CHICAGO — With horns blaring while track crews working in the tunnel at the scene of Sunday afternoon’s derailment stepped safely out of the way, the westbound Empire Builder emerged from the north side of Chicago Union Station this afternoon (Monday, May 8) with an extra coach and two additional sleeping cars compared to its […]
WASHINGTON — Navajo Transitional Energy Co.’s request for an emergency service order that would force BNSF Railway to handle more of its export coal would jeopardize service for other Powder River Basin coal producers, a mining company and the Crow Tribe have told federal regulators. NTEC, in a complaint filed with the Surface Transportation Board […]
SEATTLE — Light rail service is returning to normal frequencies through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, Sound Transit has announced, following a period of single tracking for emergency repairs at the Westlake station. The repairs, required after a ground-level construction crew broke through the roof at the Westlake station, were completed ahead of schedule. The […]
Trains 2022 Magazine index […]
Union Pacific’s decision to challenge the Surface Transportation Board’s approval of the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger is likely a last-ditch attempt to protect its cross-border traffic from upstart CPKC. Last week UP asked a federal court to review the STB’s March 15 decision that allowed the CP-KCS merger to proceed on April 14 without […]
Wabtec’s Fort Worth plant FORT WORTH, Texas — In October 2022, following my attendance at the Railway Supply Institute Expo and Technical Conference, I also had a chance to visit Wabtec’s locomotive assembly plant in Fort Worth. My visit happened to fall on the day Canadian National accepted the first of a series of 50 […]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Restored Santa Fe 4-8-4 No. 2926 made about a half-mile move down the spur track from its restoration site to a local brewery on Saturday, May 6, 2023, drawing thousands of onlookers for a fundraising event. The movement was the first time in 20 years the engine, built by Baldwin in 1944, […]
OMAHA, Neb. — BNSF Railway’s first-quarter profit sank as volume fell in all four of the railroad’s business groups. BNSF’s pre-tax earnings declined 8.8%, to $1.6 billion, as revenue increased 1.9%, to $5.8 billion, BNSF’s parent, Berkshire Hathaway, reported on Saturday. The railroad’s operating ratio was 68.4%, a 3.8-point increase from a year ago, as […]
EDMONTON, Alberta — Early-season forest fires in Alberta temporarily shut down Canadian National’s main line between Jasper and Edmonton over the weekend, forcing VIA Rail Canada to turn the westbound and eastbound Canadians at those locations and bus passengers between them. Meanwhile, a variety of issues inflicted significant delays on Amtrak long-distance trains. This included […]
DUNCANSVILLE, Pa. – A rare anthracite-region steel heavyweight office car has been rescued by the Everett Railroad, which intends to restore it for first-class service on its excursion trains. The only known surviving passenger car from the Lehigh & New England Railroad, car No. 100 was built by American Car & Foundry Co. in September […]
WASHINGTON — Six rail transit systems will receive more than $700 million in grants to replace aging railcars under grants announced Friday by the Federal Transit Administration as part of the Rail Vehicle Replacement Program. “Every day, millions of Americans rely on subways, commuter rail, and light rail to get to work or school, buy […]
ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. – The East Broad Top Railroad opened its first steam-powered season in 12 years with the return of regularly scheduled excursion trains for weekend operations Friday, May 5, through today, May 7. EBT 2-8-2 engine No. 16 (Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1916) easily handled its six-car train. Freshly overhauled, the 81-ton engine broke […]
