ORANGE, Calif. — The Orange County Transportation Authority is considering a proposal to build a $200 million, half-mile-long wall along the Surf Line right-of-way to address slide issues that have repeatedly closed the rail route since 2021 — but the city of San Clemente has reservations about the idea. Meanwhile, work continues on the temporary […]
SACRAMENTO — The head of the California high speed rail project told state legislators Tuesday that the project looks to be $4 billion to $7 billion short of funds needed to complete the initial Central Valley segment, and may need as much as $100 billion more to build the full Los Angeles-San Francisco route. KCRA-TV […]
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 […]
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has awarded a contract for construction of a 2.4-mile extension of its light rail system in East San Jose, despite a contract more than one-third higher than the agency’s original estimate. The VTA’s board last week unanimously approved the extension from the Alum Rock station […]
CHICAGO — Beginning today (Wednesday, March 6) Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr will depart Chicago for California for the first time the Feb. 27 departure encountered freight congestion and weather obstacles that resulted in arrival into Emeryville, Calif., 10 hours, 35 minutes late. Those cars and locomotives, stranded for more than a week at Amtrak’s Oakland […]
STOCKTON, Calif. — The operating agency for Amtrak’s San Joaquins and the California Department of Transportation officially launched San Joaquins service using Siemens Venture equipment on Tuesday, March 5, with ceremonies featuring Caltrans director Tony Taveres, state Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin, and other officials. The first Venture cars debuted in San Joaquins service without […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak’s California Zephyr has been cancelled west of Salt Lake City through the weekend as weather forecasters are predicting heavy snow will pound Donner Pass and the Sierra Nevada mountains through Saturday. Service on the Seattle segment of the Empire Builder route was also disrupted this week. Trouble started early Thursday when the […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Work has begun on a 200-foot-long wall to protect the Surf Line rail right-of-way from landslides at the site that has halted passenger train traffic through San Clemente since Jan. 24, the Orange County Transportation Authority announced. The wall, expected to be 10 to 15 feet tall, will be anchored by […]
WASHINGTON — An error in which the worker in charge released track occupancy protection — “due to degraded performance from his excessive workload” — led to a March 2022 incident in which a Caltrain commuter train struck three hi-rail construction vehicles, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a final accident report released on Tuesday, […]
Southern Pacific’s narrow-gauge line in the vast Owens Valley of California was known as the “Slim Princess.” Here a single freight car separates engine from caboose near Zurich (Big Pine) in July 1959. William H. Mills photo […]
LOS ANGELES — Metrolink will receive funding from the South Coast Air Quality Management District to purchase two zero-emission rail vehicles, and to replace a dozen older locomotives with Tier 4-complient lower-emission locomotives, the commuter rail agency has announced. South Coast AQMD has approved up to $59.3 million for the zero-emission vehicles — likely to […]
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Brenton A. MacDonald has been named vice president and chief operating officer at Sierra Northern Railway, the company announced Tuesday. MacDonald, who joined the company in 2013, most recently had served as general manager. He has also been manager of safety and training and well as a conductor and engineer. He […]
