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MIAMI — The finances of Brightline’s Florida operation have produced cautionary action by bond-rating agencies on Wall Street, which have downgraded the company’s bonds and notes over concerns about its ability to service its debt. The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports in a paywalled article that Fitch Group and Kroll Bond Rating Agency downgraded more […]
Mexico’s Maya Train — built to attract tourists to sites on the Yucatan Peninsula — has little chance of becoming profitable without the development of freight traffic on the route, the operation’s general director said this month. The news site Infobae reports that, at a seminar of the Mexican Railway Association earlier this month, Gen. […]
CHICAGO — Sellouts in coach and high prices in sleeping cars, if space is available at all, are the rule rather than exception in a News Wire survey of Amtrak long-distance trains as summer arrives. Travelers will often face limited inventory for the rest of the summer despite marginal increases in equipment deployment. In a […]
MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada workers represented by Canadian union Unifor have authorized a strike that could come as soon as June 22, the union announced Monday, May 26. Some 97.5% of workers represented by Unifor Council 4000 and Local 100 voted in favor of strike authorization. “This strike vote is not just a number […]
MARHOWRA, India — Wabtec Corp. and Rio Tinto SimFer on Monday (May 26) unveiled the first locomotive in an order for TransGuinéen Railway, part of an order to serve Africa’s Simandou iron ore project. The Evolution Series ES43ACi locomotive is part of a $277 million order placed in 2024 by SimFer, a joint venture of […]
JUNEAU, Alaska — A resolution calling for federal funding for two extensions of the Alaska Railroad network is dead for this year after failing to advance out of a Senate committee. The Senate Rules Committee voted 14-6 on May 20 against advancing House Joint Resolution 14. Features of the resolution include a call for the […]
WASHINGTON — Minnesota Republicans in the House of Representatives on Friday (May 23) announced an effort to eliminate federal funding for three rail programs: the Northstar commuter service; Blue Line light rail extension in the Twin Cities, and the proposed Northern Light Express between the Twin Cities and Duluth. The four legislators — Tom Emmer […]
BOSTON — Spring-like weather remains elusive for much of the northern U.S. But operationally, summer has arrived for commuter rail systems. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and its contract commuter operator, Keolis, on Friday (May 23) launched the seasonal CapeFlyer train between Boston and Cape Cod. The first day of Friday-Saturday-Sunday-holiday service came a day […]
NEW YORK — A name both familiar to and well-regarded by New Yorkers will be placed in charge of the remodeling of Penn Station. Andy Byford, who oversaw the city’s subways to positive reviews as president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit from 2018 to 2020, has been chosen to oversee the […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific is working to finalize agreements with Ferromex and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to shift cross-border crew changes from the International Railroad Bridge to UP’s yard in Eagle Pass, Texas. Currently, trains using the Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras, Mexico, gateway swap crews on the single-track bridge over the Rio Grande. It’s […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has asked the Surface Transportation Board to dismiss Metra’s request for trackage rights on UP lines in the Chicago area, saying the STB does not have jurisdiction because Metra is an intrastate, rather than interstate, operation. In a motion to dismiss filed today, UP argues that Metra’s request “suffers a fatal […]
WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads has asked the Federal Railroad Administration to allow less frequent visual track inspections in territory where automated track inspection systems are used. “The primary benefit of using automated inspection technologies is earlier detection of track defects enabling railroads to switch from reactive to preventative maintenance practices. A strictly […]
