WASHINGTON — Amtrak received almost $200 million in the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grants announced Monday, a list of awards highlighted by the more than $178 million for the restoration of Gulf Coast passenger service [see “Federal Railroad Administration awards more than $1.4 billion,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 24, 2023]. […]
BOONTON, N.J. — With persistent rain canceling both the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey’s annual Museum-for-a-Day event and the town’s street fair, the group quickly shifted on Sunday, Sept. 24, to a no-frills open house, showing off two newly painted historic diesel locomotives in their first public display. Live music and other attractions […]
Bullet train TOKYO — Since December 2022, the Central Japan Railway Co. has offered personalized “chartered car packages” on its Nozomi bullet trains of the Tokaido Shinkansen high-speed line. Designed to cater private events, such as graduation and employee trips, the new service has caught the attention of onboard wrestling, a world first. According to […]
ABOARD SWISS AIR FLIGHT 6 — Well, those were three remarkable weeks. But how could they be otherwise? When it comes to railroading, Switzerland is one remarkable place. I spent those three weeks meandering around the country by rail — solo at first, then as part of a small tour organized by Swiss Tourism built […]
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – The East Broad Top Railroad has won a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund an 18-month program for long-term protection of the road’s thousands of maps, drawings, photographs, and artifacts. The grant is one of 280 awarded nationally in the August round of NEH funding, totaling […]
History of track gauge: The gauge of a railroad is the distance between the inside vertical surfaces of the head of the rail. Standard gauge is 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches. This is the gauge used when steam railroading began. It became the common gauge of Britain, North America, and Western Europe — except for Spain, […]
70 rail improvement projects WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration announced the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant recipients for the 2022 fiscal year. In a press release on Sept. 25, 2023, more than $1.4 billion from the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was awarded to rail-related improvement projects across 35 states. The […]
Santa Fe 93 WICHITA, Kan. — Today is the day. Great Plains Transportation Museum (Wichita) has begun a fundraiser to support the restoration of Santa Fe locomotive No. 93. Michael Gross, Family Ties actor, is the face of this campaign. Just a bit of background: No. 93 was built by EMD in late 1967. It […]
ORLANDO—Last week’s hoopla is over. So how is Brightline executing its Orlando-Miami service and how is it being received by passengers? Trains News Wire booked a “Smart” class seat on Saturday morning, Sept. 23, from Orlando to West Palm Beach to find out. Vibrant airport venue You knew the experience had begun to evolve from […]
Railroad ghost town When the evening breeze whispers, Rhyolite, a railroad ghost town in Nevada, almost seems to come alive. One can imagine people strolling the concrete sidewalks under electric streetlights while strains of music float from the air-conditioned opera house. Children and their parents are enjoying locally prepared ice cream, the telegraph office is […]
LUDINGTON, Mich. — The historic Great Lakes car ferry, S.S. Badger will receive a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD). The contribution will go towards an ongoing feasibility analysis to convert the coal-fired steamship into a zero-emission ferry vessel, according to the DOT press release on Sept. 21, 2023. “The […]
MERIDA, Yucatán — Described in the Yucatán Times as a new “Central Park” for Mexico’s Yucatecan capital, Mérida’s Gran Parque La Plancha [La Plancha Great Park] is a recreational development to the downtown’s former railyard of the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán [United Railways of Yucatán]. Amongst the new green areas, pathways, an artificial lake and […]
