ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota bill to limit the length of freight trains has cleared its first legislative hurdle, passing a committee of the state’s House of Representatives on Tuesday. HF3499, introduced by Rep. Jeff Brand (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, St. Peter, Minn.), would limit trains to 8,500 feet, with penalties escalating from as little as […]
CHICAGO — Upgrading speeds and capacity or simply keeping tracks well-maintained for passenger trains has tradeoffs that often compromise a rail corridor’s ability to provide meaningful mobility while the work is going on. An example will occur in Michigan beginning May 6, when Amtrak and the state of Michigan jointly made the decision to suspend […]
Santa Fe’s Kansas City Chief, the top overnight train to its namesake city, awaits departure time at Chicago’s Dearborn Station in the mid-1960s. Jim Boyd photo […]
MINNEAPOLIS — Metro Transit will resume Northstar commuter train service for 38 Minnesota Twins home games this season, the transit agency announced Friday, March 8. Trains will run for the Twins’ home opener April 4, for all Saturday and Sunday games, week day day games, and on Memorial Day and July 4. A complete game […]
HOMEWOOD, Ill. — The Homewood station on Metra’s Electric District will close from April 1 to May 20 to replace the single stairway leading to the station platform, Metra has announced. The station has been undergoing a $20.7 million reconstruction since May 2023, and has remained open during the project, but must close during this […]
AKRON, Ohio — A federal court has ruled against Norfolk Southern in a suit seeking to share cleanup costs for the February 2023 East Palestine derailment with railcar owners and the maker of the vinyl chloride involved in the incident. In a decision filed Wednesday, Judge John R. Adams of the U.S. District Court for […]
High-mounted St. Louis-San Francisco 2-8-0 1262 heads into a siding with a freight at Neosho, Mo., in 1934. The tower in the background and split-rail derail in the foreground protect the Frisco’s crossing with a Kansas City Southern line. Harold K. Vollrath collection […]
WASHINGTON — The controlled burn of vinyl chloride following last year’s derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was unnecessary, National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy told a Senate hearing today — and might have been avoided with better communication. Homendy, testifying at a Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on NTSB investigations, said in […]
CHICAGO — Beginning today (Wednesday, March 6) Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr will depart Chicago for California for the first time the Feb. 27 departure encountered freight congestion and weather obstacles that resulted in arrival into Emeryville, Calif., 10 hours, 35 minutes late. Those cars and locomotives, stranded for more than a week at Amtrak’s Oakland […]
BOONTON, N.J. — The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey continues to expand offerings of its Hudson River Rail Excursions, this year scheduling more than 50 day trips beginning and ending in New York City, as well as six overnight trips between New York and Chicago. Tickets for the 2024 trips go on sale […]
CLEVELAND — Restoration of Reading T-1 4-8-4 No. 2100 reached a significant milestone with a Federal Railroad Administration hydrostatic test, the American Steam Railroad Preservation Association reports. “It is with the upmost appreciation and gratitude to our supporters that after nine years of work and $1.3 million dollars in funds and volunteered labor value invested, […]
PENINSULA, Ohio — The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad will suspend operations for almost two months beginning this Friday, March 8, “to make substantial upgrades to safety and operating procedures,” the tourist railroad announced today (Monday, March 4). The railroad says in a press release that the suspension, through May 2, will allow “a comprehensive initiative […]
