Railroading tools Railroads are fixed-guideway systems for transporting goods or people. Its basis is the low friction, and hence high efficiency, of a hard wheel rolling on a hard surface. They are made up of many elements: people doing different jobs, and hardware for them to use. The jobs range from laborer to strategic planner. […]
CANCÚN, Mexico — The first section of Mexico’s Tren Maya, or Maya Train — a tourism project on the country’s southeastern tip championed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — is slated to open today (Friday, Dec. 15), just five years after it was announced and years ahead of initial projections. But the project remains […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak is seeking applications for 11 scholarships it will award for full-time undergraduate and graduate students with rail interests under a series of programs, the company has announced. Applications are due by the end of Jan. 31 for scholarships including: — Women in STEM: For those pursuing an undergraduate or master’s degree majoring […]
MISSOULA, Mont. — Wildlife conservation groups have sued BNSF Railway, saying the railroad’s trains are violating the Endangered Species Act by hitting and killing grizzly bears. The lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Missoula by WildEarth Guardians and the Western Watersheds Project says 63 grizzly bears have been killed by BNSF trains in […]
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has awarded $42.5 million to help fund 25 freight rail infrastructure projects on short lines and with shippers within the state, the agency announced on Wednesday. The state’s share in the projects ranges from $7.6 million to $84,000 and will be funded through the Rail Transportation Assistance […]
BALTIMORE — The Maryland Transit Administration has launched a web page to provide information on the ongoing suspension of light rail service, shut down since Dec. 8 because of issues with the railcar fleet. The page, available here, includes maps on the shuttle bus operation that is replacing the light rail service, and will provide […]
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit will resume regular operations on its Morris & Essex line on Friday, Dec. 15, following completion of catenary repairs near Mount Tabor, the transit agency has announced. Service has been significantly disrupted — with some trains cancelled, others rerouted, and others making additional stops — since catenary supports were knocked […]
WASHINGTON — BNSF Railway this week asked federal regulators to ensure that it can use its trackage rights over Union Pacific to interchange with a proposed new short line railway in Utah. UP last month sought Surface Transportation Board permission to reinstitute common-carrier service over a 1.04-mile section of the abandoned Warner Branch. The connecting […]
What was your first byline in Trains? Blair Kooistra: It was a short, totally unsolicited book review on the softcover photography title “Railroading West: A Contemporary Glimpse,” written by Jeff Brouws and Ronald Hill, appearing in the October 1976 issue. I was an impressionable 16 1/2 years old, and was blown away by the photography […]
NORTH FREEDOM, Wis. — Mid-Continent Railway Museum is launching a project to restore to operating condition its Electro-Motive Corp. motor car , the oldest surviving piece of EMC equipment. Montana Western No. 31, built by EMC in 1925 for Great Northern Railway as its No. 2313, is the 13th railcar built by the company that […]
NEW SALEM, Ill. — Clean-up is continuing, but Norfolk Southern expected to have its line reopened Wednesday evening following a 20-car derailment Tuesday, Dec. 12, on its main line west of Springfield, Ill. The Quincy Herald-Whig reports the derailment did not involve any hazardous materials. KQHA-TV reports the incident was reported to authorities at 11:44 […]
PHILADELPHIA — Police for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority have gone on strike, with the nation’s sixth-largest transportation agency calling on other law-enforcement bodies to fill in throughout the system. WHYY reports 83 of 124 members of the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge No. 109 voted to strike, with Troy Parham, the organization’s first […]
