CHICAGO – Metra’s longstanding displeasure with Amtrak over problems at Chicago Union Station blew up into heated criticism – complete with some coarse language – as a result of a “human error” which shut down train operations last month. One by one, most of Metra’s board of directors took aim Wednesday at Amtrak, accusing the […]
The spate of harsh winter weather and flooding that has wreaked havoc with operations on BNSF Railway and Union Pacific has helped submerge traffic volumes, too. UP’s carload traffic fell 12 percent in the week ending March 16, while intermodal volume was down 9 percent, amid record flooding in Nebraska and a rock slide and […]
Amtrak’s California Zephyr calls at Omaha in September 2018. Trains: Jim Wrinn OMAHA, Neb. — Faced with uncertain restoration dates on the California Zephyr’s regular BNSF Railway route owing to extensive flooding in Iowa, beginning Thursday, March 21, Amtrak is rerouting the train over the Union Pacific’s former Chicago & North Western main line between […]
DAVENPORT, Iowa – Railroaders are working “around the clock” this week to restore and maintain service along water-logged routes in the Midwest, but the worst may be yet to come as communities along the Mississippi River brace for major flooding in the coming days. Over the weekend, flooding affected hundreds of miles of BNSF Railway […]
RITZVILLE, Wash. — Adding to the list of mid-March nature-related disruptions across its network, Union Pacific is cleaning up a derailment that has interrupted traffic on its Ayer subdivision between Spokane and Hinkle, Ore. A UP spokesman said a train with a Canadian Pacific locomotive derailed 23 rail cars of mixed freight near mile post […]
CHICAGO—Flooding in eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, and northwest Missouri has caused delays, truncations and outright cancellations to the Chicago-Emeryville, Calif., California Zephyr and two state-sponsored Missouri River Runner round-trips between St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo. Today’s eastbound Zephyr is cancelled entirely out of California; Amtrak has blocked sales east of Denver until at least […]
Darrell Wendt BNSF lines out-of-service map as of March 15 BNSF Railway MILWAUKEE — Union Pacific and BNSF Railway are halting trains and assessing damage to hundreds of miles of rail lines threatened or damaged by rising flood waters in the Missouri River valley. Rapidly warming temperatures in the past two weeks have led to […]
A northbound BNSF coal train passes Coal Creek Junction, Wyo., in July 2008. Steve Glischinski Q The picture on page 42 of the March 2016 issue shows some interesting trackside equipment. It looks like they could be switch heater propane tanks, however, I don’t see any switches. – Bruce Bussert, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. A The […]
This view from Metra’s 11th Street/Museum Campus station looks toward Soldier Field. The area over the Metra tracks by the stadium is the site for a proposed multibillion-dollar development, which also would include a new transit center. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — A multibillion-dollar development proposed for the air rights over Metra tracks next to […]
Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) is requesting detailed answers from Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson about February’s signal failure at Chicago Union Station. More than 100,000 Amtrak and Metra passengers had trips disrupted by the Feb. 28 signal problems at Chicago Union Station. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — The chairman of the House subcommittee on railroads is […]
A Metra Rock Island train arrives at the Midlothian station in December 2018. The Rock Island line will have additional service on Saturday and Sunday for St. Patrick’s Day events, while a number of other Metra routes will see additional trains Saturday for Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Metra will […]
LA JUNTA, Colo. —Even as Amtrak withheld money related to a federal grant for improvements on the route of the Southwest Chief, engineering work for the project began. And in the wake of the death of former Amtrak president Joe Boardman, stakeholders are more determined than ever to obtain the funding needed to complete the […]
