In need of reliable medium-horsepower six-axle road switchers, Union Pacific’s Mike Iden turned to Progress Rail’s EMD subsidiary to rebuild a batch of out-of-service EMD 3,800-hp SD60s into more modern 3,150-hp units with new prime movers for secondary road freights. Twenty-eight — Nos. 9900 to 9927 — were built in the late 2000s. Progress later […]
Class I railroads, which pruned their interline intermodal service as the Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model spread in the U.S. over the past few years, have rediscovered joint service and say it’s a way to capture freight moving on the highway. Several interline intermodal initiatives have been announced since May. Among them: The Canadian National-Union […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One of the first decisions that Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena made after rejoining the railroad in August was to take 24 hours out of the schedule for Falcon Premium interline cross-border intermodal service. At an investor conference on Tuesday, he was asked whether there were other similar opportunities to improve intermodal […]
PORTLAND, Ore. — The group restoring Spokane, Portland & Seattle 4-8-4 No. 700 has secured a hot water pump for the locomotive through a three-way swap involving two other preservation groups that had previously arranged an exchange of parts. Consultant and contractor FMW Solutions discovered the water pump on No. 700, being restored by the […]
BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has appointed Monica Tibbits-Nutt as state secretary of transportation, making permanent a position Tibbits-Nutt has held on an acting basis for two months. Healey cited Tibbits-Nutt’s role in dealing with ongoing issues with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in announcing the appointment this week, the Boston Herald reports. “As […]
NEW YORK — Some direct Amtrak service between New York Penn Station and Albany-Rensselaer will resume Thursday, Nov. 16, with the rest restored on Friday, WNBC-TV reports. Service has been disrupted since Sunday, Nov. 12, because of structural issues with a parking garage above Amtrak’s right-of-way in Manhattan [see “Amtrak disruption of service …,” Trains […]
BALTIMORE — CSX Corp. CEO Joe Hinrichs will chair the B&O Railroad Museum’s $30 million capital campaign in preparation for the 200th anniversary of American railroading in 2027, the museum has announced. CSX previously launched the campaign by donating $5 million toward building of the “CSX Bicentennial Garden,” an amphitheater and multi-use public space for […]
CHAMA, N.M. — The bi-state agency overseeing the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad has agreed to purchase a diesel locomotive from the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, a first for the classic line preserving the former Denver & Rio Grande Western line between Chama and Antonito, Colo. The commission agreed to the purchase of […]
EMD’s GP20 Electro-Motive Division’s GP20 was the company’s first four-axle model to be fitted with a turbocharger, but its roots trace back to one of EMD’s customers, Union Pacific. Union Pacific began experimenting with several turbocharger models in the mid-1950s on a number of its GP9 and GP9Bs, creating the first GP20s in-house. As UP’s […]
WASHINGTON and MIAMI — Rail passengers who are able to lock down travel plans in advance can benefit from two pre-Black Friday sales now underway at Amtrak and Florida’s Brightline. Amtrak Winter Sale Through this Wednesday, Nov. 15, Amtrak is offering “flash sale” advance purchase fares for travel Dec. 4, 2023, through March 15, 2024, […]
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Amtrak has reached a tentative contract agreement with its more than 1,400 locomotive engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has announced. If ratified, the agreement would run through 2028. Features include retroactive payments retroactive to 2022, a 30% wage increase (34.12% compounded); 10 weeks of paid parental leave; increased away-from-home […]
LOS ANGELES — Commuter rail operator Metrolink is expanding service on its San Bernardino Line in response to the closure of a portion of Interstate 10, a major route into downtown Los Angeles traveled by some 300,000 cars per day. Metrolink will add three additional round trips between L.A. Union Station and its Covina station […]
