WASHINGTON — A report issued last week by the Congressional Budget Office says eliminating the Federal Transit Administration would save $127 billion from 2021 through 2028, and that abolishing funding for Amtrak would avoid $19.8 billion in projected federal spending. The American Public Transportation Association responded immediately, saying it “strongly opposed” the idea. “Eliminating federal […]
Denver A-Line commuter trains meet at the Peoria station in October 2018. Denver’s Regional Transportation District has met a Federal Railroad Administration deadline to file a plan for fixing the line’s troublesome crossing gates. TRAINS: David Lassen DENVER — Denver’s Regional Transportation District has met a deadline to submit a plan to the Federal Railroad […]
Long Island Rail Road trains line up at Long Island City, N.Y. The commuter railroad has no immediate plans to change operations or build stations to accommodate new Amazon workers. Ralph Spielman NEW YORK — The first of an expected 25,000 Amazon employees hired over a ten-year period will begin to occupy a new headquarters […]
An Oklahoma City streetcar engages in testing. The system opened on Friday. EMBARK OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City’s streetcar system debuted on Friday, offering free rides for its first three weeks. The streetcars will serve two overlapping loops, one of 4.8 miles downtown that will offer service six days a week, and one of 2 […]
SAN FRANCISCO — The transit center that will eventually be the San Francisco terminal for high speed rail could remain closed another six months. The San Francisco Chronicle offers that estimate in its latest report on the Transbay Transit Center, which was shut down just six weeks after its opening in August. [See “San Francisco […]
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An inbound CTA Purple Line train passes through Chicago’s Lincoln Park area in October. The CTA has approved contracts for a major reconstruction of the Red and Purple lines north of this location. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority board of directors on Wednesday approved more than a billion dollars in contracts […]
Interior of the recently re-opened Cincinnati Union Terminal. David T. Rohdenburg The year 2018 was significant for some of the grandes dames of America’s railroad past, present and future. CINCINNATI In Cincinnati, the art deco masterpiece Union Terminal reopened after a 30-month, $228-million restoration project. The building is home to several museums and is a […]
MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada has selected Siemens to build the new equipment for its Quebec City-Windsor, Ont., corridor, a $740-million ($999-million Canadian) contract to build 32 trainsets with delivery beginning in 2022. The bidirectional trainsets will use Siemens Charger locomotives, which meet U.S. EPA Tier 4 emission standards. Similar locomotives are now in use […]
Rescue workers survey the scene of a train accident in Ankara, Turkey, on Thursday. A high speed train hit a locomotive engine and crashed into a pedestrian overpass. Associated Press A high speed trainset for Turkey’s state railway is displayed at InnoTrans in Berlin in 2016. One of six similar trainsets was involved in Thursday’s […]
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Members of California’s congressional delegation have joined the effort to save Amtrak’s reservation call center in Riverside, which employs about 500 workers. The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports that 37 of the state’s representatives in Congress have agreed to sign a letter asking Amtrak to change its plan to close the Riverside center on […]
A Metra SouthWest Service train arrives at the Larraway Road station in New Lenox, Ill. Metra has signed a contract for a new train-tracking system which should help get more reliable information about train status to riders. TRAINS: David Lassen A screenshot from Metra’s website shows the location of two trains on the Milwaukee North […]
