PHILADELPHIA — An Illinois employee of an Indiana masonry firm has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for his role in a federal bribery case over Amtrak’s renovation of its 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Donald Seefeldt, 65, of Wilmette, Ill., was also sentenced to a year of probation, 59 hours of community service, and […]
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers did not include funding for Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer in a budget bill passed last week, placing the future of the train between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City in jeopardy after a year that saw a 11% increase in ridership. The Texas Department of Transportation had sought $3.53 million for the […]
WASHINGTON — Funding for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor would be cut from $1.14 billion to $850 million — a 25% decrease — under President Donald Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal 2026, according to budget information released by the Department of Transportation on Friday. According to the detailed DOT budget request, Amtrak national network funding would increase […]
RALEIGH, N.C. — A ceremony Friday (May 30) marking the 30th anniversary of the North Carolina’s Piedmont passenger rail service between Raleigh and Charlotte, repainting a locomotive into the original Piedmont paint scheme to mark the event. Piedmont service was launched on May 26, 1995, with state-owned equipment. It has grown from a single daily […]
NEWARK, N.J. — Five Amtrak employees have recently pleaded guilty to charges relating to a health care scheme that resulted in more than $11 million in fraudulent claims to the company’s health care plan. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced this week that Kevin Frink, 53, of Willingboro, N.J., pleaded […]
NEW YORK — Lost in the debate between Amtrak, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and transportation advocates over the plans to close Amtrak’s East River tunnel for repairs — and the resulting service reductions, especially for Empire Service trains to and from Albany-Rensselaer, N. Y. — are the limited track routing options that exist between […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Amtrak and Metrolink service through San Clemente will resume on Saturday, June 7, the Orange County Transportation Authority announced today (Thursday, May 29). The Surf Line route through San Clemente — an area where landslides have frequently disrupted train traffic in recent years — has been closed since April 28 to […]
MOBILE, Ala. — The launch of Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Service between Mobile and New Orleans has been pushed back further, likely to the end of July or beginning of August. WALA-TV reports that Southern Rail Commission chairman Knox Ross told the station that “construction issues” are responsible for the latest delays. “We know the train’s […]
CHICAGO — Sellouts in coach and high prices in sleeping cars, if space is available at all, are the rule rather than exception in a News Wire survey of Amtrak long-distance trains as summer arrives. Travelers will often face limited inventory for the rest of the summer despite marginal increases in equipment deployment. In a […]
NEW YORK — A name both familiar to and well-regarded by New Yorkers will be placed in charge of the remodeling of Penn Station. Andy Byford, who oversaw the city’s subways to positive reviews as president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit from 2018 to 2020, has been chosen to oversee the […]
NEW YORK — Amtrak will shut down one tube of the East River Tunnel for major rehabilitation as planned on Friday night, but has agreed to some measures sought by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul during the project, Hochul said in a statement following a meeting today (May 22, 2025) with Amtrak and Metropolitan Transportation […]
WASHINGTON — Overall revenue is up, costs are being contained, expansion plans remain on track, and Amtrak is taking detailed steps to ensure summer 2024 problems on the Northeast Corridor in New Jersey won’t happen again. That’s a summary of issues covered in the live-streamed public portion of an Amtrak board meeting held today (May […]
