Metra approves 2024 budget with simplified fare structure

Commuter train at station

CHICAGO — Metra’s board of directors has approved a 2024 budget that significantly revises the commuter rail agency’s fare structure and eliminates some discount passes introduced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The board on Friday approve a $1.1 billion operating budget, a 4.9% increase over the 2023 budget (excluding $65 million to be […]

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Kansas DOT holds public meeting on Heartland Flyer extension

Short passenger train at station platform

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Department of Transportation presented a tentative operating schedule for an extension of Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer from Oklahoma City to Newton, Kan. — where it would connect with the Southwest Chief — as part of an online informational meeting Wednesday to seek public comment. The 20-minute presentation included in the meeting […]

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Five reappointed to VIA Rail Canada board

VIA Rail Canada logo

OTTAWA, Ontario — Five current members of the VIA Rail Canada board of directors, including chairperson Francoise Bertrand, have been reappointed to the board, Canada’s Transport Minister announced Thursday. “I am very happy to congratulate the accomplished individuals who have been reappointed to the Board of Directors,” Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez said in a statement. […]

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First of its kind

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Twenty miles out of Kansas City on its 187-mile trek to Salina, Kans., on the old Kansas Pacific route, Union Pacific No. 800, a 1937 Alco and first of its 45 4-8-4s, has a roll on train 39, the Kansan, west of Bonner Springs on August 8, 1955. Frank and Todd Novak collection […]

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News report says new Acela delays have cost Amtrak $140 million

NEW YORK — Delays in launching Amtrak’s next-generation Acela fleet have cost the passenger company $140 million so far, and the figure continues to grow, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday in a paywalled article. The figure includes the growing maintenance costs of keeping the current Acela trainsets — the first of which entered service […]

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BLET members vote on contract with Virginia Railway Express operator

Commuter train at station with bridge connecting platforms on each side of tracks

MANASSAS, Va. — Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen are voting on a tentative contract for engineers who operate trains for Virginia Railway Express through contract operator Keolis Rail Service Virginia. The tentative five-year agreement, covering 11 engineers, is retroactive to 2021 and would include pay increase compounded at 22.2% over the […]

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