Transport Canada makes changes to track inspection rules

Transport Canada logo

OTTAWA — Transport Canada has announced changes to track inspection rules increasing the frequency of inspections in some areas, as well as rules governing use of automated track-inspection technology. The rules announced by Transport Minister Omar Alghabra will increase the frequency of track inspections in higher-risk areas where trains travel at greater speeds while carrying […]

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STB clears path for Uinta Basin Railway project

Map showing proposed rail route in Utah

WASHINGTON — A Surface Transportation Board decision has cleared the way for construction of Utah’s Uinta Basin Railway. In a decision issued Wednesday, the board granted the exemption sought by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition to construct the 85-mile line to connect oilfields in western Utah to the national rail network at a junction with […]

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Groundbreaking set for Baltimore tunnel project

CSX logo

BALTIMORE — CSX CEO Jim Foote and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan head the list of those those scheduled to take part today (Monday, Nov. 29)  in a groundbreaking ceremony for the start of work on the long-sought Howard Street Tunnel project in Baltimore. The 1 p.m. ceremony will be at the former Mount Royal Station […]

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CP line in British Columbia expected to reopen today

CALGARY, Alberta — Canadian Pacific says it expects to have its main line between Vancouver and Kamloops, British Columbia, reopened by midday today as a result of more than a week of around-the-clock work to repair damage from Nov. 14 flooding. The railroad says 30 locations on its Thompson and Cascade subdivisions sustained flood damage […]

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Ohio short line gets funding for rail project

black and yellow locomotive at crossing on fall, gray day

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Ohio Rail Development Commission has approved a grant of up to $687,622.50 to replace rail on a portion of Pioneer Lines Napoleon Defiance & Western Railway’s line east of Defiance, Ohio. NDW’s line runs from Woodburn, Ind., to Napoleon, Ohio, with interchanges with Norfolk Southern in Woodburn and CSX in Defiance. […]

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Franklin Park crossovers separate Canadian Pacific and Metra moves

yellow locomtive beneath signal bridge

FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. — It’s not the largest or most essential component of a decades-long, $4.6 billion dollar effort to unclog Chicago’s rail network called CREATE. But completion of the $14.5 million Metra/Canadian Pacific Crossover Upgrades Project is typical of incremental improvements that sporadic funding achieves. Six crossovers and associated signaling now allow Canadian Pacific […]

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San Diego agency seeks new partner for desert line

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System is seeking new partners in its ongoing effort to reopen the 70-mile former San Diego & Arizona Eastern line from Tecate, Mexico, to Plaster City, Calif., the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The agency has owned the line since 1979 and made several attempts to reopen the […]

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Land negotiations begin for Lac-Mégantic bypass

Map of Lac-Megantic Bypass

LAC-MÉGANTIC, Quebec — Negotiations for purchase of the land needed to build a rail bypass around Lac-Mégantic and the surrounding area have begun, Transport Canada reports. The submission of the first offers is part of an ongoing process of rerouting the Canadian Pacific main line away from the community devastated by the 2013 derailment and […]

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Surfliner, Metrolink service to resume in south Orange County

Heavy equipment moving rocks along rail lline at beach as train waits in distance

LOS ANGELES — Metrolink commuter rail service in south Orange County, and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner operations between LA and San Diego, were scheduled to resume this morning (Monday, Oct. 4) following the conclusion of emergency repairs to tracks near San Clemente, Calif. Service was halted Sept. 16 after a landslide pushed the rail line out […]

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BNSF Northern Transcon reopens after Empire Builder derailment

BNSF Railway logo

JOPLIN, Mont. — BNSF Railway’s busy Hi Line Subdivision is open again following the derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder over the weekend. According to KHQ News, a local NBC affiliate, the first BNSF freight train to pass through the community of Joplin, Montana, since Saturday’s derailment arrived just after 4 a.m. Tuesday. The train is […]

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