RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Few people were more knowledgeable — or more enthusiastic —about passenger rail operations in the United States and Mexico over the last 70 years than Ed Von Nordeck, who died Dec. 6 in California. He was 89. Von Nordeck began learning the basics as a Southern Pacific ticket agent in 1952 at […]
MOBILE, Ala. — Amtrak expects to begin operating passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., sometime in 2023, but virtually all other details of the operation remain undisclosed after a meeting of the Southern Rail Commission, the Al.com news site reports. The commission held its quarterly meeting Friday in Mobile. The news site notes […]
BRONX, N.Y.— New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and other officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday for the Penn Station Access project, which will allow trains from Metro-North’s New Haven Line to directly serve Penn Station while adding four new stations in the Bronx. Hochul said in a press release that the project “will not only […]
Can a railroad single-handedly preserve the intermodal dominance of North America’s biggest port complex? BNSF Railway is making a $1.5 billion bet that the answer is yes. The railroad announced on Oct. 1 that it will build a massive new intermodal facility in Barstow, Calif., to expedite the handling of freight imported and exported through […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has asked the Surface Transportation Board to investigate what it calls the “abysmal” on-time performance of the Sunset Limited, which it attributes largely to the operating practices of Union Pacific, and seeks “damages and other relief” from UP as a result of those practices. Amtrak lays out the details of its complaint […]
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Winchester & Western Railroad has signed an agreement to serve a new Commercial Metals Co. steel mill in West Virginia, OmniTRAX, the railroad’s parent company, has announced. OmniTRAX says CMC, the largest manufacture rof steel reinforcing bar in North America and central Europe, selected the Falling Waters, W.Va., site after a […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority must resubmit a dozen corrective action plans to address Federal Transit Administration safety directives after the FTA asked for revisions to those plans, the Boston Herald reports. To date, the FTA has only received approval for eight of the 20 plans stemming from directives issued by the FTA […]
BISMARCK, N.D. — The preservation group seeking to prevent BNSF Railway from replacing its more than century-old bridge over the Missouri River is asking two North Dakota agencies to hold a hearing on permits needed to build a new bridge. The Friends of the Rail Bridge, which wants the current Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge — parts […]
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has decisively ratified a new contract with the Long Island Rail Road, with 84.97% of votes cast in favor of the agreement. Almost 74% of those eligible voted on the contract, the union said in announcing the agreement on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The four-year agreement […]
ATLANTA — The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has shut down its 3-mile-long downtown streetcar line after inspections found wheel degradation that could pose a safety risk, WSB-TV reports. Reporter Newspapers, citing a paywalled Atlanta Journal-Constitution report, says repairs are expected to cost $7.4 million and are expected to be completed by the end of […]
TACOMA, Wash. — Opening of the Hilltop Extension of Sound Transit’s Tacoma light rail line will be delayed for a second time, the agency said Thursday, pushing opening of the 2.4-mile addition close to a year behind schedule. The Urbanist website says the project had originally been scheduled to open in May 2022, but had […]
HARTFORD, Conn. — CTrail and Amtrak service on the Hartford Line will see schedule changes as of Monday, Dec. 12, with completion of second-stage work on the line’s rail replacement project, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has announced. Work in Meriden, and between Berlin and Hartford, had led to schedule adjustments of up to 35 […]
