BNSF Railway hopes to reopen fire-damaged Northern California main this month

Worker on lift inside tunnel

FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway hopes to have its fire-damaged Inside Gateway main line linking the Pacific Northwest and Northern California back in service later this month. The Gateway Subdivision between Stockton, Calif., and Klamath Falls, Ore., has been out of service since July 21, when the Dixie Fire approached the railroad and later […]

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Southern California Railroad Museum adds ATSF bicentennial SD45-2 to collection

Red, white, and blue locomotive

PERRIS, Calif. — The Southern California Railroad Museum has added a former Santa Fe bicentennial locomotive to its collection. SD45-2 No. 5704, built in 1973, was one of five repainted locomotives repainted into red, white, and blue at Santa Fe’s San Bernardino shops in 1975 and 1976, and saw action on priority freight trains as […]

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Analysis: STB chairman flags railroad growth problem

Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman ruffled some feathers this month when he said railroads’ drive for ever-increasing profits resulted in a loss of market share to trucks over the past 15 years and continues to restrain growth today. Oberman cited STB figures that show a decline in rail traffic between 2006 and 2019 […]

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Widow of Empire Builder derailment victim sues Amtrak, BNSF

Bilevel passenger train rolls through grade crossing under construction

CHICAGO — The widow of a man killed in Saturday’s Empire Builder derailment in Montana has filed suit against Amtrak and BNSF railway for their alleged role in her husband’s death. Courthouse News Service reports Rebecca Schneider, wife of 28-year-old victim Zach Schneider, filed suit Tuesday in federal court in Chicago for unspecified damages. Zach […]

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BNSF Northern Transcon reopens after Empire Builder derailment

BNSF Railway logo

JOPLIN, Mont. — BNSF Railway’s busy Hi Line Subdivision is open again following the derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder over the weekend. According to KHQ News, a local NBC affiliate, the first BNSF freight train to pass through the community of Joplin, Montana, since Saturday’s derailment arrived just after 4 a.m. Tuesday. The train is […]

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Feds: ‘Empire Builder’ was traveling under speed limit at time of crash

Three men in hard hats and safety vests in front of derailed passenger train

JOPLIN, Mont. — The vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board says Amtrak’s Empire Builder was traveling below its posted speed limit when it derailed and partially overturned over the weekend in rural Montana, killing three people. NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg told members of the media Monday afternoon that the eastbound Empire Builder […]

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AAPRCO: ‘Horrifying to see the derailed and overturned rail cars’

Round logo with end of open observation car

GALESBURG, Ill. — As the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners sets off on its annual trip and convention this week, the organization has released a statement on the weekend derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder in northern Montana. “It is horrifying to see the derailed and overturned rail cars. For many of us, rail […]

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Victims identified in ‘Empire Builder’ derailment

Three men in hard hats and safety vests in front of derailed passenger train

JOPLIN, Mont. — The passengers killed in Saturday’s deadly Empire Builder derailment have been identified as a tech engineer from Illinois and a husband and wife from Georgia. According to media reports, the three people killed when Amtrak’s westbound Empire Builder derailed Saturday afternoon in northern Montana have been identified as 28-year-old Zach Schneider, of […]

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FRA launches separate ‘Empire Builder’ investigation

Federal Railroad Administration logo

WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration is launching its own investigation into the Saturday derailment of Amtrak’s westbound Empire Builder in northern Montana. Specifically, FRA has sent a team of 18 dispatched to the scene consisting of technical experts in track, motive power & equipment, signal and train control, and operating practices. The agency has […]

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NTSB investigators arrive on scene at Montana Amtrak derailment

National Transportation Safety Board logo

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at the site of Saturday’s derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder passenger train near Joplin, about 50 miles west of Havre. The NTSB is the lead agency in the investigation of the derailment, which occurred at about 3:55 p.m. Saturday in a remote […]

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Amtrak confirms three fatalities in Montana derailment

Rail passenger car askew on tracks

HAVRE, Mont. – Amtrak confirms three deaths in the Saturday derailment of the westbound Empire Builder near Joplin, about 50 miles west of Havre. The train, which originated in Chicago on Friday, had 141 passengers and 16 crew members onboard. The train consisted of two locomotives and 10 cars, with eight of those cars derailing, […]

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BNSF offers weekend container incentive for LA-Long Beach

BNSF Railway logo

LOS ANGELES — In an effort to help kick start the Port of Los Angeles’ and Long Beach’s recently announced Accelerate Cargo initiative to expedite freight flows from the Long Beach/Los Angeles port complexes, BNSF Railway will offer a new weekend in-gate incentive at its Los Angeles Hobart and Commerce Intermodal Facilities. Ocean carrier customers […]

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