HUNTINGTON, W.V. – U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. D-W.Va., says the legendary New River Train is coming back. On Wednesday, Manchin tweeted “I’ve been working nonstop with @Amtrak to preserve #WV’s proud railroading history by keeping the annual New River Train running, and that’s why I’m glad a deal is in place to continue this proud […]
Sound Transit will revise its safety protocol in response to NTSB report NEWSWIRE

Sound Transit’s board chairman says the agency will call in an outside investigator to review its safety procedures in the wake of the National Transportation Safety Board’s findings and recommendations in its own investigation into the December 2017 Amtrak Cascades derailment. NTSB had criticisms for multiple agencies and entities including Sound Transit, which owns the […]
WSDOT prepares to remove Talgo Series 6 trainsets ‘as soon as possible’

SEATTLE – The first response to the National Transportation Safety Board’s report on the 2017 Amtrak Cascades derailment is the Washington State Department of Transportation’s decision to remove Talgo Series 6 trainsets from service “as soon as possible.” WSDOT, a prime financial sponsor of Amtrak Cascades service on the Vancouver, B.C.-Eugene, Ore., corridor, didn’t specify […]
Canadian National reaches outside of PSR world for next chief operating officer NEWSWIRE

New Canadian National Chief Operating Officer Rob Reilly speaks at his alma mater, Washburn University, in 2017. Reilly was a starting guard on Washburn’s 1987 NAIA men’s basketball national championship team. Washburn University CN Chief Operating Officer Mike Cory will retire at the end of June after 38 years with the railway. Canadian National MONTREAL […]
Cimarron Valley acquires secondhand GE locomotives NEWSWIRE

Cimarron Valley C40-8 No. 4053 sits outside Metro East Industries’ paint booth in East St. Louis, Ill. The locomotive was built as CSX No. 7616 in 1990. Mark Mautner SATANTA, Kan. – Cimarron Valley Railroad has been awarded a grant by Kansas Department of Transportation to assist in replacing the train line’s 13 aging locomotives […]
Flooding, tornado affect UP operations in Midwest NEWSWIRE

OMAHA, Neb. – Five Union Pacific subdivisions in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are out-of-service Thursday as a result of extreme weather in that part of the country and the railroad is warning customers that the worst might be yet to come. UP officials say the Cherokee Subdivision between Parsons, Kan., and McAlester, Okla.; the […]
MTA board hears from PTC contractors about implementation issues NEWSWIRE

Croton-Harmon-bound Metro-North train 725, stopped at Marble Hill Station in the Bronx on May 26, 2018, is on its way from Grand Central. The MTA board heard from key vendors Wednesday on PTC installation on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road. Ralph Spielman NEW YORK — Metropolitan Transportation Authority Patrick Foye called it “radical […]
Musk’s company receives contract to build underground transit system in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has approved a $48.7 million contract with Elon Musk’s Boring Co. to build an underground transit system for the Las Vegas Convention Center. The system, which will require less than a mile of tunneling, will be served by autonomous electric vehicles based on Tesla […]
Rio Grande Southern No. 20 steams for the first time since 1951 NEWSWIRE
STRASBURG, Pa. — At 11:23 a.m. on May 23, Rio Grande Southern Railroad No. 20, a legendary narrow gauge 4-6-0, made its first move under steam in 67 years. Under overhaul at the Strasburg Rail Road’s shops since 2006, the engine shoved the shop’s Plymouth switcher, which was also supplying braking power through the shop […]
UP locomotive shop in eastern Oregon falls victim to PSR NEWSWIRE

HERMISTON, Ore. — Union Pacific announced this week that would be laying off nearly 200 people at its Hinkle rail yard in Hermiston, the latest example of cost reductions brought on by Precision Scheduled Railroading. About 195 people will lose their jobs as UP closes its Hinkle locomotive shop and warehouse over the next two […]
Vancouver Island tourist railroad take a season off for locomotive repairs NEWSWIRE
SEATTLE — The Alberni Pacific Railway, the tourism excursion service that gives visitors a taste of industrial railroading in the forests of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, won’t be operating this season because repairs are needed for both the steam and diesel locomotives it has been using. “The No. 7 Baldwin 2-8-2T steam locomotive is undergoing […]
Washington Metro returns cars to service after door malfunction NEWSWIRE

WASHINGTON — DC Metro returned most of its 3000-series railcars to service on Wednesday, a day after pulling them because the door on one car opened while a train was in motion. Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said a malfunctioning electrical component caused the doors to open, the Washington Post reports. Twenty-six cars with […]