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JOPLIN, Mont. — The vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board says Amtrak’s Empire Builder was traveling below its posted speed limit when it derailed and partially overturned over the weekend in rural Montana, killing three people. NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg told members of the media Monday afternoon that the eastbound Empire Builder […]
NEW ORLEANS — After first being turned back to Chicago at Memphis, Tenn., and later at Jackson, Miss., Amtrak’s City of New Orleans will finally make its grand entrance to the Crescent City one month after Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana with torrential rains and strong winds. The southbound train departing Chicago today and its […]
GALESBURG, Ill. — As the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners sets off on its annual trip and convention this week, the organization has released a statement on the weekend derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder in northern Montana. “It is horrifying to see the derailed and overturned rail cars. For many of us, rail […]
JOPLIN, Mont. — The passengers killed in Saturday’s deadly Empire Builder derailment have been identified as a tech engineer from Illinois and a husband and wife from Georgia. According to media reports, the three people killed when Amtrak’s westbound Empire Builder derailed Saturday afternoon in northern Montana have been identified as 28-year-old Zach Schneider, of […]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The buzz at an open house for Santa Fe 4-8-4 No. 2926 wasn’t all about the locomotive last run in 1953 and moved for the first time under its own power on July 25. A grade crossing and a spur track also figured into the conversations. With the restoration of the locomotive […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration is launching its own investigation into the Saturday derailment of Amtrak’s westbound Empire Builder in northern Montana. Specifically, FRA has sent a team of 18 dispatched to the scene consisting of technical experts in track, motive power & equipment, signal and train control, and operating practices. The agency has […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn has issued a statement on Saturday’s fatal derailment of the Empire Builder in Montana. “We are in mourning today for the people who lost their lives due to the derailment of the Empire Builder train Saturday, near Joplin, Montana, on the BNSF Railway, as well as the many others […]
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at the site of Saturday’s derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder passenger train near Joplin, about 50 miles west of Havre. The NTSB is the lead agency in the investigation of the derailment, which occurred at about 3:55 p.m. Saturday in a remote […]
HAVRE, Mont. – Amtrak confirms three deaths in the Saturday derailment of the westbound Empire Builder near Joplin, about 50 miles west of Havre. The train, which originated in Chicago on Friday, had 141 passengers and 16 crew members onboard. The train consisted of two locomotives and 10 cars, with eight of those cars derailing, […]
CHICAGO – Union Pacific has won a key legal ruling in its long-running dispute with Metra regarding operations of three commuter routes. A federal judge on Thursday ruled that UP has no common carrier obligation to provide commuter service on the UP North, UP West, and UP Northwest Lines. Metra had sought to show that UP […]
PORTLAND, Maine — Surface Transportation Board Vice Chairman Robert Primus says railroads need to improve service in order to regain traffic lost to trucks over the years. “One of the biggest areas of concern that I have … is in the area of service,” Primus told the North East Association of Rail Shippers on Thursday. […]
Sherman Hill is one of the landmarks on the transcontinental railroad. It was the first major obstacle for the railroad as it headed west. It’s the highest point on the first transcontinental railroad with the original summit topping out at 8,247 feet above sea level. A 1901 line change shaved over 200 feet off the […]
