Brightline West now aims for completion in late 2029

People lined up to tap spikes with hammers

LAS VEGAS — The completion date for the Brightline West high-speed rail project has been pushed back again, this time to late 2029. The company informed KVVU-TV of that date last week, but not did elaborate on reasons for the new estimate. It did say the project is in the “civil construction” phase, preparing the […]

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Kansas DOT awards $11.2 million for rail infrastructure projects

Logo of Kansas Department of Transportation

TOPEKA, Kan. — Ten rail infrastructure projects will receive a total of $11.2 million in funding from the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Rail Service Improvement Program, the state announced last week. The projects awarded were selected from 20 applications seeking a total of more than $33.5 million in funding. The projects also will receive more […]

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Plan scrapped to expand Metrolink service to Santa Barbara

Passenger train with cab car leading passing through rocky hillside

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger has, indirectly, ended a proposal to extend Metrolink commuter rail service from Ventura to Santa Barbara County. In its place, those two counties are now looking at a proposal from the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency that would serve the same desire to create a commuter rail […]

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Amtrak offers $250 USA Rail Pass, regional bargains

people taking pics of Amtrak train

WASHINGTON — Through Tuesday, Jan. 20, Amtrak’s USA Rail Pass, normally $499, is being sold for $250. The pass, on sale here, permits passengers to ride up to 10 trains in coach over a 30-day period, regardless of trip length, so this is an especially good deal for anyone looking to make multiple stopovers traveling […]

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The Naugatuck Valley RR: Operating a ’50s-era layout, step-by-step

An orange model locomotive leads a train over a bridge on a model railroad layout with an autumnal setting

Most modelers can pinpoint the photos, people, events, books, or stories that inspired them to build their model railroads. For me, I can honestly say that my N scale Naugatuck Valley RR started with a lone boxcar – a Micro Trains 40-foot single-door boxcar decorated in New Haven black and orange. I got the car […]

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Regulators reject UP-NS merger application (updated)

Two trains, one yellow and one black, approach the camera

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board today issued a setback to Union Pacific’s effort to acquire Norfolk Southern, rejecting the railroads’ merger application as incomplete — although that move offers little clue to the eventual prospects for the first transcontinental merger. The decision will slow the merger process, requiring the two railroads to rework three […]

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North Carolina Railroad Museum granted $280,000 for exhibits

Man standing inside a baggage car. North Carolina Railroad Museum granted $280,000 for exhibits.

NEW HILL, N.C. — The North Carolina Railroad Museum, home of the New Hope Valley Railway, was recently awarded $280,216 in federal grants to support interactive exhibit development. The new exhibits will illustrate North Carolina’s railroad history and its role in transportation innovation. The Institute of Museum and Library Services grants will support the creation […]

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Alstom, Toronto finalize deal for new subway trainsets

Illustration of red subway car

TORONTO — Alstom and the Toronto Transit Commission have finalized an agreement for Alstom to build 70 six-car Metropolis subway trainsets for the New Subway Train program to replace the fleet on the TTC’s subway Line 2, as well as for use on subway extension projects. The purchase of the new equipment had been announced […]

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House bill would require study of tank car pressure relief valves

Black cloud of smoke above town

WASHINGTON — House members from Pennsylvania and Ohio have introduced a bill requiring the Federal Railroad Administration to study tank car pressure relief valves, and provide a report to Congress on their findings, nearly three years after the disastrous February 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, hazardous materials derailment. The Under Pressure Act was announced Thursday (Jan. […]

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