FREMONT, Calif. – All Altamont Corridor Express trains were canceled until Jan. 23 after a second ACE train in two days was halted by a mudslide Wednesday while traveling between Pleasanton and Fremont, the commuter agency announced. On its website ACE said: “Due to the conditions of the mudslide location and for the safety […]
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
Brightline service restored after bridge issue (updated)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Brightline operations were restored this morning (Thursday, Jan. 19) after about a four-hour interruption between Fort Lauderdale, Aventura, and Miami because of issues with the New River Bridge in Fort Lauderdale. Limited operations continued between West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and Fort Lauderdale during the outage on the southernmost portion of […]
Short consists constrain Capitol Limited while empty Superliners run on Midwest route: Analysis
CHICAGO — It’s no surprise travelers attempting to book Amtrak’s Capitol Limited in January either face sold-out trips or are confronted with record high fares for a coach seat or sleeping accommodation. Inventory is scarce, pushing prices up for what little capacity remains. Trailing two P42 locomotives on the Capitol into Chicago on Jan. 15 […]
Hiring, retaining workers a recurring theme at MARS meeting
LOMBARD, Ill. — Attendees at the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting could be excused on Wednesday if they occasionally thought they had wandered into a job fair. Attracting and retaining workers was one of the recurring themes of the first day of the two-day meeting. It’s been a huge issue for railroads, of […]
Union Pacific’s line on California coast remains shut down because of unstable bridge
SANTA MARIA, Calif. — A section of Union Pacific’s Coast Line that connects the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles remains closed to freight and passenger service following a series of winter storms that pummeled the Golden State during the first two weeks of January. Union Pacific crews are currently working to stabilize a […]
CN, NS CEOs tell shippers service will continue to improve
LOMBARD, Ill. — The two Class I CEOs who addressed the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers on Wednesday took different approaches to the same addressing the same concerns for the audience filling a hotel ballroom, which is to say providing assurances that railroad service is improving and will continue to do so after the rail […]
Norfolk Southern working to repair lift bridge in Alabama
ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern’s lift bridge across the Tennessee River at Decatur, Ala., will be out of service for up to five days after it was struck by a vessel, the railroad said in a service advisory on Tuesday. “A bridge strike was reported at Decatur Junction on the Memphis East Division disrupting service between […]
Preliminary NTSB report offers details on fatal NS accident in Alabama
WASHINGTON — A segment of steel angle iron protruding from a gondola car on a stopped train killed a conductor trainee and seriously injured a conductor on an oncoming Norfolk Southern train, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the Dec. 13, 2022, accident in Bessemer, Ala. The preliminary report, issued Tuesday, […]
Alaska Railroad train derailed by avalanche
GIRDWOOD, Alaska — Two crew members escaped without injury when an Alaska Railroad train derailed after hitting avalanche debris early Tuesday morning, Jan. 17, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The freight train from Whitter to Anchorage struck debris covering the tracks at Mile 71.5 of the Seward Highway at about 2 a.m., derailing the train’s […]
Work to stabilize San Clemente hillside faces new issue
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Work to stabilize a slope along the rail line between Los Angeles and San Diego may face new delays, after contractors discovered placement of ground anchors may conflict with earlier efforts to stabilize homes on the hillside above. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that installation of some of the anchors, which […]
FRA warns railroads about their crew training programs
WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Railroad Administration has warned Class I railroads that it will take enforcement action if they don’t make recommended improvements to their engineer and conductor training and certification programs. Administrator Amit Bose, in a Jan. 5 letter to the chief executives of the Class I systems, said the FRA […]
RDC expands its European locomotive fleets
Railroad Development Corp., the Pittsburgh-based company with rail operations on four continents, has added electric locomotives to its operations in both France and Germany. In Germany, subsidiary RDC Deutschland has bought two Class 101 electric locos from German national operator Deutsch Bahn and agreed to options to buy three more. The DB Class 101 is […]