PERU, Ill. — The City of Peru and OmniTrax have received a $6.08 million federal grant to upgrade right of way on the Illinois Railway between Peru and Zearing, Ill. The project is one of the 45 to receive Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement grants announced last week. [See “FRA awards $326 million in […]
The joint Milwaukee Road / Soo Line depot at Pembine, Wis., burned Monday. Alexander D. Mitchell IV PEMBINE, Wis. — A fire, believed to be arson, destroyed the joint Milwaukee Road/Soo Line depot at Pembine, Wis., Monday morning. The fire, reported at 10:43 a.m., according to local media sources, burned the structure to the foundation, […]
ST. LOUIS — Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner has resumed full service between St. Louis and Kansas City, just two days after a partial resumption of service. Both daily round trips between the two cities were restored on Saturday, more than three weeks after the rail service was suspended because of additional freight traffic on the […]
FULTS, Ill. — A Union Pacific train hit a tractor at a grade crossing in a rural area about 40 miles south of St. Louis on Friday evening, killing the driver of the tractor and derailing 30 cars of the train. The Republic-Times newspaper reports that Monroe County coroner identified the victim as 23-year-old Jonah […]
CHICAGO — Two unrelated incidents made for a bumpy evening commute Thursday for riders on Metra’s BNSF line. First, trains were stopped briefly after a truck struck a bridge near Western Avenue about 3:30 p.m. Trains were moving again by 4 p.m. with residual delays of 20 to 25 minute, WMAQ-TV reported. Later, a locomotive […]
A Metra BNSF train pulls into the Aurora station from the adjacent yard prior to a departure for Chicago on May 25, 2019. Communities in two counties want to see the BNSF route extended to serve them, but any such expansion is unlikely in the near future. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Representatives from two […]
ST. LOUIS — The Federal Railroad Administration has awarded a $28.8 million grant for repairs of a key railroad bridge in St. Louis. The grant to the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is one of 45 rail projects receiving Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grants, as announced Tuesday. [See “FRA awards $326 million […]
CHICAGO – Metra may receive as much as $1.6 billion in state bond revenue for capital improvements over the next five years under legislation recently approved by the Illinois General Assembly, agency officials say. That number is far below the amount Metra had hoped for, but the commuter rail agency’s board members expressed gratitude to legislators […]
Union Pacific OMAHA, Neb. — The Big Boy No. 4014 is headed back out on the Union Pacific system beginning July 8 for a tour, taking it through Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Called the Great Race Across the Midwest, the tour will include displays at the following locations: • July 13-14: Omaha, […]
This 2017 view looking south at Dolton shows a northbound Hoosier State passenger train, then operated by Iowa Pacific, on the Union Pacific line. The lead locomotive is on the CSX Transportation line while the second locomotive is on the Indiana Harbor Belt line. Marshall W. Beecher CHICAGO – More than $19 million in federal […]
A Metra train leaves Big Timber Road west of Elgin in 2014. A connection will be built to Union Pacific rails to Rockford in the foreground Bob Johnston CHICAGO – Although Illinois lawmakers and newly-elected Gov. J. B. Pritzker, a Democrat, enacted the state’s first infrastructure capital spending legislation in a decade [see “Illinois passes […]
Duluth & Northeastern 28, shown temporarily re-lettered Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 332 in 2017 for a photo charter, will not operate this weekend as planned. Steve Glischinski DULUTH, Minn. – The Lake Superior Railroad Museum has announced that operations of Duluth & Northeastern 2-8-0 No. 28 planned for June 14-15 are cancelled. It’s the […]
