NEWINGTON, Conn. — Small but long-running adjustments to Amtrak and CTrail schedules on the CTrail Hartford Line will begin Monday, March 18, to accommodate Amtrak’s Continuous Welded Rail project, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has announced. The schedule changes, which will see some schedules adjusted by as much as 12 minutes, will continue through late […]
CHICAGO — Upgrading speeds and capacity or simply keeping tracks well-maintained for passenger trains has tradeoffs that often compromise a rail corridor’s ability to provide meaningful mobility while the work is going on. An example will occur in Michigan beginning May 6, when Amtrak and the state of Michigan jointly made the decision to suspend […]
WASHINGTON — When the Surface Transportation Board names the members of its first Rail Passenger Advisory Committee, it will be worth remembering that the competition for places among the panels 18 voting members was fiercer for some seats than for others. As outlined in the January call for nominations, the panel has a very specific […]
LONGMONT, Colo. — Using the idle equipment from Amtrak’s Winter Park Express, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, state legislators, and local officials rode an inspection train from Denver to Longmont today (Thursday, March 7). The 44-mile, 90-minute trip used the BNSF Railway route via Boulder that is proposed for passenger service that would continue north to […]
CHICAGO — Beginning today (Wednesday, March 6) Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr will depart Chicago for California for the first time the Feb. 27 departure encountered freight congestion and weather obstacles that resulted in arrival into Emeryville, Calif., 10 hours, 35 minutes late. Those cars and locomotives, stranded for more than a week at Amtrak’s Oakland […]
STOCKTON, Calif. — The operating agency for Amtrak’s San Joaquins and the California Department of Transportation officially launched San Joaquins service using Siemens Venture equipment on Tuesday, March 5, with ceremonies featuring Caltrans director Tony Taveres, state Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin, and other officials. The first Venture cars debuted in San Joaquins service without […]
PHILADELPHIA — A contractor on the project to restore Amtrak’s 30th Street Station in Philadelphia is facing a federal bribery charge after allegedly providing more than $300,000 in gifts and favors for an Amtrak employee, who altered a contract to nearly double the value of the contractor’s contract, KYW Radio reports. A court document says […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Two daily Pacific Surfliner round trips will resume through the San Clemente area as of Wednesday, March 6, providing through service between San Diego and Los Angeles for the first time since a Jan. 24 landslide at Mariposa Point. The Orange County Transportation Authority announced today (Tuesday, March 5) that Metrolink […]
WASHINGTON — Beginning today (Monday, March 4), Amtrak is scheduling four additional Northeast Regional round trips weekdays and two on the weekends between New York and Washington, D.C. The decision to reconfigure seating in each coach so that half of the seats face in different directions [see “Fixed forward and backward seating to speed Northeast Regional […]
F40M-2F locomotives In the late 1990s, Amtrak converted a handful of its F40PH locomotives to locomotives suitable for freight service. At the time, new Genesis engines from General Electric were fast replacing its massive fleet of F40PHs in mainline service. Amtrak would produce 14 F40M-2F locomotive that featured a number of changes, including removal of […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s New York-Miami trains will begin offering “traditional dining” to “a limited number of coach customers” starting today (Monday, March 4), according to spokeswoman Kimberly Woods. The company dropped meal-in-a-bowl “flexible dining” last March on the Silver Star and last June on the Silver Meteor [see “Amtrak returns ‘traditional dining’ …,” Trains News […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak’s California Zephyr has been cancelled west of Salt Lake City through the weekend as weather forecasters are predicting heavy snow will pound Donner Pass and the Sierra Nevada mountains through Saturday. Service on the Seattle segment of the Empire Builder route was also disrupted this week. Trouble started early Thursday when the […]
