Amtrak should be asking itself a $7 billion question about the future of its long-distance trains. Should it spend that Bipartisan Infrastructure Law windfall on nearly 600 new bilevel cars that would replace aging Superliner equipment — and continue with a problematic procurement process? Or would that money be better spent on a national single-level […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Marty Thomas has been named president of TTX Co., the railcar pooling company announced today (Dec. 8, 2025). The promotion is effective immediately. Thomas will assume day-to-day leadership of TTX, reporting directly to CEO Tom Wells. Thomas joined TTX in November 2024 as executive vice president, overseeing supply chain, information technology, finance, […]
RACINE, Wis. — A new agency leading a revived and revised effort to develop passenger rail service between Kenosha, Wis., and Milwaukee has been launched. The Milwaukee Area-Racine-Kenosha (MARK) Passenger Rail Commission held its first meeting last week in Racine. The commission met Dec. 5 at Racine City Hall, the Racine County Eye reports, adopting […]
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Sound Transit celebrated the opening of the 7.8-mile, three-station extension of its Link light rail Line 1 on Saturday, Dec. 6, marking the fifth addition to the Link system in three years. A ribbon-cutting at the new Federal Way Downtown station was followed by the beginning of service about 11 a.m., […]
PHILADELPHIA — A strike by the union representing Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority rail transit and bus operators is imminent, the leader of that union said on Friday. The Transport Workers Union of America said in a press release that SEPTA has refused to negotiate on quality-of-life issues for members of TWU Local 234, and that […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration today (Dec. 5) approved a five-year waiver allowing expanded use of automatic track inspection, ending a long period when the FRA had not acted on requests regarding the technology. In a letter to the Association of American Railroads, Karl Alexy, the FRA’s chief safety officer, said the FRA’s Railroad Safety […]
NEW YORK — Alstom has named Marc Bernier as vice president, Rolling Stock and Components, North America, the company announced this week. Bernier had previously served as chief financial officer for the Americas and before that was chief financial officer for Bombardier Transportation in North America, which he had joined in 2019 from Bombardier Inc. […]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A British Columbia Supreme Court justice has certified a class-action lawsuit against Canadian National and Canadian Pacific (now CPKC) over the 2021 wildfire that destroyed the community of Lytton, B.C., saying in a ruling this week that there is “some basis in fact” to support allegation that railroad operations caused the […]
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Katie Choe has been named as the new chief executive officer of commuter rail operator Virginia Railway Express. The appointment, effective Jan. 20, 2026, was made at the Thursday, Dec. 4, meetings of the two agencies that oversee VRE, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the Potomac Rappahannock Transportation Commission. Choe replaces […]
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Sound Transit is set to open the latest addition to its Link light rail system on Saturday, Dec. 6, opening the three-station Federal Way Extension with a series of events. Events begin at 9:30 a.m. with speeches and a ribbon cutting at the Federal Way downtown station, with trains set to […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has launched a new online dashboard to monitor its capital projects, allowing viewers to see what is being built or replaced, the project budget, spending thus far, and the expected completion date. The Capital Program Dashboard, now available here in a Beta version, addresses projects on the Long […]
PHILADELPHIA — A shortage of thermal wire will prevent the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority from meeting a deadline today (Dec. 5) for ongoing repairs to its fleet of Silverliner IV electric multiple-unit cars. The agency is about 7,000 feet short of the wire needed to add additional fire-detection measures to the 1970s railcars, the subject […]
