Amtrak cancels more trains as winter storm advances

Passenger train with BNSF locomotive leading four other diesels under signal bridge

CHICAGO — As predictions of high winds and subzero temperatures move east, Amtrak has cancelled all service on some regional and long-distance routes while maintaining reduced service on others. Amtrak had originally planned to maintain full service on Friday, Dec. 23, after projecting cancellations for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday [see “Amtrak cancels Empire Builder, thins […]

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Year in review: New Amtrak routes, VIA challenges

Passenger train at station next to body of water

Trains News Wire continues our review of the top stories of 2022. We’ll count down the Top 10 stories of the year, as voted on by Trains editors, columnists, and correspondents, beginning Dec. 26. As a prelude, we’ll be looking at major stories that didn’t make that list. Today: Passenger rail. Service expansion, VIA Rail […]

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MTA prepares to award contract for rebuilding Park Avenue Viaduct

A train yard

NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced plans to award a $382 million design-build contract to begin reconstruction of the Park Avenue Viaduct in East Harlem, a project with huge implications for Metro-North commuter train operations. All Metro-North trains to Grand Central Terminal — which represent 98% of all the commuter railroad’s trains […]

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San Diego officials seek cost of reopening former SD&AE route

Map of rail line from Tecate, Mexico, to Plaster City, Calif.

SAN DIEGO — Transportation officials in San Diego are studying what it would take to revive operations on a long-dormant 70-mile segment of the former San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway to provide a direct freight link from San Diego to eastern markets, bypassing Los Angeles, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The so-called Desert Line […]

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Opening delayed for Aventura Brightline station

White and yellow station exterior

AVENTURA, Fla. — Brightline passenger service from the new Aventura station north of Miami, which was slated to begin Wednesday (Dec. 21) after ceremonies Tuesday marking its completion, has been postponed over delays in final construction inspections, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Brightline spokeswoman Vanessa Alfonso told the newspaper the issue involved the stations’s elevator […]

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Metra plans reduced schedules Friday because of winter storm

Commuter train in snow

CHICAGO — Commuter rail operator Metra will operate a modified Saturday schedule on most lines Friday, Dec. 23, as blizzard conditions are forecast for the Chicago area and many commuters will already have begun their Christmas holiday. Regular schedules are planned for today (Thursday, Dec. 22), although passengers are advised to allow extra travel time […]

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Railroads urge regulators to stick with tried-and-true interchange policies

Black, gray, and yellow locomotives lined up in yard

WASHINGTON — The Chicago interchange dispute between Canadian National and Canadian Pacific should not upend long-standing practices that determine where railroads exchange traffic, three railroads have told federal regulators. The Surface Transportation Board in October said the CN-CP case raises broad issues regarding interchange practices, particularly after a federal appeals court set aside a board […]

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Year in Review: LIRR completes two major projects

Overhead view of EMU train on three-track main line

Today, Trains News Wire begins our review of the top stories of 2022. We’ll count down the Top 10 stories of the year, as voted on by Trains editors, columnists, and correspondents, beginning Dec. 26. As a prelude, we’ll be looking at major stories that didn’t quite make that list. Today: Notable transit stories. Several […]

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Navajo-owned coal company sues BNSF for breach of contract

Logo of Navajo Transitional Energy Company

BILLINGS, Mont. — A Native American-owned coal company has sued BNSF Railway for breach of contract, claiming the railroad’s preferential treatment of other mines cost it more than $150 million in revenue and $15 million in demurrage penalties in 2022. In a suit filed Monday in federal district court in Montana, Navajo Transitional Energy Co., […]

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