SPOKANE, Wash. — A 39-year-old man was arrested in Spokane Valley this week after allegedly boarding a Union Pacific locomotive, assaulting the engineer and apparently trying to take control of the train. According to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a Home Depot on Wednesday night after receiving a report of a disorderly […]
KENT, Wash. — Sound Transit will receive a $790 million grant and $639 million low-interest loan to extend its light rail system from SeaTac to Federal Way, Wash. Construction is slated to begin in 2020. The federal funds will provide about 25% of the money needed for the estimated $3.1 billion project. Other funding will […]
SEATTLE — Sound Transit has removed its safety director from that job in the wake of an internally commissioned report on the December 2017 derailment of an Amtrak train on its line that killed three passengers. Peter Rogoff, the regional transit agency’s chief executive, also said in a memo issued Wednesday that Amtrak service on […]
SEATTLE — Despite a name reflecting its railroading past, the present and future of the venerable Freighthouse Square building in Tacoma lies much more on the passenger side of the business. The former Milwaukee Road warehouse, built around 1910 and redeveloped decades later as a retailing center for small local shops, galleries and restaurants, already […]
SEATTLE — The Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission has approved $120,000 in grants to improve 20 grade crossings on the Central Washington Railroad in the Yakima Valley. Eighteen of the grants will be used to replace batteries in warning lights, while the remaining two will be used to replace batteries and LED lights. The grants […]
SEATTLE — Sound Transit is holding off on any cuts to projects or service that might result from passage of a recent state initiative, with the transit agency’s board option to wait until courts decide on the constitutionality of the new law. Initiative 976, which passed Nov. 5, would limit auto registration fees to $30. […]
Montana Rail Link president Stacy Posey has stepped down after just 11 months as head of the regional railroad. Justin Franz MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana Rail Link President Stacy Posey has resigned after less than 11 months on the job. On Wednesday, MRL announced Posey was leaving for “personal reasons” and had been replaced by […]
SEATTLE — The Port of Chehalis in southwestern Washington state plans to sell to the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad & Museum a 10.2-mile line the tourist-rail operation is already using. The port’s three commissioners unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the sale at an Oct. 24 meeting. The museum submitted the only bid for what is known as […]
SEATTLE — Sound Transit will drop the name “Red Line” for its light-rail corridor because of objections that the title evokes redlining, the former practice of denying home loans to non-white families in some areas of Seattle and other cities. The Seattle Times reports that CEO Peter Rogoff said during a meeting of the transit […]
A passenger on Amtrak Cascades train No. 501 has been awarded $4.5 million from a jury after being injured in the 2017 wreck. Steve Carter TACOMA, Wash. — A jury in Washington has awarded a woman $4.5 million nearly two years after she was injured in the derailment of an Amtrak Cascades train as it […]
SEATTLE — Seattle and King County, Wash., are saying they will sue to block a measure passed by Washington voters on Tuesday which will cut auto registration fees, the Seattle Times reports. Those fees help fund public transportation, and the measure’s passage will likely lead to cuts in light rail and bus service in the […]
SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane International Airport has received an $11.3-million grant to build a rail transload facility with the goal of attracting aerospace and other industries. The BUILD Grant — for Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development — from the U.S. Department of Transportation will extend an BNSF Railway existing rail spur by 3 miles […]
