WASHINGTON – Federal regulators on Thursday gave the green light to CSX Transportation’s acquisition of New England regional Pan Am Railways. The Surface Transportation Board’s unanimous, 75-page decision approving the merger becomes effective on May 14. But CSX said it planned to close on the transaction on June 1. Regulators largely agreed with CSX’s arguments […]
We all love the unusual — something that departs from our perceived norm. In railroading, it’s an Alco showing up on an otherwise all-Electro-Motive locomotive roster, or perhaps a slight variation of a paint scheme that catches our eye. Or it could be an EMD Model 40. A total of 11 were built between 1940 […]
WASHINGTON – The trade group representing sugar shippers has told federal regulators that rail service problems have forced some of its members to stop or curtail production of food and beverages. The Sweetener Users Association, which wrote to the Surface Transportation Board on Wednesday, is the latest trade group to complain about poor rail service […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific’s request that shippers reduce the number of private freight cars in their pipelines – or face strict quotas starting on Monday – has been met with a mix of understanding and outrage. Some shippers say they understand UP’s need to reduce car inventory to help ease congestion that has slowed […]
LOS ANGELES – Metrolink publicly shared its switch to renewable fuel, on April 13, 2022, making the agency the first in the nation to completely power all its locomotives by the cleaner burning alternative. The agency began using only renewable fuel in February. “It’s a proud achievement to be the first rail agency in the […]
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Transit Authority’s FrontRunner commuter service will remove its fleet of single-level Comet passenger cars from service April 18. The 25 cars were built for Erie Lackawanna in the early 1970s and used in commuter service in New Jersey by EL and New Jersey Transit. The cars have served UTA […]
MINNEAPOLIS – Construction can resume on a light rail tunnel in Minneapolis after an engineering analysis determined that construction played only minor role in cracks that developed at a nearby condo building. The Twin Cities Metropolitan Council, which is building the 14.5-mile Southwest Light Rail/Metro Green Line Extension from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie, halted construction […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. weekly rail traffic for April remains slightly below 2021 levels in the latest statistics released by the Association of American Railroads. U.S. rail traffic for the week ending April 9, 2022, was 508,343 carloads and intermodal units, down 1% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending […]
NEWARK, N.J. — The NJ Transit Board of Directors today approved a contract to rehabilitate the Roseville Tunnel on the Lackawanna Cutoff, part of a plan to restore commuter rail service to Andover, N.J. from Port Morris, N.J. The contract with Schiavone Construction Co. LLC of Secaucus, N.J. includes the final design, construction, and commissioning of the […]
NORTH BAY, Ontario — Ontario Northland Railway has won a $109 million contract to overhaul 56 GO Transit bi-level commuter cars at its shop on North Bay. The cars will receive a complete overhaul that includes stripping down the entire coach, structural work, and renewing or upgrading parts including new seating, washroom upgrades, electrical components, […]
10 tips for beginning layout builders: Trains.com has thousands of articles, images, and videos. Here, we’ve collected ten links to some of the best stories for people just starting on their layout-building adventure. 1. Learning to use a track template Track planning is an essential step in the construction of a model railroad layout. […]
BALTIMORE – The blame for ongoing railroad service problems can’t be placed entirely on cutbacks related to Precision Scheduled Railroading. The pandemic, a surge in freight demand, and a labor shortage were a recipe for disruption all on their own. That’s the message that Peter Swan, associate professor of logistics and operations management at Penn […]
