WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General today issued a report highly critical of a manufacturing process that has led to defects preventing Amtrak from accepting any of the 12 of 28 New Acela trainsets and 22 of 28 café cars already produced at Alstom’s Hornell, N.Y., facility. The 38-page report contains redactions of monetary […]
WASHINGTON – The CSX Transportation carman who was struck and killed by a pair of locomotives in Walbridge Yard on Sept. 17 was walking from his truck to line and lock a switch at the time of the accident, the National Transportation Board said today in its preliminary report. Visibility was clear at the time […]
A cut of cars ran away downgrade on BNSF Railway’s Slaton Subdivision in the Texas Panhandle on Sunday morning and collided with the lead locomotive of a westbound train, demolishing its cab. The crew was warned ahead of time and was able to move to safety. Images online showed a flatcar carrying steel pipe crashed […]
GOSHEN, Va. — A new show on a new stage prompted a “dress rehearsal” for a seasoned star veteran. Norfolk & Western steam locomotive No. 611 operated on the Buckingham Branch Railroad, Sept. 28-30, in preparation for its fall excursions. The J-class 4-8-4 is scheduled to run the Shenandoah Valley Limited as part of the […]
CHICAGO – Union Pacific violated federal law when it terminated conductors and locomotive engineers on the basis of perceived disability, used unlawful qualification standards to screen out individuals with disabilities, and subjected the employees to unlawful medical examinations and inquiries, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims in a lawsuit filed against the railroad on Monday. […]
FORT WORTH, Texas – BNSF Railway has opened two new sections of main line trackage on the Southern Transcon: A third main track on the Needles Subdivision in California and a second main track on the Emporia Subdivision in Kansas. Last week BNSF opened an additional 8-mile segment of the third main between Homer and […]
Northstar commuter service MINNEAPOLIS — Twin Cities Metro Transit began operation of additional commuter trains between Minneapolis and Big Lake, Minn., on Oct. 2. The service was decimated by the pandemic — before it struck Northstar operated five trips in each direction weekdays and three in each direction on weekends. As the pandemic waned the […]
Delaware & Raritan River Railroad FARMINGDALE, N.J. — The Delaware & Raritan River Railroad has completed its “F&S Connection,” a 5-mile track rehabilitation project between Freehold and Farmingdale, through Howell, N.J. The project was finished nine months ahead of schedule. DRR ran a test train over the rebuilt track on Sept. 15, 2023, marking the […]
In the toy train world, it seems that each year or so there is a common theme among manufacturers. 2022 seemed to be the year of Amtrak. With the 50th anniversary paint schemes announced on Amtrak’s P42s it was fitting for Lionel and Atlas to lean into these announcements with a few of their own. […]
WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board has extended by 15 days the comment period for its proposed reciprocal switching rule. The Association of American Railroads had sought a 90-day extension for comment on the rule, officially dubbed Reciprocal Switching for Inadequate Service. The rule, proposed last month, would provide rail customers with access to a […]
WASHINGTON — Emergency inspections following last week’s derailment of a DC Metrorail train found 32 railcars with bolts that are loose, or at least not as tight as required, the Washington Post reports. A Metrorail 7000-series train derailed Friday after striking an object later determined to be a brake disc from a previous train. That […]
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — The effort to turn the former Saluda Grade into a hiking and biking trail has received an additional boost with $12 million in funding from the state of North Carolina, the Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal reports. The North Carolina state budget approved Sept. 22 includes that funding over a two-year period toward purchase […]
