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 […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific is in the Surface Transportation Board’s doghouse. In a letter to UP CEO Lance Fritz today (Thursday, Dec. 8), STB Chairman Martin J. Oberman said the railroad’s response to the board’s request for information about how and when it issues embargoes fell well short of what regulators were expecting. The STB […]
Mid-Continent Railway Museum visit with Montana Western No. 31 Trains LIVE — 11-9-2022 — It is the fulfillment of an idea that revolutionized railroad motive power — using an internal combustion engine to drive a generator, feeding electricity to a traction motor. In the 1920s, this was heady stuff. This was unknown territory. This was […]
Mid-Continent Railway Museum visit with Montana Western No. 31 Trains LIVE — 11-9-2022 — It is the fulfillment of an idea that revolutionized railroad motive power — using an internal combustion engine to drive a generator, feeding electricity to a traction motor. In the 1920s, this was heady stuff. This was unknown territory. This was […]
Illinois Central upside-down fruit pudding Trains LIVE — 12-7-2022 — “The experienced Illinois Central traveler knew to pass up ice cream and other more common desserts if this treat was on the menu,” says James Porterfield in his book Dining by Rail. This is Trains LIVE — Illinois Central upside-down fruit pudding. We are cooking on […]
Daughter of rail artist Ted Rose speaks: There is no doubt that Ted Rose ranks in the upper echelons of railroad artists. Rose, born in Milwaukee in 1940, rendered hundreds of watercolor paintings and monotypes during his career. Sadly, he passed in 2002, however, the artistic legacy he left behind gives us the opportunity to […]
CSX Transportation and Union Pacific have relaxed their attendance policies in response to labor concerns. “Today we announced changes to the company’s attendance policy in order to provide CSX employees more flexibility and to respond to concerns expressed by craft employees and labor organizations. The new policy is applicable to all craft employees and is […]
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators will issue a decision by March 8 on Montana Rail Link’s request for permission to discontinue service over 656.47 miles of track in Montana and Idaho as part of the early termination of its lease with BNSF Railway. In a decision released today, the Surface Transportation Board accepted MRL’s petition, set […]
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday marked completion of the Clifton Maintenance Shop on Staten Island, the rebuild of a facility extensively damaged by Hurricane Sandy that has been upgraded to withstand Category 2 hurricane winds and a water surge of up to 3 feet. The 93,220-square-foot facility includes Staten Island […]
RALEIGH, N.C. — A dozen North Carolina short lines will receive approximately $12 million for infrastructure improvements under the state’s Freight Rail and Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Program, the N.C. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday, Dec. 7. The recipients match the state funds, leading to approximately $24 million in work to support improvements to 52 […]
