WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have begun announcing Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements, or CRISI, grant awards from the Federal Railroad Administration, with funding for projects in Pennsylvania and Kentucky announced Thursday. Two awards announced in Pennsylvania U.S. Sen Bob Casey (D) announced CRISI awards of $14.7 million for the Berks County Rail Project […]
BOSTON — Seven more of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s newest rapid-transit railcars have been found to have improperly installed bolts in brake assemblies, the agency’s board of directors learned Thursday. The Boston Herald reports MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak told the board that six Orange Line cars and one Red Line car had the […]
Central Vermont 2-10-4 703 steams through a snowy landscape with northbound freight 429 on the grade south of Roxbury, Vt., in the 1950s. Paul A. Reynolds photo […]
HARMAR TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Norfolk Southern train derailed after a grade crossing accident with a construction vehicle in a Pittsburgh suburb Thursday afternoon, injuring the driver and both members of the train crew. Seventeen cars derailed, with several going into a tributary of the Allegheny River, WTAE-TV reports, and a railroad bridge was damaged. […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s effort to use eminent domain to take control of Washington Union Station is being challenged by the current operator of the landmark structure, saying projects planned by the passenger railroad do not meet the legal requirements for the takeover or require the move. The Washington Post reports that Union Station Investco LLC […]
WASHINGTON — DC Metrorail will return 64 of its long-sidelined 7000-series railcars to service this summer as it continues work to automate wheel inspections that would allow use of all 748 of the Kawasaki-built cars, easing the agency’s equipment shortage. The Washington Post reports the independent Washington Metrorail Safety Commission will accept Metro’s plan for […]
WASHINGTON — After more than two years, the Surface Transportation Board is again accepting filings and other submissions in paper form. The board had limited filings to electronic form beginning in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying only the electronic filings would be accepted until further notice. While paper filings are now accepted, […]
Amtrak’s station at Springfield, Mass., had six tracks in this early 1990s view. Regular trains to and from Boston and Washington, plus the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited, stopped at the station. The elevated structures are baggage elevators used for handling mail and express in pre-Amtrak days. Located on New York Central’s Boston […]
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — With little fanfare, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has turned its Shore Line East commuter service over to Kawasaki M8 electric multiple unit cars, replacing diesel-powered trains using former Virginia Rail Express Mafersa coaches. The EMUs began to cover all trains today (Tuesday, May 24) on the service between New Haven and […]
When East Broad Top General Manager Brad Esposito was cleaning up rock salt in a shed at the railroad’s shop complex last year, he didn’t bat an eye when he realized he was standing on wooden crates marked “dynamite.” After all, the EBT stored just about anything in dynamite crates that had been emptied at […]
PHILADELPHIA — Amtrak opened a second-generation Acela high-speed trainset for press inspection Monday at 30th Street Station, giving a look at the interiors of the first-class, business-class, and café cars that will make up 28 160-mph trainsets projected to enter service between Boston, New York, and Washington late next year. Parked at an underground boarding […]
This review of the Lionel Legacy Acela High Speed Train Set is by Chris Montagna of the popular Chris’s Trains and Things channel on YouTube. One of the more highly-anticipated models from Lionel in its 2021 Volume 1 catalog was the re-release of the Acela High-Speed Train Set. We’ve come to expect Lionel to re-release […]
