If a train isn’t ready to leave when you are, you probably won’t take it. That’s the reality confronting Amtrak management and the states who sponsor passenger service as they attempt to chart a course for 2021 and beyond. Until last March, the number of departures on rail corridors across the U.S. had been on […]
Some seldom-covered 2020 passenger rail developments are guaranteed to surface as bigger news in 2021. Among them is the Federal Railroad Administration’s approval of Texas Central’s Final Environmental Impact Statemen and the Surface Transportation Board’s decision to assume jurisdiction over the Dallas-Houston high speed rail project’s construction permits. The STB’s analysis will include evaluating whether […]
By: Dan Cupper ROCKHILL FURNACE, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Office of the Budget has awarded a $1.4 million economic development grant to the nonprofit EBT Foundation, owner of the historic narrow gauge East Broad Top Railroad in south-central Pennsylvania. Funding from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program will be applied to several projects, among them […]
Wednesday morning railnews: SMART officials ask for vaccine priority for transit workers Officials with Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit are urging California’s governor to give transit workers priority in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, including those who operate SMART’s trains. The Marin Independent Journal reports that, in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, board president Eric Lucan […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration is proposing changes to positive train control regulations that would change the process which railroads must follow in order to make changes to their PTC safety plans and FRA-certified PTC systems, and change railroads’ requirements for reporting on PTC performance. In a proposed rule published earlier this month, the […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has granted BNSF Railway temporary trackage rights over its lines between Stockton and Keddie, Calif., for the movement of unit ballast trains to and from a quarry at Elsey, Calif. The trackage rights, disclosed in a regulatory filing this week, cover UP’s Oakland, Sacramento, and Canyon subdivisions. The 187.5 miles of […]
Tuesday afternoon rail news: BART to stop accepting new Bombardier railcars because of reliability issues Bay Area Rapid Transit will stop accepting delivery of new railcars from Bombardier because of unresolved reliability issues. KNTV-TV reports BART says the “Fleet of the Future” cars have software issues that make the train routinely stop while in service, […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration says U.S. railroads have met the deadline for positive train control implementation, with the safety system in operation on all 57,536 miles where it is required, FRA certification of all host-railroad systems, and interoperability functioning where required between host and tenant railroads. “On behalf of extraordinary professionals at FRA […]
By: Dan Zukowski The COVID-19 pandemic dominated transit industry news this year, but there were other important stories not to be overlooked: Remembering transit workers felled by the coronavirus Nearly 900 Chicago Transit Authority workers tested positive for COVID-19 and eight have died. In New York, a quarter of transit workers contracted the disease, with […]
Trains Magazine’s offices are set for an extended closure this, along with those of other Kalmbach Media publications, as staff members get to welcome the New Year with their families. After closing at the end of today’s normal business hours, the offices will remain closed Dec. 30-Jan. 3. If you contact us during that period, […]
Tuesday morning rail news: Cleanup of NS derailment in Gary, Ind., could keep highway closed 10 days It could be another 10 days before U.S. Route 12 is reopened in Gary, Ind., at the site of a pre-Christmas derailment of a Norfolk Southern train. The Chicago Tribune reports that while NS reopened its line on […]
By: Dan Zukowksi For America’s transit riders, the decade that opened on Jan. 1, 2020, offered the promise of more and better train service. Over the past 20 years, 17 new commuter rail systems and 21 additional light rail and streetcar lines gave riders more choices and faster commutes. For America’s transit agencies, the two […]
