Clean-up continues following NS derailment in Illinois

Norfolk Southern logo

NEW SALEM, Ill. — Clean-up is continuing, but Norfolk Southern expected to have its line reopened Wednesday evening following a 20-car derailment Tuesday, Dec. 12, on its main line west of Springfield, Ill. The Quincy Herald-Whig reports the derailment did not involve any hazardous materials. KQHA-TV reports the incident was reported to authorities at 11:44 […]

Read More…

Philadelphia-area transit police go on strike

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority logo

PHILADELPHIA — Police for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority have gone on strike, with the nation’s sixth-largest transportation agency calling on other law-enforcement bodies to fill in throughout the system. WHYY reports 83 of 124 members of the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge No. 109 voted to strike, with Troy Parham, the organization’s first […]

Read More…

Some service restored on NJ Transit Morris & Essex line

NJ Transit logo

NEWARK, N.J. — Service has been partially restored on NJ Transit’s Morris & Essex line, disrupted since Dec. 4 because of an accident that knocked down support poles for the route’s catenary system. Service resumed on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Through at least today (Dec. 14), two early trains — eastbound No. 626 and westbound No. […]

Read More…

Saskatchewan mayors seek to shift route of VIA’s Canadian

Baggage is unloaded from the Canadian at Melville, Sask., in 2018.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — A group of mayors in Saskatchewan are proposing to shift the route of VIA Rail Canada’s Canadian northward from its current route to Canadian National’s Prairie North Line, saying the shift would offer a number of benefits for the passenger train. The mayors of Lloydminster, North Battleford, Warman, and Yorkton, Sask., presented […]

Read More…

News photos: Pop-Up Metro lends a hand with Army-Navy Game

Passengers use portable platform to exit commuter train

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — When the Army-Navy football game was held in Massachusetts for the first time on Saturday, Dec. 9, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority helped transport the sellout crowd of 65,878 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, thanks to a branch line that serves the stadium. Rail Development Corp.’s Pop-Up Metro concept played a supporting […]

Read More…

DC Metrorail faces major cuts under proposed WMATA budget

Rapid-transit train arrives in station as people wait on platform

WASHINGTON — The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has released a budget for the fiscal year beginning in July 2024 that calls for drastic cuts to rail and bus service unless money can be found to address an operating deficit of $750 million — roughly 25% of the current budget. The proposed budget will include […]

Read More…

Gallery: Metra’s holiday trains

Holiday decorated F40PH-3

CHICAGO — Metra announced earlier this year that it would use trains decorated for special holiday excursions — which have been running to downtown Chicago on various routes on Saturdays since Dec. 2 — in regular commuter service, as well [see “Metra, CTA set plans …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 19, 2023]. This is a […]

Read More…

Caltrain finalizes electrification operating plan

Caltrain electric trainset passes through station

SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Four trains per hour during peak periods, trip times for locals cut from 100 minutes to 75 minutes, and increased weekend service highlight Caltrain’s plan for service when electrification begins in fall 2024. The plan announced last week refines the initial proposal introduced in October [see “Caltrain offers details on initial […]

Read More…