News photo: Metra SD70MACH makes test run

Blue locomotive with orange stripe on commuter train

RIVER GROVE, Ill. — Metra has recently accelerated testing of its SD70MACH locomotives, with the first test run with one of the remanufactured units leading a train taking place earlier this week. Unit No. 509, accompanied by F59PH No. 99, is shown at River Grove on Tuesday, Oct. 17, on a test run that took […]

Read More…

Amtrak to implement two-tier fare structure: Analysis

Cab car leads passenger train

WASHINGTON — Amtrak announced today (Wednesday, Oct. 18)  that it will be “soon” be reducing its fare categories from three to two, although details and effective dates have not been revealed. The bottom-tier and most-restrictive “Saver” fares are being eliminated, and the other two categories — “Value” and “Flexible” — are being redefined to allow […]

Read More…

Southbound lanes of I-25 reopen in Colorado after derailment

Cars moving on highway past site of railroad overpass

PUEBLO, Colo. — Southbound lanes of Interstate 25 reopened this afternoon (Wednesday, Oct. 18) at the site of Sunday’s derailment and fatal bridge collapse involving a BNSF Railway coal train, the Colorado State Patrol reported on social media. Northbound lanes are expected to reopen Thursday Meanwhile, BNSF says the rail line at the site of […]

Read More…

CN names two operations executives to succeed retiring chief operating officer

Canadian National logo

MONTREAL — Canadian National today appointed two operations executives to take over for retiring Chief Operating Officer Ed Harris. Patrick Whitehead was named executive vice president and chief network operating officer, while Derek Taylor was named executive vice president and chief field operating officer. Both appointments are effective Nov. 15. Railroads traditionally have a lone […]

Read More…

Metra lands federal grant to purchase battery-powered trainsets

Yellow and white multiple-unit trainset on straight track

CHICAGO — Metra will receive a federal grant of almost $170 million — the largest discretionary grant in its history — to buy battery-powered trainsets, the commuter rail operator announced Tuesday. The grant under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program was approved last week by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the […]

Read More…

R.J. Corman leases closed West Virginia intermodal facility

Aerial view of nearly empty intermodal terminal

PRICHARD, W.Va. — R.J. Corman Railroad Group has leased a former Norfolk Southern intermodal facility in Pritchard — the state’s only intermodal terminal when it was closed after four disappointing years — and originally plans to use it as a car repair site. However, long-term goals could see the facility, built for $32 million, returned […]

Read More…

Broken rail caused March BNSF derailment in Minnesota, NTSB says

Firefighters watching burning railcars

WASHINGTON — A broken rail caused the derailment and subsequent fire involving a BNSF Railway train in Raymond, Minn., according to a National Transportation Safety Board memo in the investigation docket of the March 30, 2023, incident released Monday. Twenty-three cars derailed in the incident, 10 of which were carrying ethanol; material was released from […]

Read More…

Union calls on FRA to impose 7,500-foot train-length limit

Logo of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has called on the Federal Railroad Administraton to issue an emergency order setting a 7,500-foot maximum length for trains on Class I railroads, the union announced today (Monday, Oct. 16). The BLET said in a press release that the union’s national president, Eddie Hall, had […]

Read More…