]
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