OLD LYME, Conn. — Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner and a host of federal, state, and local officials were on hand Thursday for a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction on a replacement for the Connecticut River Bridge between Old Lyme and Old Saybrook, Conn. The $1.3 billion project will replace a bridge dating […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board today (Sept. 5) announced the schedule for those who will testify in its upcoming hearing on growth in the freight rail industry, and adjusted the starting time for each day of Sept. 16-17 hearing to 9 a.m. ET — a half-hour earlier than the original schedule. The hearing will […]
Genesee & Wyoming train dispatchers have voted to join the American Train Dispatchers Association, the union said this week. Based at the American Rail Dispatching Center in St. Albans, Vt., the 34 G&W dispatchers control railroad traffic in 43 states on more than 13,000 miles of shortline track. The center handles dispatching for nearly all […]
An office on the 4th floor Aside from criss-crossing the country to take pictures of everything Amtrak, my greatest pleasure was working with the folks who occupied the executive offices of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, explaining to them the “other side of railroading.” Unionized workers typically envision management as an army of clueless, overpaid, […]
Eugene (Gene) H. Blabey II, who founded several short lines during a 50-year railroading career, died on Sept. 2. He was 85. Blabey was among the first railroaders inducted into the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame. “Gene was a legend in our industry and a leading […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic continued its recent surge in the week ending Aug. 31, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. The week saw volume of 516,632 carloads and intermodal units, up 8.4% from the same week in 2023. It was the third straight week of increases of 8% or more, following […]
KENOSHA, WIs. — A Union Pacific worker was struck and killed today (Wednesday, Sept. 4) by a Metra commuter train in Kenosha, WISN-TV reports. The incident occurred about 12:17 p.m. near 13th Avenue and 69th Street, about a half-mile south of the Kenosha Metra station. The worker killed has been identified as 34-year-old Austin Scott […]
In every issue News, p. 6 Michigan Central Station celebrates revival; NTSB sets final report on East Palestine derailment Bill Stephens, p. 10 Named passenger trains connect past and present Preservation, p. 44 Flooding on the Big Sioux River has inundated the Sioux City, Iowa, Railroad Museum Brian Solomon, p. 46 Traveling the Main Line […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has reached a tentative agreement with its final general committee SMART-TD union that represents conductors. SMART-TD (the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division) is the largest labor union on NS, and two of its three general committees on the railroad had already backed tentative contract deals. […]
DARIEN, Conn. — Arielle Giordano has joined Genesee & Wyoming Inc. as the vice president of government and industry affairs for its U.S. operations, the company announced Tuesday, Sept. 3. Giordano most recently was assistant vice president of U.S. government affairs for CPKC, addressing government relations at the federal, state, and local levels. She held […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — Canada’s transport minister has asked for an independent report on the VIA Rail Canada incident involving a significantly delayed Montreal-Quebec City train on Saturday, Aug. 31, the minister’s press secretary said Tuesday. The Canadian Press reports that Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez has also asked the passenger operator to improve employee training and […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte City Council has voted to purchase 22 miles of a Norfolk Southern rail line for a long-discussed commuter rail project, and to seek a 1-cent sales tax increase to pay for a transportation plan including the Red Line project. In a vote this evening (Tuesday, Sept. 3), the council voted […]
