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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WASHINGTON — More transit agencies determined or clarified their stance on Tuesday in the wake of a Monday court ruling striking down a federal requirement for mask use on public transportation, with most — including some that initially planned to retain a mask requirement — dropping the mandate. Meanwhile, the Biden administration said Tuesday it […]
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TORONTO — The government of Ontario has awarded a contract for major expansion of Go Transit service in the Toronto area, a plan calling for more than 120 miles of new track and electrification of more than 370 miles of the system. The electrification will also bring new trains capable of speeds exceeding 85 mph, […]
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MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada wants about 90% of its proposed High Frequency Rail route between Toronto and Quebec City to be electrified, the passenger operator’s CEO has told the Montreal Gazette. VIA CEO Cynthia Garneau said the 90% figure “is not a written goal” but that the company will aim to electrify as much […]
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ORANGE, Calif. — Jason Jewell has been appointed interim managing director of the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, which oversees Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service in Southern California. Jewell was appointed unanimously by the LOSSAN board of directors, effective April 18, the agency announced Tuesday. He will also continue to serve as chief financial officer, a position […]
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WASHINGTON — Canadian National claims it has found additional train count inconsistencies in the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger application and related environmental filings. The Surface Transportation Board last month put review of the CP-KCS merger on hold until discrepancies in train density data could be sorted out. CP has provided the board with clarification […]
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OKAYAMA, Japan — A Japanese railway driver who sued over being docked one minute’s pay will have the money returned posthumously, a court has ruled. But his request for 2.2 million yen (more than $17,000) for emotional distress was dismissed, Kyodo News reports. The driver sued last year after he was docked 56 yen (currently […]
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WASHINGTON — Four of the seven Amtrak long-distance trains currently operating five days per week will return to daily schedules the week of May 23, according to information obtained by Trains News Wire. Two others will continue to run on the five-day-per-week schedule, while cancellation of Silver Meteor service to and from Florida will continue […]
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WASHINGTON — Amtrak will continue to welcome mask use in stations and aboard trains but will not require it following a Monday ruling by a Florida judge striking down the federal mask mandate. But some public transit agencies indicated they would leave their mask rule in place, at least temporarily. The government had just extended […]
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SAN DIEGO — North County Transit District’s fleet of five retired Morrison-Knudsen F40PHM-2C locomotives was shuttled from storage at Oceanside, Calif., earlier this month and delivered to Coast Rail Services at nearby Anaheim. The units’ fate has not yet been determined. Among the parties interested in acquiring one or more units are two Southern California […]
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Southern Railway Ps-4 Pacific 1395 departs Alexandria, Va., with the Atlanta-New Orleans Express in June 1937. Painted a striking green with gold trim, the 64 well-proportioned Ps-4 engines were among the most celebrated of all 4-6-2 classes. Walter H. Thrall Jr. photo […]
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WASHINGTON — Two days of testimony that made up the second week of the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing on Amtrak Gulf Coast service delved into the intricacies of traffic modeling and its data inputs, and made clear both that Amtrak had no role in that modeling, and that consideration of changes to freight operations were […]
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