ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has joined other elected officials in calling for Amtrak to revise Empire Service schedule changes resulting from the start of East River Tunnel repairs. In a Nov. 13 letter to Amtrak Board Chair Anthony Coscia and CEO Stephen Gardner, Hochul, a Democrat, said Empire Service trains “are […]
SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Caltrain’s diesel-powered commuter rail trainsets will find a new life in Peru. The commuter rail operator announced that it has completed an agreement to send 19 locomotives and 90 gallery commuter cars to Lima, Peru, for some $6 million, a deal which also involved the U.S. State Department, Department of Commerce, […]
DeKALB, Ill. — The DeKalb City Council has authorized a state grant to pay for a new study on extending Metra service to the city, Shaw News reports. The $400,000 technical assistance grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation will build on an earlier feasibility study completed in 2023 that addressed financial benefits and potential […]
BOSTON — A 15-day shutdown of part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Green Line is set for December — the last such suspension planned under the agency’s long-running Track Improvement Program, and one expected to remove the final speed restrictions on the MBTA rail transit network. The agency has also slightly revised plans for […]
NEW YORK — Governors Kathy Hochul of New York and Phil Murphy of New Jersey may be at odds on one transportation front — the launch of New York’s congestion pricing plan — but they’re working together on another: reducing fares on the Port Authority Trans-Hudson rail system for riders with disabilities. Hochul, Murphy, and […]
WASHINGTON — Short line railroads across the United States will be able to lay more welded rail, replace more crossties, add sidings and build bridges as a result of $2.4 billion in funding through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety (CRISI) grant program for fiscal years 2023-2024 [see “FRA awards $2.4 billion […]
MONTREAL — Opening of the largest portion of Montreal’s light rail network has been pushed back to fall 2025, the head of the company building the system has said. A 16.6-kilometer (10.3-mile) segment of the Réseau express métropolitain, serving five stations,opened in July 2023. At that time, most of the rest of the 67-km (41.6-mile), […]
WASHINGTON — The federal government will provide $1.5 billion in funding for 19 projects along the Northeast Corridor, the Federal Railroad Administration announced today (Friday, Nov. 15). Leading the list of projects to be funded under the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail is almost $400 million for a project to replace and upgrade the […]
LONGUEUIL, Quebec — The remaining portion of a shelter-in-place order following a Canadian National derailment has been lifted. The Canadian Press reports the lockdown area south of a Thursday morning derailment that led to a chemical spill was lifted at 4:30 a.m. today (Friday, Nov. 15). Eight cars of a CN train derailed in Longueuil, […]
SAN CARLOS, Calif. — The first full month of electrified service on Caltrain’s San Francisco-San Jose route spurred significant ridership growth, the commuter rail operator says. All-electric operations began Sept. 21. In October, Caltrain carried more than 753,000 passengers, a 54% increase from October 2023. That included average weekday ridership of about 27,000, up 38%, […]
LONGUEUIL, Quebec — Eight cars of a Canadian National train derailed today (Thursday, Nov. 14) in suburban Montreal, releasing a cloud of a potentially hazardous material and leading to a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents as well as area schools. The derailment occurred after 8 a.m. in the community of Longueuil, on Montreal’s south shore, […]
ARLINGTON, Va. — The National Carriers Conference Committee has announced a third tentative national agreement, this time with SMART-MD, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Mechanical Department. The NCCC is the negotiating unit for the National Railway Labor Conference, which represents U.S. Class I railroads and some smaller operations. It opened […]
