WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., will serve as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, according to a committee announcement Thursday. Lipinski’s subcommittee’s jurisdiction includes all federal laws and programs regulating railroad transportation, including railroad safety, rail infrastructure programs, economic regulation, and railroad labor […]
Zone & Region: Midwest
Metra CEO to appear at state senator’s town hall on crossing safety NEWSWIRE
FRANKFORT, Ill. — Metra CEO Jim Derwinski is scheduled to appear at a town hall meeting by an Illinois state senator on safety concerns arising from a November incident at a grade crossing in Mokena, Ill. State Sen. Michael E. Hastings, D-Tinley Park, Ill., will host the Feb. 12 meeting at the Lincoln-Way East High […]
Debris falls on people, platform at Chicago Union Station NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO — For the second time in recent years, debris has fallen on people and a platform serving Metra passengers at the north concourse of Chicago Union Station. The latest incident occurred at Track 5 about 5 p.m. Tuesday. Two people were taken by Chicago Fire Department personnel to a hospital for treatment, but were […]
For Lake Superior Railroad Museum, a ‘rebuilding’ year NEWSWIRE
Duluth & Northeastern No. 28, seen in Duluth in 2017, will return to service this summer after missing operations in 2018. Steve Glischinski DULUTH, Minn. – The Lake Superior Railroad Museum faced a challenging 2018, and plans to use 2019 to refocus on in-house projects and fiscal responsibility. Housed in the former Duluth Union Depot, […]
G&W CEO Hellmann says Class I changes can bring out short lines’ best NEWSWIRE
G&W CEO John C. Hellmann TRAINS: David Lassen LOMBARD, Ill. — Precision Scheduled Railroading is not just for Class I railroads — either as a concept or in its impact. Railroading’s most inescapable topic also reaches short lines, as Genesee & Wyoming chairman, president, and CEO John Hellman outlined during his Wednesday luncheon address to […]
Metra cab video shows engineer’s view of grade crossing failure NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO — Newly released video taken from the cab of a Metra commuter train shows the train narrowly missing a vehicle as it passed through a crossing where the gates had not lowered. It was the second video of a harrowing close call that took place Nov. 9 on the Metra Rock Island Line tracks at […]
Metra: Three trains passed crossing with faulty signals, gates NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO — Not one but three Metra trains passed through a grade crossing in Mokena, Ill., where the gates and signals had failed to operate properly, narrowly missing several vehicles, Metra officials acknowledged Wednesday. The incidents took place Nov. 9 on Metra’s Rock Island line at the 191st Street crossing. A near hit involving one […]
Illinois mayor who tangled with Hunter Harrison at CN dies at 69 NEWSWIRE
Then CSX Transportation CEO E. Hunter Harrison, right, speaks before the Surface Transportation Board in 2017. R.G. Edmonson AURORA, Ill. — Tom Weisner, the former mayor of Aurora, Ill., who passed away recently at the age of 69, was honored at a service Monday for his leadership of Illinois’ second-largest city. But beyond the city’s […]
CN derailment cancels Metra Heritage service, affects Amtrak (additional updates) NEWSWIRE
A Metra Heritage Corridor train arrives at the Willow Springs, Ill., station in February 2016. Heritage Corridor service was cancelled Monday morning because of a freight train derailment between Willow Springs and Lockport, Ill. TRAINS: David Lassen A tank car shows the aftereffects of Monday’s early morning derailment of a CN train in Willow Springs, […]
New Metra schedule for PTC operation on Rock Island to debut Jan. 28 NEWSWIRE
A Metra train led by the Rock Island-painted unit honoring former CEO Don Orseno arrives at Blue Island, Ill., on Jan. 2, 2018. Metra will introduce a new schedule on the Rock Island District on Jan. 28, reflecting rider input and changes to allow positive train control operation. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Metra will […]
Proposed Indiana budget threatens future of ‘Hoosier State’ NEWSWIRE
The Hoosier State, with a consist including equipment being ferried from Amtrak’s Beech Grove Heavy Maintenance Facility, rolls through St. John, Indiana, on July 4, 2014. Bob Johnston Crawfordsville townspeople and Mayor Todd Barton, left, visit with then-Amtrak president Joe Boardman at an inspection train stop in October 2014. Bob Johnston INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Gov. […]
Metra directors: ‘Dire’ funding crisis may prompt service cuts NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO — Three suburban Chicago members of Metra’s board of directors have taken the unusual move of penning a newspaper opinion-editorial expressing their concern about the commuter railroad’s “dire” capital funding crisis and warning of potential service cuts. “Without a large infusion of funding from the state of Illinois, we likely will have to shrink […]
