NEW YORK — Building high speed passenger trains is not only technically intense, but a new Alstom video shows that it is also equal parts art and science fiction. The France-based locomotive and trainset manufacturer recently debuted a new video showing how Alstom engineers and designers collaborate to make digital three-dimensional models of new equipment […]
Railroad: Amtrak
PTC and passenger speeds
Amtrak’s ‘Empire Builder’ streaks through Brookfield, Wis. The speed limit for Amtrak on Canadian Pacific’s Watertown Subdivision is 79 mph. Tom Danneman Q Most Amtrak trains have a 79-mph speed limit. Will positive train control systems allow Amtrak to operate faster where track conditions allow? For instance, the Southwest Chief operates to 90 mph in […]
UP conditionally OK’s Flatonia, Texas, ‘Sunset’ stop NEWSWIRE
Attendees at Saturday’s St. Louis TEMPO meeting that are working toward a Sunset Limited Flatonia, Texas, stop: Clockwise from top left: Mark Murphy and Eric Hosey (Amtrak); Dennis Geesaman, Mark Eversole, and Mark McLaughlin (Flatonia); Josephine Jordan and Kim Fossland (Union Pacific); Jay Fountain (Amtrak-retired); and Tom Mulligan (UP-retired). Bob Johnston ST. LOUIS — Eight years […]
Siemens Charger solos for first time out of Chicago NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO — This morning, Amtrak Hiawatha train No. 329 departed Chicago Union Station for Milwaukee behind a new SC-44 Charger locomotive, No. 4620. This is the first solo revenue trip for the Illinois Department of Transportation’s SC-44 locomotives since arriving in the Windy City this spring. This locomotive and its counterparts are owned by a […]
UPDATE: ‘Eclipse Express’ coverage from southern Illinois NEWSWIRE
FULL SCREEN Steve Smedley A humid breeze wisps through the wheels of a rusted baggage cart in Champaign, Ill., at 5:28 a.m. Monday. Amtrak’s product line agent Ed Kim stands on the platform of the Illinois Terminal Intermodal Transportation Center in Champaign as the engineer of the Eclipse Express special dims the headlight for a […]
Coast-to-coast passenger train
Amtrak’s westbound ‘Sunset Limited’ pauses for a station stop in Atmore, Ala., at sunrise in January 1995. It was the nation’s first and only transcontinental passenger train. Bob Johnston Q There were numerous named passenger trains that spanned distances beyond the reach of a single railroad, such as the California Zephyr between Chicago and Oakland, […]
Amtrak ‘Capitol Limited’ schedule modified after Sand Patch grade derailment NEWSWIRE
A CSX Transportation freight train derailed at least 32 cars near Hyndman, Pa. on Wednesday morning impacting both freight and passenger railroads. MP208 HYNDMAN, Pa. — Amtrak’s Capitol Limited between Washington and Chicago will be running on a modified schedule for the next four days after a CSX Transportation freight train derailed more than 30 […]
Amtrak trains to Grand Central Terminal NEWSWIRE
NEW YORK CITY — Inbound Amtrak Albany-to-Grand Central Terminal Train No. 242 is passing through Marble Hill in the Bronx at 4:55 p.m. on July 26, 2017, as one of three Monday through Friday round trips from Albany, due to track work reconstruction at New York Penn Station. Led by non-dual power mode P42DC No. […]
Amtrak inspection train travels ‘Montrealer’ route NEWSWIRE
ST. ALBANS, Vt. — An Amtrak inspection trip ran today from St. Albans to Montreal over the normally freight only Swanton Subdivision of both New England Central and Canadian National. Montrealer service ended in 1995 and more than two dozen rail and government officials were aboard the consist of Amtrak P42 101, Amcafe 43371 and […]
Appeals court rejects on-time performance standards NEWSWIRE
Amtrak’s southbound ‘Saluki’ rolls past the Canadian National yard into Champaign, Ill., in Feb., 2015. Bob Johnston ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a U.S. Surface Transportation Board attempt to provide metrics which measure host railroad on-time performance. The action follows a U.S. Supreme Court finding that […]
USDOT: Amtrak’s proposed 2018 budget includes all available funding NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON – Senators used words like “concerned,” and “dismayed” as they considered the Trump administration’s proposed budget for the U.S. Department of Transportation during a hearing July 13. Members of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on transportation were looking at an overall budget that’s been cut $2.4 billion from the 2017 DOT budget. If they were […]
Who is Richard Anderson, Amtrak’s CEO pick? NEWSWIRE
Incoming Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson Delta Air Lines WASHINGTON — Although incoming Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson made a name for himself in the airline industry, he comes from a railroad family. His father, Hale, was an office worker for the Santa Fe in his native Texas. The family followed railroad work from Galveston to Dallas […]
