WASHINGTON — Drivers in two fatal January collisions at the same grade crossing in Melbourne, Fla., drove around lowered crossing gates before being struck by Brightline trains, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report issued Thursday, Feb. 8, confirming earlier news reports. Officially, the NTSB is investigating a Jan. 12 collision at […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — A modified Pacific Surfliner schedule because of landslide issues in San Clemente has been extended at least another week, through Friday, Feb. 16, according to the updated Travel Advisory page on the Surfliner website. The modified schedule, available here and described in detail on that advisory page, includes two outright cancellations […]
BISMARCK, N.D. — The North Dakota Supreme Court has rebuffed a preservation group’s latest legal effort to block demolition of BNSF’s Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge, upholding a lower court’s dismissal of a suit by Friends of the Rail Bridge on technical grounds. The Fargo Forum reports that the court’s five justices, in a decision released today […]
MOBILE, Ala. — The City of Mobile will not take part in the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing on delays in launching Amtrak service between Mobile and New Orleans, Mayor Sandy Stimpson informed the board in a brief letter today (Thursday, Feb. 8). The board announced Tuesday that it would proceed with that hearing on Feb. […]
The Alabama Port Authority will build a new intermodal terminal in Decatur, Ala., in a partnership with CSX. The North Alabama Intermodal Container Transfer Facility will connect the Port of Mobile with customers in the central and northern parts of Alabama, the port authority said Thursday (Feb. 7). The port authority will redevelop a portion […]
Last month’s announcement of a settlement between Cummins and the U.S. Justice Department and the state of California over emission-defeating devices installed on over a half-million pickup trucks with Cummins diesel engines has far-reaching effects. In addition to monetary penalties, mitigation of the total excess nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions emitted by the RAM pickup trucks […]
VALLEY FALLS, N.Y. — Ten cars of a train on the Berkshire & Eastern Railroad derailed about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday night near Valley Falls, Spectrum News 1 reports, sending two into the Hoosic River and closing State Route 67 between Valley Falls and Johnsonville, N.Y. No injuries were reported. Genesee & Wyoming told the news […]
PHOENIX — Union Pacific has opened its Phoenix Intermodal Terminal, the latest addition to the railroad’s “pop-up” terminal strategy to test markets before building large, permanent facilities. The railroad says in an article on its website that the facility opened Feb. 1, 45 days after it first announced plans for the facility [see “Union Pacific […]
BERN, Switzerland — Freight and passenger traffic will increase through the Gotthard Base Tunnel in March, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) announced on Tuesday, Feb. 7, with tunnel scheduling accommodating additional passenger traffic during the Easter holiday period. Tunnel traffic has been disrupted since an Aug. 10, 2023, derailment that closed one bore of the two-bore […]
WASHINGTON — Nuria Fernandez, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, will retire effective Feb. 24, the agency announced on Wednesday. Fernandez was named deputy administrator on Jan. 20, 2021, by newly inaugurated President Joe Biden, subsequently nominated as administrator, and was confirmed by the Senate on June 10, 2021, becoming the 15th FTA Administrator and […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic was down slightly in January, but up considerably for the week ending Feb. 3, according to the latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads. For January, overall traffic was down 0.7%, with carload volume down 7.2% and container and trailer volume up 5.5%, compared to the first month of […]
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on the fatality of an Ohio Central Railroad signal maintainer, found deceased by the crew of a Wheeling & Lake Erie freight train on Jan. 15 operating on the Columbus & Ohio River Railroad adjacent to the New Rumley Road grade crossing near […]
