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 […]
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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 […]
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The Washington Park & Zoo Railway, shown in June 2017, is a 0.5-mile, 2.5-foot gauge railroad at the Oregon Zoo that opened in 1958. The primary equipment, dubbed the “Zooliner,” is a 5/8 scale replica of the Aerotrain, constructed by Northwest Marine Iron Works and H. Hirschberger Sheet Metal Co., both of Portland. Scott A. […]
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SEATTLE — Sound Transit, in conjunction with King County Metro and the city of Seattle, launched a new on-demand shuttle serving five Link light rail stations in southeast Seattle and Tukwila. Service is provided by Via, which also operates in New York, Chicago, Washington, and Los Angeles. The shared rides cost the same as a […]
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Coos Bay, Ore. Google Maps SEATTLE — Georgia-Pacific LLC is closing a 111-employee lumber mill in the Oregon coastal town of Coos Bay, citing as one of the reasons rail service that has been cut off by a bridge closure for close to a year. Instead of loading lumber at the mill, GP has had […]
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SEATTLE — The Alaska Railroad carried a third less freight by weight in 2018 compared with 2017 totals, but a change in the mix of freight coupled with gains on the passenger side helped dampen the drop in revenue and net income. The Anchorage, Alaska-based state-owned railroad reported operating revenue of $163.4 million in 2018, […]
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Sound Transit is seeking public comment on its plans to expand Tacoma’s light rail system to Sea-Tac Airport. TRAINS: David Lassen TACOMA, Wash. — Sound Transit has released potential routes and begun the public-comment period for its planned for its Tacoma Dome Link Extension, which will connect Tacoma’s light rail to Sea-Tac Airport and the […]
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SEATTLE — Positive train control is now fully operational on the route of the Amtrak Cascades, the Washington state Department of Transportation has announced. However, there is still no date for returning Cascades trains to the Point Defiance bypass south of Tacoma, Wash. Seattle TV station KIRO reports PTC equipment is now in place from […]
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Walla Walla, Washington Google Maps WALLA WALLA, Wash. — A small operator of short lines plans to extend the reach of one of them in southeastern Washington. CWW LLC has filed with the Surface Transportation Board to operate on 55.56 miles of UP track in two segments, one running south from Walla Walla to Weston, […]
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McCormack with Nickel Plate Road-painted PA1 No. 190 in 2014. Justin Franz PORTLAND, Ore. – Preservationist and steam locomotive engineer Doyle McCormack has stepped down as president of the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation after 15 years. McCormack, best known as the engineer aboard Southern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 4449, will remain on the board of directors […]
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KENT, Wash. — Sound Transit has begun taking public comment on a controversial proposal to build a maintenance base for light rail on the site of a popular local hamburger restaurant, but the idea has drawn fresh criticism from one significant voice: a board member of the regional transit agency. David Upthegrove, a King County […]
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RITZVILLE, Wash. — Adding to the list of mid-March nature-related disruptions across its network, Union Pacific is cleaning up a derailment that has interrupted traffic on its Ayer subdivision between Spokane and Hinkle, Ore. A UP spokesman said a train with a Canadian Pacific locomotive derailed 23 rail cars of mixed freight near mile post […]
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