SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Caltrain on Thursday unveiled its initial plans for electrified service, which call for faster trains and a simplified schedule when electric operation begins in its San Francisco-San Jose corridor. Completion of the ongoing electrification project is currently expected in fall 2024. The plans call for 104 weekday trains, including four trains […]
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
Metra files suit against STB’s Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger decisions
WASHINGTON — Chicago-area commuter railroad Metra has asked a federal court to review the Surface Transportation Board’s decision to approve the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger as well as a subsequent decision that covers post-merger oversight. Metra’s suit, filed on Sept. 29 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was […]
Chehalis-Centralia Railroad agreement with short line will allow excursions to resume
CHEHALIS, Wash. — The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad & Museum has reached an agreement with an short line in Oregon and Washington that will allow the Washington heritage railway to resume excursion operations, beginning with “Polar Express” trains starting in November. The Centralia Chronicle reports that the museum, which has been unable to operate trains since March […]
MTA releases 20-year needs assessment, outlining ‘unconstrained’ list of improvement projects
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday released a 20-year assessment of the transit system’s needs over the next 20 years, calling it an “unconstrainted view of the MTA’s needs, rather than constraining it to meet an arbitrary budget target.” The resulting document, entitled “The Future Rides With Us,” is available here. (A […]
Software upgrade led to CN computer outage
MONTREAL — The Canadian National Railway computer outage that disrupted GO Transit and VIA Rail Canada trains on Tuesday was caused by a software upgrade, CN said on Wednesday. CN spokesman Jonathan Abecassis told CTV News that the railroad had determined the problem was because of “an internal systems upgrade, which affected CN’s ability to […]
British government axes part of planned high-speed route
MANCHESTER, England — In a speech today (Oct. 4) at the annual Conservative Party conference, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced cancellation of construction of the second stage of the planned high speed rail project known as HS2. That segment was to link Manchester and Birmingham. The decision — if it survives an election due […]
CPKC caps train length on Meridian Speedway, clipping eastbound UP-NS intermodal service
Canadian Pacific Kansas City has imposed an 8,500-foot train length restriction on the Meridian Speedway, the shortcut between the Southeast and Southwest that is a joint venture with Norfolk Southern. The move affects just one train: The daily eastbound domestic intermodal train that CPKC receives from Union Pacific at Shreveport, La., and delivers to NS […]
South Shore to resume Michigan City-Dune Park trains later this month
PORTER, Ind. — South Shore Line commuter trains should begin running between the Michigan City and Dune Park stations the week of Oct. 16, opening the first part of its Double Track project and ending more than a year of bus substitution to accommodate work between Michigan City and Gary. The Times of Northwest Indiana […]
CN computer network outage halts GO Transit, VIA trains
MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway is experiencing a systemwide computer network failure affecting operations of GO Transit and VIA Rail Canada, as well as CN’s customer service. The railroad said in a post on Facebook this afternoon (Tuesday, Oct. 3) that it was experiencing “an internet connectivity and Electronic Data Interchange issue.” GO and VIA […]
NTSB preliminary report outlines details of fatal CSX yard accident
WASHINGTON – The CSX Transportation carman who was struck and killed by a pair of locomotives in Walbridge Yard on Sept. 17 was walking from his truck to line and lock a switch at the time of the accident, the National Transportation Board said today in its preliminary report. Visibility was clear at the time […]
BNSF Railway crew escapes before collision in Texas Panhandle
A cut of cars ran away downgrade on BNSF Railway’s Slaton Subdivision in the Texas Panhandle on Sunday morning and collided with the lead locomotive of a westbound train, demolishing its cab. The crew was warned ahead of time and was able to move to safety. Images online showed a flatcar carrying steel pipe crashed […]
BNSF opens section of third main track on Needles Subdivision in California
FORT WORTH, Texas – BNSF Railway has opened two new sections of main line trackage on the Southern Transcon: A third main track on the Needles Subdivision in California and a second main track on the Emporia Subdivision in Kansas. Last week BNSF opened an additional 8-mile segment of the third main between Homer and […]