Alstom signs seven-year contract extension for JFK AirTrain

Automated train on elevated right-of-way

NEW YORK — Alstom has signed a seven-year contract extension to continue to operate and maintain the AirTrain at New York’s JFK International Airport, the company announced. The contract with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is worth approximately $518 million. Alstom designed and built the AirTrain system and has been operating […]

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CN train derails in Manitoba

Canadian National logo

BRANDON, Manitoba — No injuries resulted when 15 cars of a Canadian National train derailed Monday evening in downtown Brandon, disrupting rush-hour traffic. CTV News reports the derailment occurred about 5 p.m., blocking 6th Street between McTavish and Van Horne avenues. The railroad said the derailed cars included one carrying fertilizer, three with potash, and […]

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Machinists union, rail carriers announce tentative agreement

Logo of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — The International Association of Machinists has reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year agreement with the National Carriers Conference Committee, the bargaining group for Class I and other railroads. The agreement covers about 4,900 IAM members working at BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, Belt Railway of Chicago, Conrail, Terminal Rail, […]

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Private operators’ overnight-train dreams: Analysis

Illustration of locomotive at night between landmarks of Los Angeles and San Francisco

First of two parts Before jets dominated air travel and a fully developed, publicly funded interstate highway system crisscrossed the U.S., many North American city pairs were linked by dusk to dawn passenger trains. Two companies are seeking to revive that travel option. Prospective U.S. operators Dreamstar and Lunatrain are citing a recent resurgence of […]

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Some Santa Clara VTA light rail service resumes

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority logo

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Some light rail service has now been restored by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, after delays caused by copper-wire theft while the system was shut down by a strike. KGO-TV reports Orange Line service resumed shortly after 10 a.m. today (March 31), while a portion of Blue Line service, between […]

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Canada’s TSB again calls for PTC-type system

Diagram of scene of two-train collision

CALGARY, Alberta — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada today has again called for implementation of a positive train control-type system as it released its accident report on a February 2024 collision of two Canadian Pacific Kansas City trains in British Columbia. The incident on Feb. 16, 2024, near Greeley, B.C., led to the derailment […]

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Restoration of Amtrak Cascades service to begin Tuesday, April 1

Passenger train with seven deadhead cars ahead of regular consist

SEATTLE — Amtrak is scheduled to begin restoring Cascades service on Tuesday, April 1, as repositioned Amfleet equipment replaced the sidelined Horizon railcars, the Washington State Department of Transportation said in a statement today (March 31, 2025). Since Amtrak removed 70 Horizon cars — including 26 in Cascades service — from service  last week because […]

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CSX taking steps to dig out of congestion

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In the weeks before the Feb. 1 closure of the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore, CSX was a railroad on a tightrope. CSX had been struggling to recover from a string of harsh weather events that began during a devastating hurricane season and continued through winter. Among them: The Jan. 21 storm […]

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Norfolk Southern introduces RailGreen emissions reduction program

Black locomotives with intermodal train changing tracks with Chicago skyine in backgroun d

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has introduced what it says is a first-of-its-kind program for customers to reduce freight emissions, offering verified certificates of emission reduction. With shipping by rail reducing emissions by 75% on average, the NS RailGreen program allows shippers to address the remaining 25%. The program developed with 123Carbon, an independent book-and-claim platform, […]

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Owner of masonry firm charged in Amtrak bribery case

Aerial view of large railroad station next to river

PHILADELPHIA — The owner of an Illinois masonry company has been charged in regards to a bribery case related to restoration of Amtrak’s 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, becoming the fourth person charged in the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced on Friday, March 28, that Mark Snedden, 69, […]

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News photo: A Rocky Mountaineer preview

View from above of blue, copper, and white passenger train emerging from one of two side-by-side tunnels.

KYUNE, Utah — The test train for next year’s expansion of Rocky Mountaineer service to Salt Lake City is well into its six-day round trip from Denver. Rocky Mountaineer’s parent company, now known as Armstrong Collective, announced earlier this month that in 2026, it would add three-day trips between Denver and Salt Lake City to […]

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