MOBILE, Ala. — The City of Mobile will not take part in the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing on delays in launching Amtrak service between Mobile and New Orleans, Mayor Sandy Stimpson informed the board in a brief letter today (Thursday, Feb. 8). The board announced Tuesday that it would proceed with that hearing on Feb. […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will proceed with its planned hearing on the status of Amtrak Gulf Coast service on Wednesday, Feb. 14, the board announced in a decision issued Tuesday. The parties to the agreement allowing service to begin — Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority — had […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — BNSF freight traffic past the site of the latest landside in San Clemente has been halted by additional slide activity, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Tuesday night freight movement was suspended after the slope moved another 1.5 to 3 feet in a 24-hour period through Tuesday afternoon, Scott Johnson, Metrolink director […]
WASHINGTON — An Amtrak press release issued last week, “Ambitious 2024 Initiatives Propel Amtrak Ridership Growth,” outlines the company’s goal of doubling ridership by 2040. This is based on “improving passenger train service for our customers and efficiently and effectively carrying out a massive major infrastructure capital program aimed to modernize and upgrade our infrastructure, […]
BALTIMORE — Amtrak has selected a Kiewit/J.F. Shea Joint Venture to build the Frederick Douglass Tunnel, the replacement for 150-year-old B&P Tunnel which poses major operating issues on the Northeast Corridor just south of Baltimore Penn Station. The approximately $6 billion project involves construction of two parallel, single-track 2-mile tunnels, and will eliminate 30-mph speed […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Most Sacramento light rail service was restored this afternoon (Monday, Feb. 5), following power outages and other storm damage that hit the Sacramento Regional Transit system on Sunday. An advisory on the Sacramento RT website says Blue Line service was restored at 2 p.m. with Green Line and a portion of the […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Winter storms in Southern and Central California have impacted rail service in a number of areas today (Monday, Feb. 5). Today’s Coast Starlight trains will run abbreviated routes. The train scheduled to depart Los Angeles this morning will instead originate in Emeryville, Calif., while the train departing Seattle will terminate in Emeryville. […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — The Orange County Transportation Authority will build a wall to protect Surf Line tracks at the site of the landslide that has halted passenger rail operations since Jan. 24, OCTA and Metrolink announced on Friday. The decision comes a day after a state emergency declaration made $10 million in funding available […]
WASHINGTON — The parties involved in the agreement to allow the launch of Amtrak Gulf Coast service have filed a joint update on that agreement requested by the Surface Transportation Board, asking that the board scrap a hearing planned for Feb. 14 “as the Parties have no further information to offer.” The STB last month […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — With heavy rains forecast over the next several days and no long-term solution for the latest landslide in the San Clemente area, Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner has extended its revised schedule of cancellations and bus-bridge service through at least Friday, Feb. 9. Meanwhile, the state of California issued an emergency declaration Thursday […]
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho rail advocates were disappointed when a route linking Boise and Salt Lake City wasn’t included in the Federal Railroad Adminstration’s Corridor Identification and Development Program announced in December. But it turns out that effort to revive part of the route of Amtrak’s discontinued Pioneer was never even considered for the eventual […]
Locomotives & rolling stock Mr. Muffin’s Trains has several custom-run items for sale. The first are MTH 50-foot Waffle Boxcars in two paint schemes with two road numbers each: Louisville & Nashville No. 101635 (20-99372), Louisville & Nashville No. 101640 (20-99373), Milwaukee Road No. 4307 (20-99374, shown), and Milwaukee Road No. 4311 (20-99375). Price: $69.95 […]
