The conclusion of our countdown of the Trains News Wire Top 10 stories of 2022, as determined by a vote of Trains editors, columnists, and masthead correspondents. Railroads were catapulted into national headlines in the fall as labor negotiations came down to the wire, raising the prospect of the first strike or lockout in three […]
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WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has issued a decision requiring Union Pacific to deliver five trains of corn to the largest chicken producer in the western U.S. while the board considers a request by that producer, Foster Farms, for an emergency order that would require UP to prioritize shipments to the company. It would […]
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Continuing our countdown of the Trains News Wire Top 10 stories of 2022, as determined by a vote of Trains editors, columnists, and masthead correspondents: You could call 2022 The Year of the Crew Shortage. Or you could just as easily call it The Year Service Fell Apart on the Big Four U.S. Class I […]
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PETALUMA, Calif. — Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit will receive $1.8 million in federal funding for design of its extension to Healdsburg, Calif., the agency said in a press release. The money is part of the consolidated appropriations bill passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden on Dec. 23. Healdsburg is roughly 9 miles […]
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BALTIMORE — The Maryland Department of the Environment and CSX Transportation have reached a settlement over charges stemming from a December 2021 explosion at the railroad’s Curtis Bay Coal Piers, with CSX required to pay $100,000 for an environmental project in the neighborhood where the blast occurred. The railroad will also pay a $15,000 penalty […]
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Continuing our countdown of the Trains News Wire Top 10 stories of 2022, as determined by a vote of Trains editors, columnists, and masthead correspondents: A lengthy and acrimonious process finally produced a settlement between Amtrak, Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation, and Alabama State Port Authority late in the year, providing a framework to bring passenger […]
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WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic’s year-end slump continued in the week ending Dec. 24, with volume down 4.8% compared to the same week in 2021, according to the latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads. The overall figure of 400,289 carloads and intermodal units included 193,195 carloads, down 4.1%, and 207,094 trailers, down 5.5%. […]
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FALLS CHURCH, Va. — The American Industrial Hygiene Association, the organization for individuals in the field of occupational and environmental health and safety, is now offering resources to help rail companies support worker health and safety. The organization has launched a rail-specific section of its Worker Health and Safety website including fact sheets, articles, and […]
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Amtrak has updated its list of weather-related train cancellations for service to western New York, as well as the long-distance Empire Builder. As of 3:35 p.m. CST, these are the planned cancellations and other service change for Thursday, Dec. 29: — In New York, the Maple Leaf is canceled in both directions between Rochester and […]
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Continuing our countdown of the Trains News Wire Top 10 stories of 2022, as determined by a vote of Trains editors, columnists, and masthead correspondents: When a college advisor at the University of North Carolina asked Jim Wrinn in 1979 to name his dream job, he didn’t hesitate: editor of Trains magazine. There is no […]
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SAN DIEGO — The North County Transit District’s Sprinter commuter rail line between Escondido and Oceanside will receive $7 million in federal funding for signal improvements, the first phase of a program to allow frequencies on the 22-mile, 15-station line to double from every 30 minutes to every 15 minutes. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports […]
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The star of the show for 11 mainline passenger excursions on Reading & Northern in 2022 was the railroad’s newly restored former Reading Co. Class T-1 4-8-4 steam engine No. 2102 (Reading Shops, 1945). Most of the trips ran from Reading, Pa., to Jim Thorpe, Pa., about a 135-mile round-trip. All of those trains ran […]
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