News photos: Reading & Northern hosts RDC excursion

Rail Diesel Car exiting tunnel

PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Mileage from four of the railroads which helped form today’s Reading & Northern were featured on a Saturday, April 23, excursion by R&N Rail Diesel Car. Trackage from the Reading Co., Central of New Jersey, Lehigh Valley Railroad, and Lehigh & New England were included in the fundraiser for the Railroad […]

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New Colorado passenger rail board holds first meeting

Logo of the Front Range Passenger Rail District

DENVER — The effort to develop rail service along a corridor between Fort Collins and Pueblo, Colo., entered a new phase on Friday with the first meeting of the Front Range Passenger Rail District board, created by legislation in 2021 to plan, develop, finance, and operate rail service in that corridor. Colorado Newsline reports state […]

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Rocky Mountaineer’s Colorado Adventure

In the fall of 2021, Trains.com staff rode Amtrak train no. 5, California Zephyr from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Denver, Colorado, with the expressed intent of capturing seasonal operations of Rocky Mountaineer’s Colorado-Utah excursion. While best known for day treks into the Canadian Rockies, this new Rocky Mountaineer route offers patrons a similar mountain canyon experience […]

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Viewliner II Sleeping Cars — pluses and some minuses

Exterior view of pasenger car with two rows of windows

ABOARD THE SILVER STAR — It took almost 10 years to complete Amtrak’s latest sleeping-car order. The 25 Viewliner II cars, manufactured by CAF USA in Elmira, N.Y., faced issues with meeting construction specifications before Amtrak agreed to accept them. But the latest arrivals are now operating alongside what had been the newest rolling stock […]

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LA County reinstates mask rule for public transportation

LAMetro_UnionStation_Lassen

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County has reinstated its own mask requirement for public transit and transportation sites such as airports, even though the federal mask mandate was struck down earlier this week by a Florida judge. The Los Angeles Times reports the rule went into effect at 12:01 a.m. today (Friday, April 22), with […]

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New GO Transit service draws 6,300 riders in six months

Toronto GO Transit logo

TORONTO — The latest update on commuter rail ridership between London, Ontario, and Toronto continues to show limited ridership, but provincial transit agency Metrolinx says it’s difficult to gauge the pilot program’s success because of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transit. The CBC reports total ridership for the first six months of […]

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Voters still support California high speed project, poll finds

California High Speed Rail Authority logo

WASHINGTON — Most registered voters in California continue to support the state’s high speed rail project, despite delays and increased cost, according to a poll released earlier this month. The survey conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles times found 56% of voters continue to support the project, even […]

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Amtrak runs Baton Rouge-New Orleans inspection train

Aereal view of passenger train approaching city

BATON ROUGE, La. — A decades-long effort to create a Louisiana passenger rail corridor between the state capital of Baton Rouge and New Orleans moved a step closer Wednesday when Gov. John Bel Edwards joined Amtrak, federal, and railroad officials on an inspection run along the route. Among those joining the governor, a Democrat, were […]

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Signal workers walk out at Toronto Union Station

Logo of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

TORONTO — Signal and communications workers at Toronto Union Station have gone on strike, creating the possibility of service disruptions at the station which sees more then 300 trains daily. The CBC reports 95 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers walked out at 12:01 a.m. today (Wednesday, April 20) after the union failed […]

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Gulf Coast hearing, week 3: Mobile rail executive outlines train movements; Amtrak witnesses criticize randomized data

Freight train with BNSF engines on one of two mainline tracks

WASHINGTON — Switching details and conflicting traffic modeling assumptions dominated discussions at the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing into Amtrak plans to launch passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. The seventh and eighth days of testimony and cross-examination, spread over three weeks, on the dispute over plans for two daily Amtrak round trips precedes […]

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