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WASHINGTON — Fourteen Democratic senators have asked the leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund a major program for passenger rail projects, saying House Republicans have proposed zeroing out that funding. In a Jan. 9 letter to the committee’s chairs, Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), and ranking members Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and […]
NEW YORK — A group of unions representing Long Island Rail Road workers will ask President Donald Trump to appoint a second Presidential Emergency Board to address their dispute with the commuter railroad. The move would further delay the possibility of a strike or lockout involving the five unions. In a statement reported by cable […]
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — A shelter-in-place order has been lifted after a hazmat team determined there was no threat from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train wreck near the town of Summerville. The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post that the derailment was reported about 9:51 a.m. ET, with officials issuing […]
GLASGOW, Scotland — The Caledonian Sleeper, the overnight passenger rail service between London and five Scotland destinations, is in the enviable position of having fully recovered, and then some, from the collapse in demand faced by all forms of transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The operation profiled in the March 2026 issue of Trains is […]
CUMBERLAND, Md. — The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad launched its first trips for 2026 with four excursions from Cumberland to Frostburg, Md., on Jan. 3 and 4. The trips were powered by the railroad’s former Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 No. 1309, which ran flawlessly. Named the Allegheny Winter Express, the 10-car trains were well patronized, […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — The Long Island Rail Road has received $10 million grants for two projects as part of New York state’s Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program, part of more than $101 million in funding for rail and port infrastructure projects announced on Friday (Jan. 9, 2026). Those awards, and two $10 million awards […]
WASHINGTON — The rail industry’s largest union is raising concerns about CSX’s plans to eliminate Operation RedBlock, a decades-old, union-run program for substance abuse prevention and worker support. The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division calls Operation RedBlock, founded in 1984, “the gold standard” for such programs in the rail […]
TRENTON, N.J. — NJ Transit has unveiled the first renovated trainset on its light rail River Line, featuring a revamped interior and an engine overhaul as part of the ongoing effort to improve the service between Trenton and Camden, N.J. The diesel trainset built by Switzerland’s Stadler has been wrapped to mark the 250th anniversary […]
Industry analysts speaking at a RailTrends webcast on Thursday (Jan. 8, 2026) were skeptical about some of the claims Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern make in their merger application, including its central theme that the $85 billion combination is fundamentally about volume growth. Independent analyst Rick Paterson noted that UP and NS volumes have been […]
Wabash E8 1007 brings the Wabash Cannon Ball into Litchfield, Ill., near the beginning of its St. Louis–Detroit run in March 1956. John C. Illman photo […]
OXFORD, Ohio — The city of Oxford is advancing plans to build a new station to be served by Amtrak’s Cardinal, with the city council having approved plans for a station platform and authorized an agreement with CSX for land for the platform. WUXU Radio reports design for a multimodal facility, also including bus service, […]
NEW ORLEANS — Amtrak is adding a coach to one of the two Mardi Gras Service trainsets beginning today (Friday, Jan. 9) to accommodate anticipated additional demand sparked by the Carnival season along the Gulf Coast. Three coaches are being assigned to morning train No. 23 out of Mobile, Ala., and evening No. 26 from […]
