Amtrak Capitol Limited day trip to Cumberland

Passenger train moving through autumnal foliage.

An Amtrak Capitol Limited day trip from Pittsburgh is one of the few Amtrak journeys with single-day, round-trip offerings featuring Class I railroading across a famous mountain pass and a second train-riding experience involving a recently restored Mallet steam locomotive. Yes, Amtrak’s Capitol Limited between Pittsburgh, and Cumberland, Md., offers this and more on its […]

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Host railroads tell regulators modeling clearly shows Amtrak Gulf Coast service would cause unreasonable freight impairment

Passenger train approaches curve with freight train on adjacent track

WASHINGTON — The launch of Amtrak Gulf Coast service without infrastructure improvements would cause “immediate and future impairment to freight service that is unreasonable under any definition,” CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern argue in their latest filing with the Surface Transportation Board. This is the exact opposite of the contention Amtrak makes in its latest […]

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Amtrak again argues Gulf Coast service will cause ‘no unreasonable impairment’ to freight traffic

Blue and yellow locomotive waiting on siding, as seen from train on main line

WASHINGTON — Amtrak says its additional analysis shows its proposed Gulf Coast passenger service will cause “no unreasonable impairment” on the proposed route between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., and argues that the case for such impairment by host railroads CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern “has failed.” Those contentions are included in the passenger railroad’s […]

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News photos: Rare private Amtrak move in the upper Midwest

Passenger train on curve

ELM GROVE, Wis. — In an unusual and unheralded move, Amtrak moved an eight-car train of privately owned legacy equipment from the Twin Cities to Chicago on Thursday, July 28. The train, scheduled to originate at Midway in the Twin Cities at 11:45 a.m. and arrive in Chicago at 8:30 p.m., was photographed in the […]

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Canadian National blasts Amtrak proposal for dispatching control as ‘outrageously self-serving’

City of New Orleans hurries through Matteson, Ill., on May 21, 2020

WASHINGTON — Canadian National calls an Amtrak proposal that would give it dispatching control over CN lines with poor passenger performance “an outrageously self-serving recipe” that would “cause profound harm to freight railroads, freight customers, American consumers, and the broader economy,” and urges the Surface Transportation Board to reject the concept “out of hand.” Amtrak, […]

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New study makes case for Peoria-Chicago passenger service

Short passenger train with red and yellow E-unit diesel passes small station

PEORIA, Ill. — Officials from Peoria and nearby communities have announced results of a feasibility study for a Chicago-Peoria passenger rail corridor over former Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific tracks that last saw passenger trains in 1978. The clear intent of last week’s announcement is to compete for $1.8 billion in the Federal Railroad Administration’s […]

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Amtrak Hiawatha Chicago day trip

Passenger train about to pass over water on a bridge in a city landscape.

Amtrak Hiawatha Chicago day trip: Chicago is indisputably the heart of American railroading. Represented by six Class I railroads, Amtrak, Metra, the South Shore Line, Chicago Transit Authority, and a long-list of short line and regional railroads, the city offers a magnitude of rail focal points and it’s little surprise that access to Chicago’s greatest […]

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NTSB to look at crossing design, railcar crashworthiness as Chief investigation continues

Aerial view of locomotives damaged in derailment

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board says grade-crossing design specifications and railcar crashworthiness will be among the factors it continues to examine as it investigates the fatal grade-crossing collision and derailment involving Amtrak’s Southwest Chief. The NTSB released its preliminary report Thursday on the June 27 accident near Mendon, Mo. The preliminary report outlines […]

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