WASHINGTON — In a notably bipartisan move, the top Republican and Democrat on the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Tax have introduced a bill to update a tax credit that has been crucial to short line infrastructure investment. U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), chairman of the subcommittee, and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), the ranking member, […]
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — With a change in traffic mix more than offsetting a decrease in carloads, the Reading & Northern achieved record freight revenues in 2024, the railroad has announced. The privately held railroad had previously announced record passenger ridership [see “Reading & Northern marks record excursion ridership …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 8, […]
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society has purchased Pullman car Kitchi Gammi Club from the car’s owners and operators for more than three decades. The heavyweight car built by Pullman in 1923 and long assigned to Nickel Plate Road service, is already in use at the Indiana Rail Experience, the excursion […]
RONKS, Pa. — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered the Strasburg Rail Road to reinstate an employee fired for refusing to issue locomotive and conductor licenses to an untrained, unqualified management official. The Department says OSHA investigated a whistleblower complaint by the employee, who claimed the firing came after […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Notes from the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers’ Winter Meeting, which concluded today (Jan. 16, 2025): The Iowa Northern decision The MARS meeting opened the day after the Surface Transportation Board issued its long-awaited decision approving Canadian National’s purchase of Iowa Northern Railway, a deal effective Feb. 13 [see “STB greenlights Canadian […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has approved Canadian National’s acquisition of 218-mile regional Iowa Northern Railway. The board’s decision today (Jan. 15, 2025) also imposed several conditions to offset potential anticompetitive aspects of the $230 million deal. Among them: The development of a scheduled local service plan, keeping gateways open on commercially reasonable terms, […]
SUNBURY, Pa. — After 27 years of running holiday passenger trains, fund-raising excursions, and shipper specials, owner Jeff Pontius of Penn Valley Railroad LLC has sold his fleet of seven passenger cars to the Reading & Northern Railroad. R&N announced that it would receive the cars today (Jan. 14, 2025) and outlined the planned move […]
WASHINGTON — A new Sound Transit light rail station and rail improvements at the Port of Benton in Richland, Wash., will receive more than $34 million in U.S. Department of Transportation grants, four members of the Washington State Democratic congressional delegation have announced. They were among four projects receiving more than $56 million under the […]
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Switching Services, the freight operator on the state-owned Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad, has been selected by the Maine Department of Transportation to operate and maintain the state’s Rockland Branch, a 57-mile former Maine Central line. However, a pilot program to test passenger service on the route, in coordination with the […]
PORT CLINTON, PA. — Almost 340,000 riders took part in Reading & Northern excursions in 2024, surpassing the previous mark of more than 322,000 in 2023 by 5%, the railroad has announced. The year included the opening of the new Nesquehoning Regional Railroad Station on the railroad’s Nesquehoning campus, which includes the railroad’s new shops […]
WASHINGTON — Ron Batory, K. Earl Durden, and Henry Posner III will be inducted into the Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame at this year’s American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association Annual Conference, the organization has announced. The induction will take place April 8, 2025, in Denver. Durden’s induction will be posthumous. “The […]
CORVALLIS, Ore. — A bridge collapsed under a Portland & Western train crossing Mary’s River in Corvallis today (Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025), sending at least one car into the river. KPTV-TV reports the incident occurred around noon PT near Avery Park in Corvallis. A Portland & Western representative told the station a 19-car train was […]
