A Metra BNSF train pulls into the Aurora station from the adjacent yard prior to a departure for Chicago on May 25, 2019. Communities in two counties want to see the BNSF route extended to serve them, but any such expansion is unlikely in the near future. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Representatives from two […]
ST. LOUIS — The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded a $28.8 million grant for repairs of a key railroad bridge in St. Louis. The grant to the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is one of 45 rail projects receiving Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grants, as announced Tuesday. [See “FRA awards $326 million […]
CHICAGO – Metra may receive as much as $1.6 billion in state bond revenue for capital improvements over the next five years under legislation recently approved by the Illinois General Assembly, agency officials say. That number is far below the amount Metra had hoped for, but the commuter rail agency’s board members expressed gratitude to legislators […]
Union Pacific OMAHA, Neb. — The Big Boy No. 4014 is headed back out on the Union Pacific system beginning July 8 for a tour, taking it through Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Called the Great Race Across the Midwest, the tour will include displays at the following locations: • July 13-14: Omaha, […]
This 2017 view looking south at Dolton shows a northbound Hoosier State passenger train, then operated by Iowa Pacific, on the Union Pacific line. The lead locomotive is on the CSX Transportation line while the second locomotive is on the Indiana Harbor Belt line. Marshall W. Beecher CHICAGO – More than $19 million in federal […]
A Metra train leaves Big Timber Road west of Elgin in 2014. A connection will be built to Union Pacific rails to Rockford in the foreground Bob Johnston CHICAGO – Although Illinois lawmakers and newly-elected Gov. J. B. Pritzker, a Democrat, enacted the state’s first infrastructure capital spending legislation in a decade [see “Illinois passes […]
Duluth & Northeastern 28, shown temporarily re-lettered Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 332 in 2017 for a photo charter, will not operate this weekend as planned. Steve Glischinski DULUTH, Minn. – The Lake Superior Railroad Museum has announced that operations of Duluth & Northeastern 2-8-0 No. 28 planned for June 14-15 are cancelled. It’s the […]
This map shows the location of the proposed One Central development, which would include a new transit hub. Landmark Development A diagram shows the connections — those that exist, and those that would have to be built — for the proposed One Central transit center. Landmark Development CHICAGO — A major infrastructure program approved by […]
ST. LOUIS — Amtrak’s suspension of Missouri River Runner rail service between St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., has been extended by another two days. It now will last through at least June 12. The suspension, which began May 22, is because of increased Union Pacific freight traffic on the route, the result of flooding […]
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Flooding and heavy rainfall have closed Union Pacific’s Jonesboro Subdivision between Pine Bluff, Ark., and Dexter, Mo. The outage joins other UP service suspensions in the Southern Region including four routes emanating from a junction at Wagoner, Okla., to Little Rock, McAlester, Okla., and to Coffeeville and Parsons, Kan., along with […]
Metra has opened its new station at Prairie Crossing on the Milwaukee North line, shown in April before the completion of landscaping. TRAINS: David Lassen The new Illinois budget includes more than $1 million for new pedestrian walkways at the Hanover Park Metra station on the Milwaukee West line. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Metra […]
BURLINGTON, Iowa — BNSF Railway’s Ottumwa Subdvision has felt the wrath of the Mississippi River, as its waters have covered tracks in downtown Burlington, Iowa. Trains have continued to operate, although at a greatly reduced speed. The river crested at 24.45 feet on Saturday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. That same day, a […]
