The northbound ‘Silver Star’ pauses for passengers at Tampa in January 2015. Brian Schmidt WASHINGTON – Amtrak will now sell sleeping car accommodations on its Silver Star between New York and Miami without included dining car meals. Traditionally, Amtrak has bundled the cost of dining car meals into its charge for the sleeping car. Under […]
Railroad: Amtrak
Amtrak: Southwest Chief route safe NEWSWIRE
No. 144, a Dash 9-P42B, leads Amtrak’s westbound Southwest Chief on an early April evening in 2011 at Baca, N.M., over BNSF Railway tracks. Recent talks in New Mexico, Kansas, and Colorado secured funding for upkeep of the Chicago to Los Angeles passenger train’s route. Steven M. Welch ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Amtrak says its Southwest […]
Mockup of Ottawa’s new light rail vehicles on display NEWSWIRE
City of Ottawa OTTAWA, Ontario – Officials from local and national government agencies joined in Ottawa last week to unveil the future of transit with a full-sized mockup of the Alston Citadis Spirit light rail vehicle. The vehicle will be used on the O-Train Confederation Line, the backbone of Ottawa’s new light rail transit system. […]
New Amtrak baggage cars move on special train to Florida NEWSWIRE
A special train made of new Amtrak Viewliner baggage cars departs Elmira, N.Y., on Wednesday. The cars are bound for Florida for acceptance inspections. Don Jilson ELMIRA, N.Y. – Eighteen new Amtrak baggage cars are moving Wednesday from the CAF USA plant near Elmira to Amtrak’s Hialeah maintenance facility near Miami for final inspections before […]
Amtrak to shift ‘Vermonter’ route Dec. 29 NEWSWIRE
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Amtrak will move its Vermonter service to the “Knowledge Corridor” in northern Massachusetts Dec. 29, 2014. The new route will feature stops in Greenfield and Northampton. The train will also add a stop in Holyoke later in 2015 when work is complete. The added stops due to the reroute will replace service […]
‘Capitol Limited’ slimmed as Amtrak timekeeping improves NEWSWIRE
Running four hours late, the westbound ‘Capitol Limited’ passes Whiting, Ind., on Oct 2, 2014. Bob Johnston CHICAGO – The hours-long delays have begun to disappear not only from Norfolk Southern’s Chicago-Toledo segment of the Capitol Limited, but also on the Empire Builder route. The improvements follow an Oct. 6 letter from Surface Transportation Board […]
Campaigning to preserve the route of the Southwest Chief
FULL SCREEN Bob Johnston A 120-car BNSF empty coal train slinks west through a 30-mph speed restriction 10 miles east of Syracuse, Kan., on July 13. Once a raceway for the Super Chief and other streamliners, the Kansas portion of the line was downgraded under the current operating contract to 60 mph maximum passenger speeds […]
Well-worn
New York & Atlantic Railway SW1001 No. 105 rests outside the enginehouse at Fresh Pond Yard in Queens, N.Y., on Aug. 15, 2009. Photo by Thomas Mik […]
Veterans’ display
Specially painted Amtrak P42 No. 42 hustles the westbound Pennsylvanian with six Amfleet through Landisville, Pa., on Sept. 30, 2013. Photo by Mark W. Hoffman […]
Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 14 – Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry
Host Drew Halverson heads trackside again, but this time from a slightly different perspective aboard Amtrak and Metra intercity trains. His trek from Milwaukee, Wis., routes him to Chicago’s historic Union Station to the downtown lakefront to the Museum of Science and Industry, featuring The Great Train Story, a magnificent HO scale layout, and a […]
Drew’s Trackside Adventures: Episode 14 – Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry
Host Drew Halverson heads trackside again, but this time from a slightly different perspective aboard Amtrak and Metra intercity trains. His trek from Milwaukee, Wis., routes him to Chicago’s historic Union Station to the downtown lakefront to the Museum of Science and Industry, featuring The Great Train Story, a magnificent HO scale layout, and a […]
Amtrak crew districts
At the beginning of February 2006, the company had 56 active “T & E” (train and engine) crew bases at 53 locations, where conductors and engineers reported to work, ready to handle from 233 to 286 daily departures. (New York, Washington, and Harrisburg, Pa., have two districts originating from one base.) That year, Amtrak closed […]