Owney the Railroad Post Office Dog

Drawing of Owney the Post Office dog on a pile of mail bags

In 1895, a globetrotting mixed-breed mutt named Owney the Railroad Post Office Dog paid a brief call on Milwaukee. As was his custom, the dog arrived aboard a mail car on one train and departed a few hours later by another. His home was anywhere U.S. mail traveled by railroad – and in the 1890s […]

Read More…

Brightline, SunRail ‘Sunshine Corridor’ project could cost $6 billion, take 10 years to complete

Railroad tracks lead into glass and concrete building

ORLANDO — A new Florida Department of Transportation document details how a passenger and commuter rail extension west from Brightline’s Orlando International Airport station could be funded and built with the help of federal infrastructure money — and that the project could cost $6 billion. The “Sunshine Corridor” concept, announced in May, calls for public […]

Read More…

Union Pacific derailment spills asphalt into creek

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

HAMPTON, Iowa — A Union Pacific derailment early Monday morning spilled asphalt into a creek, WOI-TV reports. No injuries were reported from the 44-car derailment, which occurred about 3:30 a.m. on a bridge over Otter Creek, north of Hampton, and sent some cars into the creek. Hazardous materials teams remained on the scene as of […]

Read More…

Hudson tunnel timeline pushed back three years

Man speaking with microphone on a train.

NEW YORK — New Northeast Corridor tunnels connecting New Jersey to New York’s Penn Station will not be completed before 2035 — three years later than previously planned — and will cost at least $2 billion more than previously projected, the commission overseeing the project said last week. The New York Times reports that the […]

Read More…

Twin Cities light rail project faces $500 million shortfall

Map of light rail project connecting Minneapolis to Eden Prairie, Minn.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The problem-plagued Southwest extension of the Twin Cities’ light rail Green Line is short $500 million in funding, according to a review of the project from the state’s nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor, and it is unclear where that money will come from. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports the money […]

Read More…

Applications now being accepted for FRA’s CRISI program

Logo for Federal Railroad Administration

WASHINGTON — Applications are now being accepted for the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) grant program, which will offer more than $1.4 billion for passenger and freight infrastructure projects — more than tripling the previous level of funding. “Freight rail is a critical part of our supply chains, and when shipping […]

Read More…

AAPRCO cars make another Chicago-area trip

Train with orange and maroon observation car at end backs toward camera

CHICAGO — Private cars visiting Chicago as part of the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners’ annual convention made another journey on local transit lines on Sunday, Sept. 4, traveling a route including Metra and South Shore lines. As was the case on Saturday —when the private cars visited Metra’s Milwaukee West, Milwaukee North, […]

Read More…

Organizers, supporters make push for Montreal-Boston night train

Map showing proposed passenger route from Montreal to Boston via Sherbrooke, Quebec, and Old Orchard Beach, Maine

COATICOOK, Quebec — More than 60 political and business representatives from both sides of the Canada-U.S. border packed the former Coaticook railway station, now a craft brewery, this week to plead for a new night train between Montreal and Boston. Francois Pepin, a retired network planner with Montreal’s transit agency, Société de transport de Montréal […]

Read More…