WASHINGTON — The parties involved in the dispute over Amtrak’s effort to launch Gulf Coast passenger service have asked the Surface Transportation Board for a second extension for their current board-sponsored mediation. In a request filed Friday, Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority jointly requested the board extend mediation by […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak says checked baggage service is being dropped this fall from two state-supported routes “due to equipment shortages” — even though the company received 70 new baggage cars as part of its 125-car Viewliner II equipment order from CAF USA in 2014-15. The company now says, however, that a notice posted in at […]
BERLIN — The prospects for a number of transformative passenger projects, as well as the potential for more rail electrification, have the CEO of Siemens Mobility in North America upbeat as he considers his company’s future. Marc Buncher heads a company that has grown rapidly in North America, with its Sacramento, Calif., manufacturing site employing […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr has been cancelled this Sunday, Sept. 25 — continuing a week of disruptions for the service between Chicago and Emeryville, Calif. The sequence that led to Sunday’s cancellation began with the westbound departure of Monday, Sept. 19, which sustained delays totaling 16 hours, 35 minutes on its way to […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its network by 2045, the company announced Thursday. “With new equipment, modernized stations, and net zero emissions, Amtrak can lead the drive toward sustainable transportation throughout the nation,” CEO Stephen Gardner said in a press release. The company said its efforts to […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — BNSF Railway has filed a suit in a federal court seeking an injunction that would force victims of the June derailment of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief to settle matters through arbitration rather than lawsuits, and has also asked that state suits be placed on hold while the arbitration question is decided at […]
BERLIN — The first hydrogen-powered trainset for use in the U.S. has been presented to its owners at the InnoTrans trade fair by manufacturer Stadler — which also announced an order for more of the equipment for use in Amtrak California intercity service. The two-car trainset was ordered by the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority […]
INDIANAPOLIS — A Beech Grove, Ind., man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for a pair of arson fires, including one at Amtrak’s Beech Grove heavy maintenance facility that caused more than $1.1 million in damage. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana says in a press release that […]
Amtrak’s Maple Leaf catches a CSX intermodal train With vehicle-train collisions near the top of the issues list following the Southwest Chief derailment at a Missouri roadway earlier in the summer, Trains News Wire scouted an appropriate photo location in western New York during a recent trip to capture an Amtrak train at a […]
MADISON, Wis. — The final design phase of the project to add a second Amtrak passenger train between Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul has begun, with public comments now being accepted and public meetings to show plans for the service expected to be held this fall. The design phase for what is known as the Twin […]
Parts of an Electro-Motive Division F40PH diesel locomotive The Electro-Motive Division (EMD) F40PH diesel locomotive was the backbone of Amtrak’s fleet for many years. The four-axle unit earned its keep on several commuter lines, too. GO Transit (Toronto), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (Boston), Metra (Chicago), and NJ Transit were just some of the places the […]
CHICAGO — With the threat of a national railroad work stoppage prompting travelers to make alternate plans, many long-distance trains that are normally sold out for at least a portion of their journeys had space available as service resumed. Trains that had been suspended Tuesday through Thursday, Sept. 13-15, all returned as scheduled Friday [see […]
