TACOMA, Wash — The company which operates Rainer Rail plans to acquire a 4.4-mile segment of Tacoma Rail’s Mountain Division in Washington state. The track runs from Rainier in Thurston County to McKenna in Pierce County. That segment connects with a 34.6-mile line between Chehalis and Yelm that Rainier Rail bought from the city of Tacoma […]
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Bureau of Transportation has begun repair work on a key roadway bridge damaged by a Union Pacific derailment, and Oregon Public Broadcasting reports another lane could be open by Thanksgiving. The North Going Street Bridge — the only route to and from the Swan Island industrial area, which includes United […]
WEST GLACIER, Mont. — A coalition of wildlife groups are threatening to sue BNSF Railway over the death of eight federally protected grizzly bears in the mountains of northwest Montana in 2019, the most killed in a single year. The groups allege that the railroad is not doing enough to protect the animals from being […]
SEATTLE — Sound Transit has launched construction of the $1.53-billion, 3.4-mile extension of its light rail Blue Line, also under construction, to southeast and downtown Redmond, Wash., on the eastside of Lake Washington in the Puget Sound region. The extension, using both ground-level and elevated tracks, will start from Redmond Technology Station, located near Microsoft’s […]
SEATTLE — Sound Transit’s two light-rail systems are getting new names. Presently, the Seattle regional transit agency operates a 22-mile north-south line from the University of Washington through downtown to Angle Lake, south of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It also operates a 1.6-mile light-rail line in Tacoma, from Freighthouse Square to downtown. But Sound Transit is […]
SEATTLE — The Washington State Department of Transportation is now accepting applications for grants and loans for freight-rail projects. For the 2019-2021 biennium, $7.6 million is available through the Freight Rail Assistance Program Grant, and another $7 million will be available through Freight Rail Investment Bank loans. The application deadline is Oct. 18, 2019. Funds […]
SEATTLE — Microsoft has donated more than $223,000 to help complete a study of high speed rail between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Portland, Ore. Microsoft President Brad Smith announced the funding support at the Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference, which concluded Thursday. GeekWire reports this is the company’s second donation to the project, raising its total […]
SEATTLE — The Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission said it has approved close to $1.5 million in grants over a two-year period for improvements to grade crossings in the state, with an emphasis on those where crude oil trains pass. The Olympia, Wash.-based commission has the authority to approve new crossings and the inspect, close, […]
ERIE, Pa. — It seems the struggles of the former GE locomotive plant in Erie have come to an end and now it may have a brighter future with an announcement that Wabtec intends to move its Motive Power Industries operation to the Erie Plat plant. The announcement was made Wednesday that it will be […]
PORTLAND, Ore. — A second westbound lane has been opened on Portland’s North Going Street Bridge, damaged by a Union Pacific derailment on Sept. 7. The lane was reopened Sunday, the Oregonian reports. Two locomotives and three tank cars derailed, hitting and damaging two support beams, which led to damage to the bridge deck. [See […]
This overall view shows cars off both sides of the tracks at the Interstate 5 bridge near DuPont, Wash., in December 2017. Steve Carter SEATTLE — A federal-court jury in Tacoma, Wash., has awarded $16.75 million in damages to two of the victims and the spouse of one of them for injuries sustained in the […]
SEATTLE — The Pierce County Council has passed a resolution calling on Amtrak, the Washington State Department of Transportation, Sound Transit, and other agencies not to reopen the ill-fated Point Defiance Bypass line to passenger service until the full menu of recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board is put in place. WSDOT and Amtrak […]
