Head of California high speed rail agency to step down

Computer rendering of California high speed rail train at dusk

SACRAMENTO — The CEO of California’s high speed rail project has tendered his resignation, but will stay on while the agency finds a successor. The Fresno Bee reports Brian Kelly, head of the California High-Speed Rail Authority since 2018, announced his departure on Thursday, submitting his resignation to the board’s chairperson, Fresno developer Tom Richards. […]

Read More…

BART new car fleet under budget

New transit train with mountains in background

SAN FRANCISCO – Here’s something you don’t hear very often in 2024: a rail transit project coming in under budget. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) did just that with its order for new “Fleet of the Future” cars. Thanks to a revised schedule, and an accelerated monthly delivery rate of the new cars, the project […]

Read More…

Amtrak Midwest winter shutdown continues

Workers attending to locomotives in snow.

CHICAGO — Amtrak continues to assess efforts to operate in subzero Midwest temperatures and make cancellation decisions less than 24 hours before departures. In a remarkably candid email addressed this morning to “Supporter of Passenger Rail” and obtained by Trains News Wire, Amtrak’s veteran Chicago-based government affairs director, Derrick James, outlined the latest cancellations through […]

Read More…

Ride aboard a private train

Private cars, also called “private varnish”, represent a mode of passenger railroading that’s intriguing and seemingly elusive to most viewing trackside. Who’s in that car? Where is it going? How are they able to do that? All questions that Trains.com staffer Bryson Sleppy has also pondered…and can now help us answer! Follow video highlights of […]

Read More…

The superb Owl and its unique route in SP history

Southern Pacific train 26, the southbound Owl, stops at Glendale, Calif., with 4-8-8-2 No. 4116 on point. H. Sullivan photo

  Almost every railroad has its “other” passenger train. You know, the lesser known one usually received far less press. The one that deviated here and there from the timetable of the premier train that plied the route.   Thumb through a company history and you soon realize Southern Pacific had lots of them. Almost […]

Read More…

Computer failure led to BART derailment, agency board told

Two derailed cars of rapid-transit train in center divider of highway

OAKLAND, Calif. — A computer network failure set in motion the events leading to the New Year’s Day derailment and fire involving a Bay Area Rapid Transit train, BART’s board of directors was told at a Thursday meeting. Nine people were injured in the incident in the East Bay between the Orinda and Lafayette stations […]

Read More…

Network Rail Consulting lands California high speed rail contract

High speed train in farmland

WASHINGTON — Network Rail Consulting Inc. has received a $73.2 million contract to provide system engineering for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the company announced. Among services to be supported by the company are asset management, engineering support and oversight, design and construction operations and maintenance oversight, network integration and program compliance, Federal Railroad Administration […]

Read More…

Inglewood, Calif., to receive more than $1 billion for Transit Connector project

Rendering of elevated transit station

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The city of Inglewood will receive more than $1 billion in federal funds for the Inglewood Transit Connector project, a planned 1.6-mile, three-station elevated “automated people mover” rail line connecting three major sports and entertainment facilities to the LA Metro light rail system. The grant from the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment […]

Read More…

Mikado on Oahu

20190108

Oahu Railway 2-8-2 No. 70, a 1927 Alco, leads a train for Kahaku beside the Pacific Ocean east of Kaena Point in the 1940s. The railroad’s C-shaped main line extended from Honolulu on the south side of the island clockwise to Kahuku on the north side. Kent W. Cochrane photo […]

Read More…