Amtrak adds additional daily service to Roanoke, Va.

Train at station platform at night

WASHINGTON — Amtrak will add a second daily Northeast Regional departure from Roanoke, Va., as of July 11, creating a schedule with morning and afternoon trains in both directions between Roanoke, Washington, and other Northeast Corridor destinations. Trains will now depart Roanoke at 6:32 a.m. (arriving in Washington at 11:34 a.m.) and 4:30 p.m. (arriving […]

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Amtrak begins process to award contracts for B&P tunnel project

Brickwork inside railroad tunnel

WASHINGTON — Amtrak has taken the first step in the procurement process to replace Baltimore’s B&P Tunnel, issuing a Request for Letters of Interest for the new tunnel’s Southern Approach construction package. The $1 billion-plus Southern Approach package is the first of three major construction contracts for the project to replace the 1.4-mile tunnel dating […]

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Judge signs order barring strike action by NJ Transit engineers

NJTransit_PrincetonJct_Lassen

CAMDEN, N.J. — A federal judge has barred the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has been barred from initiating future strikes against NJ Transit following a job action that shut down commuter rail operations last Friday. NorthJersey.com reports the emergency order issued by U.S. District Judge Christine O’Hearn also requires the union to immediately […]

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News photos: Conway Scenic 0-6-0 makes first appearances of 2022

Steam engine parked on track

CONWAY, N.H. — Conway Scenic Railroad’s 0-6-0 steam locomotive No. 7470, Dwight Smith, was on display under steam on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 19, as part of the preparations for resuming regularly scheduled passenger moves with the locomotive later in the 2022 season. The locomotive, built by Canada’s Grand Trunk Railway at its Point Saint Charles […]

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Friday sick calls by engineers shut down NJ Transit

Trains at station

NEWARK, N.J. — A NJ Transit spokesman said the agency would “explore all legal remedies” in the wake of a sudden shutdown of all rail service last Friday, June 17, as a result of what it called “an illegal job action” by members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. After cancelling more than […]

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CP Holiday Train to add Maine to route

2017 Canadian Pacific holiday train lit up at night..

BROWNVILLE, Maine — The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train will expand its route this year, adding at least one stop in Maine, the Bangor Daily News reports. The addition reflects CP’s 2020 purchase of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway, in which it regained a route across Maine it had previously sold as part of reestablishing […]

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Old trainshed on the CV

Central Vermont Railway GP9

Nearly new Central Vermont GP9 4557 leads freight train 201, whose first car is a baggage car, through the old wooden trainshed at Essex Junction, Vt., in 1957. The venerable structure was demolished by 1960. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]

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Alco RS27 failure — a diesel that didn’t

Diesel locomotives lined up in sun

Alco RS27 failure: It’s tough when professional engineers create a decent locomotive that builds on successes, and pitfalls, of the past and still nobody really wants it. That was the Alco RS27, also referred to as the DL640. Its 16-cylinder, 251B prime mover pushed out 2,400 hp. Coincidentally, only 27 were built between December 1959 […]

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Ethan Allen Express extension to Burlington, Vt., to begin July 29

Ethan_Allen_Hartley

BARRE, Vt. — Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express will extend service from its current northern endpoint of Rutland to Burlington, Vt., with additional stops in Vergennes and Middlebury, as of July 29, 2022, the Vermont Agency of Transportation has announced. The extension follows extensive work to upgrade track infrastructure between Rutland and Burlington to accommodate higher train […]

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DC Metrorail returns some 7000-series cars to service

DC Metrorail train

WASHINGTON — DC Metrorail will return eight trainsets of its 7000-series railcars to service today, a step forward to address an equipment shortage created when the cars were sidelined after an October derailment. The Washington Post reports the 64 cars are being returned to service under an agreement reached in May, but the return of […]

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