Amtrak suggests Adirondack passengers take the bus: Analysis

Dark blue Amtrak locomotive on passenger train with city skyline in background

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — After more than a month with no mention in the “Passenger Advisories” section of Amtrak’s website that the New York-Montreal Adirondack wasn’t running north of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the passenger operator has acknowledged that the summertime hiatus will extend until Sept. 9. The “Modified Adirondack Service” notice appeared a week after […]

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NJ Transit hosts workshop to prepare for 2026 World Cup

Train pulling up to the station

NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit and partner organizations on Monday hosted a workshop at Rutgers University Newark to prepare for 2026 World Cup events at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, including the international soccer tournament’s championship game. The workshop, in partnership with the International Association of Public Transportion (UITP) and the Rutgers Center for Advanced […]

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Start of MBTA South Coast Rail service pushed back to spring 2025

Commuter train at station platform

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Completion of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s $1.1 billion South Coast Rail project — to extend commuter rail service to Fall River and New Bedford — has been pushed back to May 2025, more than a year and a half after the original target date for the launch of service. The […]

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Midcoast Railservice to exit Brunswick-Rockland, Maine, lease, placing Downeaster extension on hold

RDC outside shop building

ROCKLAND, Maine — Loss of a freight customer that supplied more than 95% of Midcoast Railservice’s revenue on the 57-mile Rockland branch leased from Maine’s Department of Transportation has prompted the Finger Lakes Railway subsidiary to exit the property. The move upends plans the state, Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, and Amtrak had been […]

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MBTA board approves five-year, $9.6 billion capital plan

Illustration of green and gray light rail trainset

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority board has approved a five-year Capital Investment Plan calling for $9.6 billion in spending, covering more than 640 separate projects. The board unanimously approved the plan at its meeting on Tuesday, June 11. The plan addresses only a fraction of the agency’s projected needs over the 2025-2029 period, […]

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Head of MTA says without congestion pricing funds, focus will be ‘to make sure system doesn’t fall apart’ (updated)

A train yard

NEW YORK — The head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Monday night that the transit agency would focus on state-of-good-repair work instead of improvements as a result of the planned halt to the Manhattan congestion pricing a program, a decision that will cost the agency $1 billion a year for its capital program. The […]

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Newest Norfolk Southern paint scheme salutes its railroaders

Front of red, white, and black locomotive with slogan "Thank you to our railroaders."

ALTOONA, Pa. — Norfolk Southern introduced a new specially painted locomotive saluting its railroaders at an NS Family Day event at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona on Saturday, June 8. NS CEO Alan Shaw was on hand and spoke, and the railroad’s Southern and Virginian heritage units were also on display. The front of […]

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Amtrak’s Gardner, Coscia to appear at House subcommittee hearing

Trains Washington Watch logo

WASHINGTON — Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner and board chair Anthony Coscia are scheduled to appear before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in a hearing this Wednesday, June 12. The Railroad, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee will hold the hearing, “Amtrak and Intercity Passenger Rail Oversight: Promoting Performance, Safety and Accountability,” […]

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Catskill Mountain Railroad converts locomotives to biodiesel fuel

Alco road-switcher pulling passenger train across bridge

KINGSTON, N.Y. — The Catskill Mountain Railroad has converted its locomotives to run on 100% biodiesel fuel and says it is the first heritage railroad in the country to do so, the railroad has announced. The railroad operates with a pair of Alco locomotives. RS1 No. 401 was built in March 1950 for the Illinois […]

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Suspension of Amtrak’s Adirondack to Montreal will continue into September (updated)

Passenger train with red and blue locomotive with body of water in foreground and high-rise apartments behind

NEW YORK — Amtrak’s planned six-week outage of Adirondack service north of Saratoga Springs to Montreal, originally slated to last through June 29, will now apparently stretch into the second week of September. The news was originally reported by the Adirondack Explorer, based on Amtrak booking cancellations and a letter obtained by the non-profit news […]

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New York subway track worker in intensive care after being struck by train

Map of subway lines in Brooklyn

NEW YORK — A Metropolitan Transportation Authority employee is in intensive care at a Brooklyn hospital after being struck by a subway train early today (Thursday, June 6). WABC-TV reports the 64-year-old man, serving as a flagger for a group of four other workers performing track inspections, was hit by an out-of-service northbound F train […]

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