WASHINGTON — The Union Pacific employee killed in an April 11, 2024, maintenance-of-way accident in McNeil, Ark., entered the work zone of an excavating machine without informating the operator, a violation of UP rules, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its final report on the incident. Contributing factors, according to the report issued Monday […]
WASHINGTON — Saying the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak agree the project “is a waste of taxpayer funds,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced today (April 14, 2025) that the government is rescinding a $63.9 million grant for the proposed high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston. “The Texas Central Railway project was proposed as […]
Amtrak’s retired HHP8 electric locomotives — nicknamed “Hippos” during their relatively short operating life — are nearing their return to service as cab cars. The company operated crew-familiarization specials between New York and Wilmington, Del., on April 7-8, and will reportedly operate more this week. On April 8, cab cars Nos. 9751 and 9750 sandwiched […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway and the SMART-TD Yardmasters have reached a tentative, five-year collective bargaining agreement. The agreement, announced on Friday, covers more than 320 yardmasters and gives covered employees certainty about enhancements to their pay, health care, and vacation. “We are pleased to reach this tentative agreement that continues to reward our […]
NEW YORK — The CEO of rail infrastructure at Siemens Mobility and his family were among those killed in last week’s crash of a sightseeing helicopter, according to media reports. Agustin Escobar, his wife, their three children, and the helicopter’s pilot were killed in the April 10 crash of the helicopter into the Hudson River […]
CHICAGO — Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have ratified a quality-of-life agreement with the Belt Railway of Chicago, the union has announced. Through the agreement, members of the union will for the first time have pald sick days and access to the company’s 401K program. In addition to receiving up to […]
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit spent more than $237 million on overtime in 2024, a figure CEO Kris Kolluri wants to cut to help meet savings called for by the agency’s fiscal 2026 budget. NJ.com reports that the $237.4 million in overtime last year was a 9% increase from the $216.3 million the year before. […]
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Many events can affect Amtrak service, but a Florida tragedy illustrates that some are far from the passenger operator’s control. A fatal private plane crash Friday, April 11, on tracks used by Tri-Rail and Amtrak trains caused cancellation of the day’s northbound Floridian and its counterpart east from Chicago today (Sunday, […]
CHICAGO — J.D. Danton’s shift at Metra’s 16th Street Tower on Friday night and Saturday morning (April 11-12, 2025) was certainly nothing new. And yet, the dilapidated structure had never seen anything like it — and never will again. Danton was the operator on duty when the interlocking tower dating to 1901 relinquished its control […]
WILMINGTON, Del. — The Wilmington & Western Railroad, which announced an indefinite halt to operations earlier this year, has experienced more turmoil, with unhappy volunteers picketing the railroad, potential legal action, and the operation briefly posting then removing an announcement that excursions would return this fall. On Thursday, about 20 volunteers mounted a protest outside […]
DENVER — There’s a pachyderm of a quandary haunting the executive conference rooms of Class I railroads, and short lines may be the solution. Carload volumes have been falling since 2008-2009, almost a generation’s worth of declines that began with the global financial crisis and accelerated during the fall of coal and the hollowing out […]
WASHINGTON — Railroads and retailers are praising a bipartisan bill in Congress that aims to reduce cargo theft. The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, which was introduced yesterday, would create a coordinated federal response to a rising wave of sophisticated cargo thefts, many of which target consumer goods in containers carried on double-stack trains. “Organized […]
