Four light rail projects receive federal grants

Tacoma_LightRail_Lassen

WASHINGTON — Four light rail projects are among the 22 which have received a total of $250 million in funding under the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grants program. Rail projects receiving grants are: — $20.7 million to Seattle’s Sound Transit for the 2.4-mile Hilltop extension of the Tacoma Link light rail project. — $17.4 […]

Read More…

Digest: Metro-North to add trains on three lines as of June 21

Electric multiple unit trainset with red front stops at station

Metro-North to add trains, increasing service to 67% of pre-pandemic levels Metro-North Railroad will add trains on three lines as of Monday, June 21, bringing service to two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels, and will increase that to 83% of prior service levels as of Aug. 29. The Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven lines will each add […]

Read More…

Union Pacific releases first information on Big Boy’s 2021 tour

4014_Deseret_Wrinn

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 will return to action Aug. 5, beginning a 10-state tour to include Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. In a message today, UP said the full itinerary has not yet been set, but offered this information where and when the locomotive […]

Read More…

Digest: Union asks regulators to block CN-KCS voting trust

SMART-TD union logo

SMART-TD union asks STB to reject voting trust for CN-KCS deal A major rail union has asked the Surface Transportation Board to reject Canadian National’s request for a voting trust for its merger with Kansas City Southern. Jeremy Ferguson, president of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers, Transportation Division, says […]

Read More…

Digest: MBTA to offer “Vax Express” at commuter rail stations

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority logo

MBTA commuter train to offer walk-up COVID vaccinations The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will operate a commuter train offering COVID-19 vaccinations June 16-20 at stations in Boston, Worchester, Lowell, Lawrence, and Fitchburg, Mass. The Boston Globe reports the “Vax Express” will offer walk-up vaccination; while no appointment is required, residents may book a time slot […]

Read More…

Railfanning Chicago: La Fox, Illinois

  One in an occasional series on Senior Editor David Lassen’s favorite Chicago-area railfan locations Railfanning LaFox, Illinois Well west of Chicago, in a still mostly rural area with suburbia gradually encroaching, is La Fox, Ill., on Union Pacific’s Geneva Subdivision. There’s barely a community to speak of, but it does have a Metra station. […]

Read More…

June 2021

Trains Magazine June 2021 cover

In every issue News p. 4 One railroad, three countries; Amtrak asks STB to intervene on Gulf Coast Brian Solomon p. 10 Reading about the Reading Bill Stephens p. 11 Y’all aboard? Preservation p. 44 Trains’ 2021-22 Preservation Partnership: Nashville Steam’s 4-8-4 No. 576 Train-Watching p. 46 Short line: Indiana Eastern Ask Trains p. 48 […]

Read More…

First Amtrak ALC-42 diesel locomotive set for release

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Siemens is putting the finishing touches on Amtrak’s first ALC-42 locomotive, with its departure scheduled for this weekend. The first locomotive, AMTK No. 300, will be hauled in the consist of Amtrak’s California Zephyr departing Emeryville on June 12, a source close to the railroad tells Trains News Wire. After arriving in […]

Read More…

Digest: Feds reinstate $929 million for California high speed rail

CAHSRA settlement reverses action of Trump administration The U.S. Department of Transportation has reached an agreement with the California High Speed Rail Authority to reinstate $929 million in grant funds revoked by the Trump administration. The agreement, dated June 10, stipulates the return of the funds within three days. “This settlement agreement follows intensive negotiations […]

Read More…