COATESVILLE, Pa. – Work is underway on a new $65 million Amtrak/SEPTA station in Coatesville, the West Chester Daily News reports. Expected completion is fall 2025. The job includes design, station and streetscape construction, and Amtrak track work at Fleetwood Street, just east of the existing Pennsylvania Railroad station building. According to a Pennsylvania Department […]
Although transportation demand surged during 2022, Amtrak was unable to accommodate much of it outside the Northeast Corridor. Long-distance frequencies cut Attributing cancellations to a surge in the COVID-19 Omicron variant in early January, management began cutbacks that constricted the ability of travelers to include Amtrak in their plans. Most significant was suspension of the […]
Continuing our countdown of the Trains News Wire Top 10 stories of 2022, as determined by a vote of Trains editors, columnists, and masthead correspondents: A lengthy and acrimonious process finally produced a settlement between Amtrak, Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation, and Alabama State Port Authority late in the year, providing a framework to bring passenger […]
Amtrak has updated its list of weather-related train cancellations for service to western New York, as well as the long-distance Empire Builder. As of 3:35 p.m. CST, these are the planned cancellations and other service change for Thursday, Dec. 29: — In New York, the Maple Leaf is canceled in both directions between Rochester and […]
LEXINGTON, N.C. — One passenger was reportedly hospitalized after a Charlotte-bound Amtrak Piedmont train struck a tractor-trailer at a grade crossing on Tuesday morning, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. The accident occurred about 9 a.m. No additional information was available on the injured passenger. No other injuries to passengers or crew were reported, and […]
WASHINGTON — Communications issues within Amtrak have contributed to changes in equipment orders, costs increases, and schedule delays for Amtrak’s forthcoming Airo corridor equipment and the maintenance-facility changes planned to accommodate that equipment, the Amtrak Office of Inspector General in a report issued today (Tuesday, Dec. 27.) As an example of what it calls “early […]
CHICAGO — While sub-zero cold and blizzard conditions had begun to moderate somewhat across much of the Midwest toward the end of the holiday weekend, Amtrak has continued to cancel trains on less than 24 hours’ notice for “mechanical” and “manpower” issues, as well as the weather. A running list of trains not operating continues […]
ATLANTA, Ill. — Severe weather and equipment shortages sometimes lead to atypical events on the nation’s rail passenger operator. A case in point was Monday’s northbound Amtrak Texas Eagle, train No. 22, shown in Atlanta, Ill., about 20 miles southwest of Bloomington, with P32-7BWH No. 518 leading heritage-painted P42DC No. 161. The 518 was part […]
WASHINGTON — A new 13,500-foot bypass around CSX Transportation’s Gentilly Yard in New Orleans and four siding extensions — three in Mississippi and one in Alabama — are among the 12 projects that would be funded under a grant sought by Amtrak to upgrade the route between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., for Gulf Coast […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation is offering nearly $9 billion in grants to upgrade the Northeast Corridor through a Federal Railroad Administration program, the FRA announced on Thursday. FRA Administrator Amit Bose said in a press release that the funding is “a major step towards reversing a half-century of underinvestment in vital rail […]
CHICAGO — As predictions of high winds and subzero temperatures move east, Amtrak has cancelled all service on some regional and long-distance routes while maintaining reduced service on others. Amtrak had originally planned to maintain full service on Friday, Dec. 23, after projecting cancellations for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday [see “Amtrak cancels Empire Builder, thins […]
Trains News Wire continues our review of the top stories of 2022. We’ll count down the Top 10 stories of the year, as voted on by Trains editors, columnists, and correspondents, beginning Dec. 26. As a prelude, we’ll be looking at major stories that didn’t make that list. Today: Passenger rail. Service expansion, VIA Rail […]
