CHICAGO — The Federal Railroad Administration will provide a $3 million grant for a project to upgrade concourses at Chicago Union Station, matching funds by Amtrak and its partners and bringing the concourse project to the point where it is ready for construction. U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot […]
CHICAGO — More than a year after requesting proposals for the project, Metra’s board of directors has approved a plan to convert at least three of its oldest F40PH-3 locomotives, and as many as six, to battery power. Progress Rail will perform the conversions at its Patterson, Ga., facility, with delivery of the initial order […]
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court has struck down a state law prohibiting stopped trains from blocking railroad crossings, citing federal jurisdiction in regulation of railroads. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that in a ruling issued Wednesday, the opinion by Justice Sharon Kennedy acknowledged “the significant danger to the public” created when trains obstruct the […]
HEREFORD, Texas — Seventeen cars of a BNSF Railway intermodal train derailed early Wednesday morning on the railroad’s Southern Transcon near the town of Hereford, the Amarillo Globe-News reports. The derailment occurred about 5 a.m. on the Hereford Subdivision, between the towns of Dawn and Hereford, about 45 miles southwest of Amarillo. No injuries were […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has introduced a new Café menu on its Northeast Corridor and long-distance trains, featuring more menu options, new hot meals, and more vegan offerings. The new menu debuted Wednesday, Aug. 17. At the same time, the company is reducing prices for sandwiches and salads on Acela and Northeast Regional trains by 50 […]
WASHINGTON — Weekly U.S. rail traffic remains below 2021 levels, albeit only by a slight margin for the week ending Aug. 13, according to the latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads. For the week, U.S. Class I railroads moved 502,775 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.3% from the same week in 2021. That […]
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WASHINGTON — Amtrak will host more than 50 hiring events in its coming fiscal year, to fill more than 4,000 available positions nationwide across a broad range of disciplines. Many of the events and positions will be concentrated in Los Angeles; Seattle; New Orleans; New York; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Oakland; Philadelphia; Miami; and Wilmington, Del. […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Presidential Emergency Board recommendations for ending the current railroad labor dispute “provide a useful basis to reach a resolution” although they “markedly exceed the rail carriers’ proposal,” Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies says in a statement issued this morning (Wednesday, Aug. 17). The group representing railroads in the long-running negotiations, […]
CHICAGO — Continuing equipment-availability problems have led to the suspension of one of four daily Amtrak Lincoln Service round trip between Chicago and St. Louis. The service reduction is slated to run through Tuesday, Aug. 23. Not operating are train No. 300, scheduled to depart St. Louis at 4:30 a.m. and arrive in Chicago at […]
HUDSON, Ind. — Mechanical staff of the Indiana Northeaster Railroad is in the process of completing upgrades and repainting of ex-Reading Lines locomotive No. 2185, one of the two GP30s on the 105-mile system which operates in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Travis Bloom, chief mechanical officer for the railroad, leads a staff of four mechanical […]
DAYTON, Tenn. — A diesel switcher from the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is now providing switching for a tire manufacturing plant, an operation that helps support the museum while aiding the growth of the factory. The EMD switcher, built in 1951 for the U.S. Army and later used by the U.S. Air Force at Cape […]
