Thursday morning rail news in brief: BART announces ‘Welcome Back Plan’ Bay Area Rapid Transit has introduced a 15-step “Welcome Back Plan” for riders returning to the San Francisco-area rail system after the COVID-19 lockdown, including use of long trains to accommodate social distancing, increased train frequency as ridership dictates, and a possible new seating […]
PHILADELPHIA — Amtrak’s next-generation Acela made its first test on Amtrak trackage on Thursday, with the second Alstom-built trainset making a round trip from Penn Coach Yard in Philadelphia to Thorndale, Pa., some 35 miles West of Philadelphia on the line to Harrisburg, Pa. The first Acela trainset continues to test at the Transportation Technology […]
Thursday midday rail news in brief: Metro Transit shuts down all light rail, bus service After initially halting service on its light rail Blue Line, Minneapolis/St. Paul’s Metro Transit will shut down all bus and light rail service as of 4 p.m. for at least the rest of the day, with a decision about tomorrow […]
A-Trains meet at the Hebron station in Lewisville, Texas, in 2017. Denton County’s transit agency has approved a budget with staff and service cuts, and deferred capital projects, to deal with financial losses because of the coronavirus. TRAINS: David Lassen More Thursday morning rail news in brief: Denton County amends transit budget because of virus […]
U.S. rail traffic by commodity group and totals for the week ended May 23, 2020 Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending May 23, 2020. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 428,715 carloads and intermodal units, down 19.2% compared […]
Wednesday afternoon rail news in brief: Virgin Trains, Miami-Dade in talks on commuter operation Virgin Trains USA is in talks with Miami-Dade County about creating a commuter-rail operation on the southern end of its existing Miami-West Palm Beach Brightline route, a $350 million proposal that would see the privately owned passenger operation build five stations […]
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad has postponed its Victorian Iron Horse Roundup, a planned gathering of 19th-century locomotives set for Aug. 22-31, to 2021. The event was planned as part of the tourist railroad’s 50th anniversary [see “Cumbres & Toltec announces schedule for 19th-century locomotive event,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 27, 2020]. In a […]
An Amtrak train passes through the bluffs at Del Mar, Calif. The location is set to receive more than $11.5 million for erosion control work. TRAINS: David Lassen WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration today announced the recipients of more than $302 million in grant funds under the Federal-State Partnership for […]
Open-air cars, like this one on the Leadville, Colorado & Southern — shown on a Trains Tour of Colorado private excursion — are in demand for tourist railroads looking to operate in the COVID-19 environment. TRAINS: David Lassen Guidelines for reopening in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak has made one thing clear for museums […]
More Wednesday morning rail news: Kansas City streetcar extension receives FTA go-ahead Kansas City, Mo., has received clearance from the Federal Transit Agency to advance to the next phase of the planned KC Streetcar Main Street Extension. The Streetcar Authority announced Tuesday that that FTA approved the project to enter the New Starts Engineering phase […]
A Metro-North train arrives at New Haven’s State Street station in August 2019. Metro-North is adding 18 trains to its schedule as of today. TRAINS: David Lassen Wednesday morning New York area rail news: Metro-North adds trains; LIRR expands capacity Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road have begun making operating changes in preparation for […]
Wednesday morning preservation and railfan news: Northwest Railway Museum fires up Northern Pacific 0-6-0 The Northwest Railway Museum has fired up Northern Pacific No. 924, an 0-6-0 built in 1899 by Rogers Locomotive Works for the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad. The locomotive returned to steam on May 18, operating under its own power in […]
