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COCOA, Fla. — Brightline and local officials announced their intention Tuesday to build a station on over 40 acres of Brightline-owned land near the junction where its trains from Orlando International Airport join Florida East Coast Railway’s north-south main line. The planned Cocoa, Fla., station is 40 miles east of the company’s Orlando terminus, and […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota bill to limit the length of freight trains has cleared its first legislative hurdle, passing a committee of the state’s House of Representatives on Tuesday. HF3499, introduced by Rep. Jeff Brand (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, St. Peter, Minn.), would limit trains to 8,500 feet, with penalties escalating from as little as […]
WASHINGTON — A CSX maintenance-of-way foreman was killed when he was struck by a ballast regulator while waiting for flaggers to arrive to protect a grade crossing, the National Transportation Safety Board said in the preliminary report issued Tuesday on an accident that occurred Feb. 13 in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. The accident description confirms details […]
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed the bill that would have required two-person crews for freight trains within the state, the news website Virginia Mercury reports. Youngkin said in a veto message issued March 8 that he took the action because the actions in the bill “appear premature and lack the necessary […]
VIDALIA, Ga. – Railroad labor union leaders today urged the Federal Railroad Administration to reject or at least severely restrict a proposal that would allow a pair of Genesee & Wyoming short lines to conduct intensive tests of Parallel Systems autonomous, self-propelled battery-electric freight cars. The Heart of Georgia and Georgia Central railroads last year […]
CHICAGO — Upgrading speeds and capacity or simply keeping tracks well-maintained for passenger trains has tradeoffs that often compromise a rail corridor’s ability to provide meaningful mobility while the work is going on. An example will occur in Michigan beginning May 6, when Amtrak and the state of Michigan jointly made the decision to suspend […]
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Caltrain’s electrification process took another step forward the weekend of March 9-10, with successful testing of trains and catenary on the commuter line’s Redwood City-Mountain View segment, the agency announced Monday. Test runs beginning at 20 mph and increasing to the 79-mph speed limit were conducted, with a total of 25 […]
BOSTON — Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority work on the rapid transit Green Line in February and March removed 11 speed restrictions and made unnecessary a planned suspension of service on the C Branch this fall, the MBTA said on Monday. The C Branch outage this fall is no longer needed because work eliminated a slow […]
U.S. railroads introduced long-haul luxury coach trains in the 20th century to attract a more budget-conscious traveler. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the worst of the Great Depression in the U.S. was over, and railroads began to invest in new passenger equipment; both new diesel motive power, and a radical new […]
PALESTINE, Texas — Efforts by the city of Palestine and Anderson County, Texas, to require Union Pacific to maintain jobs at its Palestine car shop have suffered another setback, with a Texas appeals court declaring a 1954 agreement between the city and UP predecessor Missouri Pacific is unenforceable. The Palestine Herald-Press reports the 12th Court […]
BOSTON — No injuries were reported when a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line B Branch light rail train derailed today (Saturday, March 9) just west of Kenmore Station. The incident occurred hours after the line reopened after an 18-day shutdown for track maintenance. WCVB-TV reports the derailment occurred about 8:55 a.m. and led to […]
“Diesel Helpers” are two buzzwords associated with today’s mainline steam excursions – from short lines to Class I railroads, and even selected tourist railroads off the national network. The use of one, or lack thereof, differs between railroads, organizations, and their operating preferences. Some are comfortable letting the steam locomotive travel solo. Others would prefer […]
