Illinois Terminal car 277 stands at the interurban’s station in Springfield, Ill., after running from East Peoria as train 95 in May 1952. Once orange, IT cars donned blue in their final years. Edward Theisinger photo […]
Little known outside the region, two Cleveland commuter trains closed out passenger rail service to the giant Cleveland Union Terminal. Shortly after 5 p.m. on a January day in 1977, passengers descended the only stairwell still open to track level at CUT (see Spring 2005). A single lightbulb revealed peeling paint. Wearing white shirts, navy […]
DeLAND, Fla. — Ceremonies on Friday, Aug. 9, marked the opening of the DeLand SunRail station, the 17th station on the Orlando-area commuter rail line and the northern endpoint of a 12-mile extension that completes the system as originally envisioned. The West Volusia Beacon reports 300 or more people were on hand for the dedication […]
XALAPA, Mexico — Mexico’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, said Thursday it will take an additional 83 billion pesos ($4.4 billion) to complete the Maya Train and Interoceanic rail projects begun under current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Mexico News Daily reports that figure includes about 35 billion pesos ($1.86 billion) for infrastructure to make the Maya […]
Join Trains.com, as staff videographer Sean Kirby focuses his camera on the action in East Troy, Wisc., home to the East Troy Railroad Museum. On location, Sean makes the most of the museum’s Railfan Day 2024, one of numerous planned event days. On this occasion, he’s able to capture various equipment in run-bys, with ticket […]
CHICAGO — The city of Chicago wants Chicago Union Station to provide waiting-room space for Greyhound bus passengers after the expected closure of the city’s Greyhound station in mid-September, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. But Amtrak — Union Station’s owner — says it hasn’t been contacted about any such plan and has reservations about the area’s […]
SAN FRANCISCO — Caltrain will begin public operation of its electrified trainsets this Sunday, Aug. 11, the news site SFGate reports. Agency spokesman Dan Lieberman told SFGate that “a couple” of the electric trains will be in operation, but that Caltrain has decided against announcing which specific trains will be operating with the new equipment […]
MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada recaps the company’s forward-looking initiatives and financial performance for calendar 2023 in a 30-minute audio recording of its annual public meeting released on Wednesday, Aug. 7. The session is moderated by Jamie Orchard, VIA’s senior advisor of corporate communication, and features board of directors chair Francoise Bertrand, CEO Mario Peloquin, […]
BALTIMORE — While through-running operation for MARC and Virginia Railway Express trains beyond Washington, D.C., remains a wish-list items for some passengers and both agencies, the two commuter rail operators are now making it a little easier and less expensive for some riders to make use of both services. A new agreement, announced Thursday and […]
A single Alco PA diesel waits at Bloomington, Ill., with a Gulf, Mobile & Ohio local passenger train for St. Louis in 1950. Richard K. Smith photo […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak will restore the second train on its state-supported Chicago-Quincy, Ill., route as of this Saturday, Aug. 10, the company announced this evening (Thursday, Aug. 8). Trains Nos. 381 and 382, the Carl Sandburg, had been suspended since July 30 because of a “high shop count,” according to an Amtrak spokesman [see “Amtrak […]
WASHINGTON — On-board workers with Florida’s Brightline have filed to form a union, the Transport Workers Union of America has announced. The workers made the filing today (Thursday, Aug. 8) with the National Mediation Board, the government agency that handles labor relations with railroads and the airline industry under the Railway Labor Act. Workers involved […]
