WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board will return to East Palestine, Ohio, on June 25 for a public meeting on its final report on the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern derailment and toxic chemical release, the board announced today. During the meeting, set for 9:30 a.m. ET at East Palestine High School, the board […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will proceed with its planned hearing on the status of Amtrak Gulf Coast service on Wednesday, Feb. 14, the board announced in a decision issued Tuesday. The parties to the agreement allowing service to begin — Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority — had […]
PORT CLINTON, Pa. – A rare-mileage Rail Diesel Car excursion to Mount Carmel, Pa., the northwestern extent of Reading & Northern’s 400-mile system, is scheduled to run on April 20. Sponsored by the affiliated Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and the Railroad Historians of the Lehigh Valley, the all-day, 104-mile trip […]
WASHINGTON — An Amtrak press release issued last week, “Ambitious 2024 Initiatives Propel Amtrak Ridership Growth,” outlines the company’s goal of doubling ridership by 2040. This is based on “improving passenger train service for our customers and efficiently and effectively carrying out a massive major infrastructure capital program aimed to modernize and upgrade our infrastructure, […]
LOS ANGELES — South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Rotem has been awarded a $663.7 million contract to build trains for the LA Metro subway system, the company announced Tuesday. The Korea Economic Daily reports the contract is the company’s largest by dollars in the U.S. The order calls for 182 HR5000 cars to be delivered in […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has issued an emergency order shutting down the Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad, a 37-mile, Class III short line in Oklahoma, saying the railroad is “operating with a complete disregard for the safety of the public and has not taken corrective action to resolve safety issues … posing imminent risks […]
BALTIMORE — Amtrak has selected a Kiewit/J.F. Shea Joint Venture to build the Frederick Douglass Tunnel, the replacement for 150-year-old B&P Tunnel which poses major operating issues on the Northeast Corridor just south of Baltimore Penn Station. The approximately $6 billion project involves construction of two parallel, single-track 2-mile tunnels, and will eliminate 30-mph speed […]
NEWARK, N.J. — The NJ Transit official who was fired last year from his job overseeing the Portal Bridge construction project claims in a lawsuit that the agency ignored his concerns about the bridge design, and that those concerns led to retaliation and discrimination. Mohammed Nasim was fired in October 2023 as head of construction […]
TAUNTON, Mass. — Short line Mass Coastal Railroad is acquiring the assets of Bay Colony Railroad, which serves three customers on 35 miles of state-owned in southeastern Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reports. Mass Coastal currently operates 135 route-miles in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including trackage rights on CSX Transportation, and interchanges with CSX in Taunton […]
ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern’s engineering team completed $1 billion in improvement projects last year, including installation of new wayside detectors as well as repairs and replacement of tracks, bridges, and grade crossings. “Our extensive infrastructure work is an important component of being a customer-centric, operations-driven railroad and represents an investment in the safety of our […]
WASHINGTON — NJ Transit will receive $75 million to support replace a 70-year-old facility damaged by Hurricane Ida in 2021, the Federal Transit Administration has announced. The money will go toward construction of a maintenance-of-way facility in Clifton, N.J., replacing what NJ Transit calls an obsolete and flood-prone facility in Wood-Ridge. “The new facility in […]
MIAMI — After four months of operation between Orlando and Miami, Brightline has dramatically increased patronage and revenue every month, especially for the component it designates as “long distance.” These are passengers who take the train to or from South Florida. A closer look at monthly data shows the company is actively managing the demand-influenced […]
