LA CROSSE, Wis. — Departments of Transportation in Wisconsin and Minnesota will receive a $31.8 million grant for infrastructure upgrades to allow a second Twin Cities-Chicago passenger train, as well as improved freight operation, on the route through La Crosse, Wis., and Milwaukee. Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose, Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner, and officials […]
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Re-laying a third track on the historic Rockville Bridge over the Susquehanna River and building a new 5-mile-long main line track through the Altoona, Pa., yard are part of a proposed Norfolk Southern-Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plan to add a second Pennsylvanian daily passenger train. In addition, the plan would install three […]
PITTSBURGH — A Norfolk Southern project to increase clearances to allow double-stack intermodal operations through a Pittsburgh neighborhood awaits city council ratification after being approved by a mediator. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the project will involve raising three bridges by amounts ranging from 17 inches to 2 feet, 9 inches, while the roadbed will be […]
BISMARCK, N.D. — In a new twist to a lengthy battle by a preservation group to save a BNSF Railway bridge over the Missouri River between Bismarck and Mandan, N.D. — which has thwarted railroad efforts to build a new structure — the Friends of the Rail Bridge is claiming the bridge in question actually […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF will increase capital spending to $3.55 billion in 2022, after a spend of $2.97 billion in 2021, the railroad reported in its fourth-quarter financial summary. Of that $3.55 billion, $2.71 billion is budgeted for maintenance and replacement, including 14,000 miles of track surfacing or undercutting; replacement of 381 miles of […]
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — The end is apparently at hand for the majority of street running for South Shore Line commuter trains in Michigan City. Beginning Monday, Feb. 28, buses will replace commuter trains between the Carroll Avenue station in Michigan City and Dune Park in Porter, Ind., as part of the project to double-track […]
WASHINGTON — A contract employee working with a Norfolk Southern track gang was standing between the rails when he was struck and killed by a piece of maintenance-of-way equipment in a December 2021 accident in Pennsylvania, according to a preliminary report released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board. The accident occurred Dec. 8, […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration will hold its first Track & Roadway Workplace Safety Symposium April 5-7 in St. Louis. There is no registration fee, and registrants receive a discounted lodging rate at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel. The event was originally scheduled for 2020 in Louisville, Ky., but was postponed because of […]
Introducing The Empress Canadian Pacific 2816 The Empress: Canadian Pacific President and CEO Rob Ritchie set the steam preservation world on its ear when in 1998 he revealed the railway’s plan to repatriate CP H1b Hudson No. 2816 from its long-time home at the National Park Service’s Steamtown museum and rebuild the 1930-vintage locomotive for […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — The state of New York has awarded $76.4 million in grants to fund 38 freight rail infrastructure projects, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday. The awards range from $100,000 for the Ontario Midland Railroad to resurface a grade crossing to $5 million to Norfolk Southern for projects in the capital region including 15 […]
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A California tourist railroad has stepped up its campaign against potential adverse abandonment of the branch line connecting it to the national rail network, calling the railbanking effort under consideration by a local agency “a fantasy” and saying it places its tourist operation under threat. Roaring Camp Railroads, which operates the […]
RICHMOND, Va. — The Commonwealth of Virginia and Norfolk Southern have finalized an agreement to extend service to the New River Valley, outgoing Gov. Ralph Northam announced last week. The Roanoke Times reports the agreement will allow for a train between Roanoke and the New River Valley while preserving current freight service. As part of […]
