ALBANY, N.Y. — A bus bridge was hastily set up Friday to ensure the inaugural run of the Ethan Allen Express from its new northern terminus of Burlington, Vt., wouldn’t have to be cancelled. But getting travelers past a crumbling warehouse adjacent to the tracks that carry the Ethan Allen, Lake Shore Limited to […]
VERGENNES, Vt. — The inaugural run of Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express from Burlington, Vt., arrives at the Ferrisburg-Vergennes station on Friday, July 29, 2022. The train had previously originated and terminated in Rutland, Vt. The station — added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 2021 — is a Rutland Railroad building dating […]
BOSTON — The Federal Transportation Administration on Friday ordered ‘an immediate safety standdown” for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority workers dealing with out-of-service trains in the wake of three recent runaway-train incidents, the latest of which happened last week. The Boston Globe reports the order, effective at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, requires worker operating or securing out-of-service […]
WASHINGTON — The question of how Canadian National should receive incentives or penalties for handling of Amtrak trains has no doubt chalked up hundreds — maybe thousands — of billable hours for the companies’ attorneys. The inability of the two sides to reach a new operating agreement first came to the Surface Transportation Board in […]
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — The status of Amtrak service on the Gulf Coast remains very much undetermined, but that’s not stopping the city of Bay St. Louis: It plans a ceremony today to mark “reactivation” of its Amtrak station, idle since passenger service was halted after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Al.com reports U.S. Department […]
COOK, Minn. — Fourteen cars of a Canadian National train derailed Saturday night north of the town of Cook, KMSP-TV reports. The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office reported the accident occurred about 7:45 p.m. and involved a 123-car northbound train. A county emergency management team responded because some of the cars involved contained hazardous materials, […]
MONTREAL — The continued addition of more new grain hoppers, along with the addition of new locomotives and ongoing hiring efforts, are key elements in Canadian National Railway’s 2022-23 Grain Plan, released last week. The plan outlines CN’s preparations for moving up to 27 million metric tons of grain from western Canada in the crop […]
WASHINGTON — The launch of Amtrak Gulf Coast service without infrastructure improvements would cause “immediate and future impairment to freight service that is unreasonable under any definition,” CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern argue in their latest filing with the Surface Transportation Board. This is the exact opposite of the contention Amtrak makes in its latest […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak says its additional analysis shows its proposed Gulf Coast passenger service will cause “no unreasonable impairment” on the proposed route between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., and argues that the case for such impairment by host railroads CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern “has failed.” Those contentions are included in the passenger railroad’s […]
NEW YORK — The head of a union representing Metro-North Railroad employees is asking that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority drop its mask mandate because of a series of confrontations involving conductors on the commuter railroad and passengers who have become combative when asked to wear a mask. Lohud.com reports Edward Valente, general chairman of the […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — Amtrak has suspended operation of its Empire Service west of Albany, along with the Lake Shore Limited, because of a “potential safety concern with a non-Amtrak, privately owned building” located near the rail line. WNYT-TV reports the building involved is the Central Warehouse. Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan has declared a state of […]
ELM GROVE, Wis. — In an unusual and unheralded move, Amtrak moved an eight-car train of privately owned legacy equipment from the Twin Cities to Chicago on Thursday, July 28. The train, scheduled to originate at Midway in the Twin Cities at 11:45 a.m. and arrive in Chicago at 8:30 p.m., was photographed in the […]
