WASHINGTON — Class I railroads this week disagreed with Amtrak’s contention that its passenger trains should enjoy absolute and unlimited priority over freight trains. Amtrak, as part of its complaint over Union Pacific’s handling of the Sunset Limited, told the Surface Transportation Board earlier this year that every individual dispatching decision must result in the […]
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Railroads on the Gulf Coast and in the East are familiar with hurricane preparedness and plan accordingly for wind, storm surge, and flooding. But they cannot prepare for a hurricane causing an unprecedented, once-in-a-thousand-years event. That’s what happened about 24 hours after Hurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 26, 2024, as a […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not done enough in streamlining its procurement process to make it more efficient, better serve customers, and save money, the New York State Comptroller’s Office says in an audit report issued on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. In a response to legislation passed in April 2019, the MTA […]
N scale Modutrak on Display | Catch up with Host Gerry Leone, as he chats with Keith Kohlman while operating the Modutrack display, an N scale (1:160) layout inspired by the HO scale (1:87.1) Midwest Mod-U-Trak display at Trainfest 2024! Keith reveals insights about the massive modular display that only comes out for big shows! […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state legislative leaders have rejected a $65 billion capital plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, citing a major funding shortfall. The website Gothamist reports that State Senate Majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie notified MTA CEO Jannon Lieber of the rejection in a Christmas Eve letter. The […]
The switch to full electrification between San Francisco and San Jose came on Sept. 21 (San Jose-Gilroy service is still diesel powered), and ridership showed an immediate jump. In October, the first full month of electrified service, ridership increased 54% from the same month a year earlier. The average weekday ridership was up 38% at […]
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Regional Transit is investigating a ransomware attack on its operations that slowed light rail operations last week — a problem originally believed to be a computer glitch. The agency announced on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, that it has “launched an investigation, activated its Cyber Incident Response Team, notified law enforcement, and engaged […]
NEW YORK — Amtrak says service has been fully restored between New York’s Penn Station and Philadelphia. The company said “all services are operating” in a post shortly before 8 a.m. ET today (Dec. 24, 2024) on its Northeast Corridor alerts feed on X.com. However, Amtrak also reports that Acelas No. 2154 (a 7 a.m. […]
Amtrak carried more passengers in its 2024 fiscal year (October 2023-September 2024) than at any time in the company’s 53-year history. The milestone was achieved primarily by adding Northeast Corridor frequencies and deploying enough passenger cars on its main East Coast artery to meet expanding travel demand. Nationwide, however, it was a different story. While […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium — If you’re considering train travel in Europe, you can expect to do well in Italy. On Eurostar, it’s another matter. Italy’s Trenitalia is the best rail passenger operator in Europe, while Eurostar — the international operator linking London to Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris — is the worst overall, according to rankings released […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has completed its massive Track Improvement Program, announced late last year, which has addressed more than 200 slow orders plaguing the MBTA’s rail transit network. In a ceremony at North Station on Monday, Dec. 23, MBTA CEO Phillip Eng, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, and […]
DENVER — The state of Colorado will not have to pay a fee to Union Pacific to use its track for a Denver-Craig passenger train, while the railroad will no longer pay the state annually for use of the 6.2-mile Moffat Tunnel under a new 25-year agreement announced today (Monday, Dec. 23, 2024). The […]
