SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Quick and coordinated action by the president of the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society, the Southern Pacific Railroad History Center, and the California State Railroad Museum has saved a former Central Pacific coach that was at the driving of the Golden Spike in Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869. The car, Central […]
Amtrak will furlough approximately 1,950 of its unionized workers as part of cutbacks for fiscal 2021, according to a message sent to workers today and obtained by Trains News Wire. Additionally, approximately 100 managerial positions will be eliminated. The largest portion of those, 698 employees, will come from on-board staff represented by the Amtrak Service […]
Still more Monday morning rail news: Front Range rail line could carry 3 million annually New projections suggest the proposed passenger service along Colorado’s Front Range could carry nearly 3 million passengers a year, Colorado Public Radio reports. The line between Fort Collins and Pueblo, Colo, could carry 9,200 people each weekday, according to projections […]
Monday midday rail news: First IDOT cars arrive; testing to begin in September The first four cars of the Illinois Department of Transportation order for equipment for state-supported regional Amtrak trains arrived in Chicago earlier this month, with four more en route from Siemens’ Sacramento, Calif., factory. Testing is likely to begin in September for […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak’s plan to restore daily service on long-distance routes following cuts to triweekly service set for October is based, in part, on advance reservations for spring and summer travel as of February 2021. But spot checks of sellout trends on several routes, as well as Amtrak analyses of daily and weekly patronage obtained […]
SCRANTON, Pa. — Genesee Valley Transportation, operator of four freight railroads with 318 total route-miles in Pennsylvania and New York, has added an old, rare Alco switcher to its fleet. The 80-year old HH660, built as Delaware, Lackawanna & Western No. 409, “came home” to Scranton, Pa., on August 12. Genesee Valley’s railroads are well […]
Monday morning rail news: Reading & Northern sues over stormwater fees The Reading & Northern is suing a regional sanitary agency in Pennsylvania, seeking to avoid paying a stormwater fee enacted in 2019. The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader reports the suit, filed in the Luzerne County Court of Common Please, argues that six of the railroad’s […]
Railroad unions scored a pair of court victories on Friday, with rulings overturning the Federal Railroad Administration’s approval of use of Kansas City Southern de Mexico engineers for cross-border movements, and vacating an injunction that forced the union to bargain over crew size. In the Kansas City Southern case, a three-judge panel of the U.S. […]
Metra’s request to dismiss Union Pacific’s federal lawsuit over continued operation of three Chicago-area commuter lines was denied Thursday, with a hearing on the case set for Sept. 8. The order by Judge Jorge L. Alonso of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said the primary issue in the case — […]
Friday morning rail news: NRE consolidating operations to two sites NRE, which sells and leases new and remanufactured locomotives and components, and provides overhaul and maintenance services, will consolidate operations to its headquarters location in Mt. Vernon, Ill, as well as its shops in Paducah, Ky. Operations at Dixmoor, Ill., Silvis, Ill, and Milwaukee will […]
Friday afternoon rail news: Ontario Southland concludes Guelph Junction operations; Goderich-Exeter to take over Ontario Southland’s 22 years as operator of Canada’s Guelph Junction Railway will conclude today, ending an era that included frequent use of Alco and MLW power. Beginning Monday, the Goderich-Exeter Railway, a Genesee & Wyoming operation based in Stratford, Ont., will […]
Wednesday afternoon rail news: Waterloo Central switchers now in heritage scheme The Waterloo Central Railway, the heritage railroad operated by the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society, has completed its project repainting three switch engines into Canadian Pacific’s classic gray-and-maroon scheme. Now wearing the scheme are Montreal Locomotive Works S13 Nos. 1001 and 1002, both built […]
