The first of 152 new Siemens light rail vehicles was unveiled by Seattle’s Sound Transit on Wednesday. Sound Transit Sound Transit says the new equipment has wider aisles, more luggage space and more bike capacity than current light rail vehicles. Sound Transit SEATTLE — The first of 152 new Siemens light rail vehicles for Sound […]
A view of the wreckage of derailed Amtrak Cascades Train 501 on Dec. 18, 2017. Steve Carter SEATTLE — The city council in Lakewood, Wash., has approved a resolution asking the Washington State Department of Transportation and Amtrak not to reopen the Point Defiance Bypass until all of the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations are […]
SEATTLE — The Washington state Legislature has approved a transportation budget with funding for several rail projects, including a feasibility study of a cross-state passenger train. The $250,000 allocated to the Legislature’s joint transportation committee would look at the former Northern Pacific route from Seattle over Stampede Pass, then south through the Yakima Valley and […]
SEATTLE — The shuffling of operators for segments of the state-owned Palouse River & Coulee City in eastern Washington state continues. The Washington State Department of Transportation said it picked Omaha Track as the winning bidder to operate the 90-mile P&L branch of the PCC, which runs from the Idaho border near Pullman to Marshall, […]
Sound Transit’s board chairman says the agency will call in an outside investigator to review its safety procedures in the wake of the National Transportation Safety Board’s findings and recommendations in its own investigation into the December 2017 Amtrak Cascades derailment. NTSB had criticisms for multiple agencies and entities including Sound Transit, which owns the […]
SEATTLE – The first response to the National Transportation Safety Board’s report on the 2017 Amtrak Cascades derailment is the Washington State Department of Transportation’s decision to remove Talgo Series 6 trainsets from service “as soon as possible.” WSDOT, a prime financial sponsor of Amtrak Cascades service on the Vancouver, B.C.-Eugene, Ore., corridor, didn’t specify […]
HERMISTON, Ore. — Union Pacific announced this week that would be laying off nearly 200 people at its Hinkle rail yard in Hermiston, the latest example of cost reductions brought on by Precision Scheduled Railroading. About 195 people will lose their jobs as UP closes its Hinkle locomotive shop and warehouse over the next two […]
SEATTLE — The National Transportation Safety Board wasn’t stingy in handing out criticisms or recommendations for changes in the aftermath of the December 2017 Amtrak Cascades derailment, so those on the receiving end have a lot of work ahead of them figuring out if and how they’ll respond to the safety board. For the Washington […]
The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad has stepped in to help save this former logging locomotive and two cars on display in Garibaldi, Ore. Martin E. Hansen GARIBALDI, Ore. — The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad has answered a call for help to rescue a deteriorating steam locomotive and trainset on local display, averting the potential sale or […]
Amtrak’s Freighthouse Square station in Tacoma is awaiting the return of trains to the Point Defiance Bypass. The release of the NTSB’s report on a 2017 derailment could hasten that process. TRAINS: David Lassen WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board will release its report on the December 2017 derailment of an Amtrak Cascades passenger […]
SEATTLE — A Sound Transit committee has recommended removing the site of a recently opened hamburger restaurant from consideration as the site of a new maintenance facility. By a 5-0 vote last week, the System Expansion Committee recommended that the site of a Dick’s Drive-In and Lowe’s home improvement center in Kent, Wash., be dropped […]
Coos Bay, Oregon Google Maps SEATTLE — The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay believes it can have a swing-span bridge on its rail line back to normal operation by the end of this month. That will come too late to save a Georgia-Pacific lumber mill, the closing of which was announced earlier this month […]
