Firefighters set a back burn along the Durango & Silverton tracks as part of their efforts to contain the 416 Fire in early June. Wyoming Interagency Hotshots Railroaders have always had to deal with whatever Mother Nature threw at them, but 2018 was a particularly trying year for railroads dealing with natural disasters, from fires […]
Behind six units, an eastbound Z-train flies through historic downtown Laramie, Wyo., on June 7, 2018, exactly 150 years to the day that Union Pacific tracks reached the town named for French-Canadian fur trader Jacques La Ramee. Bill Stephens OMAHA, Neb. — More of Union Pacific’s intermodal trains will operate daily, up from five or […]
SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. — While New York State came one step closer Friday to achieving its goal of removing some of the tracks used by the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, there are hurdles remaining before any such plan could be implemented. “It was not a surprise. It doesn’t mean anything yet,” says Bill Branson, board president […]
WASHINGTON — A report issued last week by the Congressional Budget Office says eliminating the Federal Transit Administration would save $127 billion from 2021 through 2028, and that abolishing funding for Amtrak would avoid $19.8 billion in projected federal spending. The American Public Transportation Association responded immediately, saying it “strongly opposed” the idea. “Eliminating federal […]
The Polar Bear Express, using leased Iowa Pacific Holdings Co. equipment, departs North-bound from Kokomo, Ind., on Sunday, Dec. 16. Steve Smedley KOKOMO, Ind. — If you need a Christmas-time covered wagon fix, central Indiana is the place to go. Two holiday passenger operations there are featuring classic Electro-Motive Division cab units as power. The […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Distributed power will become an even more common sight on CSX Transportation tracks in 2019. The railroad, which has introduced distributed power in intermodal service over the past four months, aims to double its use of distributed power over the next year, says Jamie Boychuk, senior vice president of network operations. “We’re […]
Denver A-Line commuter trains meet at the Peoria station in October 2018. Denver’s Regional Transportation District has met a Federal Railroad Administration deadline to file a plan for fixing the line’s troublesome crossing gates. TRAINS: David Lassen DENVER — Denver’s Regional Transportation District has met a deadline to submit a plan to the Federal Railroad […]
Long Island Rail Road trains line up at Long Island City, N.Y. The commuter railroad has no immediate plans to change operations or build stations to accommodate new Amazon workers. Ralph Spielman NEW YORK — The first of an expected 25,000 Amazon employees hired over a ten-year period will begin to occupy a new headquarters […]
An Oklahoma City streetcar engages in testing. The system opened on Friday. EMBARK OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City’s streetcar system debuted on Friday, offering free rides for its first three weeks. The streetcars will serve two overlapping loops, one of 4.8 miles downtown that will offer service six days a week, and one of 2 […]
SAN FRANCISCO — The transit center that will eventually be the San Francisco terminal for high speed rail could remain closed another six months. The San Francisco Chronicle offers that estimate in its latest report on the Transbay Transit Center, which was shut down just six weeks after its opening in August. [See “San Francisco […]
The cab for Monon SW1 No. 50, the Indiana railroad’s first diesel in 1942, was sheared off in an accident Dec. 13. Don Nickel NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — A quaint Midwestern town hosting a division of the former Nickel Plate, complete with street running, a lush city park containing a railroad museum with a collection of […]
Nos. 4141 and 1943 on display at Proviso Yard near Chicago on Saturday. Lou Gerard OMAHA, Neb. – The locomotive that pulled the funeral train for former President George H.W. Bush will tour the Union Pacific system in the coming months. The SD70ACe, carrying a special paint scheme modeled after Air Force One and numbered […]
