WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has named Richard Erstad and James (Leggett) Kitchin to the board’s Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council, the board announced Friday. Erstad, the vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Hawkins Inc., a chemical and ingredients company, joins the board representing small shippers. Kitchin, vice president for industrial products and coal […]
Section: News Wire
The Coast Starlight play opens March 13
Amtrak’s Coast Starlight runs daily from Los Angeles to Seattle, passing through some of the most beautiful scenery on the California coast and in the Pacific Northwest. Keith Bunin’s The Coast Starlight is a new play opening today, Monday, March 13, at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater that tracks the journey of six strangers on […]
BNSF line in California closed by washout
WASCO, Calif. — BNSF’s main line on the Bakersfield Subdivision in the San Joaquin Valley has been closed by a washout, the railroad informed customers in an advisory on Saturday. The washout was reported about 1:30 p.m. PST near Wasco, about 27 miles northwest of Bakersfield. BNSF’s initial estimate to reopen the route between Bakersfield […]
Two injured as light rail train derails in Golden, Colo.
GOLDEN, Colo. — Two people were taken to a hospital with what were described as minor injuries after a Regional Transportation District light rail train derailed today at the Jefferson County Government Center in Golden. The RTD said in a press release that the first car of a W Line light rail train derailed about […]
Amtrak to resume Adirondack service in April, U.S. senators say
ALBANY, N.Y. — Amtrak’s long-idle New York-Montreal Adirondack service — the only train still not running after being suspended by the passenger operator at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — will resume operation in April, according to New York’s two U.S. senators. U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand made the announcement Friday afternoon, […]
New York’s MTA places first new subway cars into service
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit placed its first R211 subway cars into service on Friday, March 10, the first new additions to the New York subway fleet in five years. The Kawasaki-built R211 cars, placed into service on the A Line (8th Avenue Express), are the first in a […]
MBTA lifts blanket speed restriction, but many slow orders remain
BOSTON — Blanket 25-mph speed restrictions remain in place on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line and Mattapan Trolley Line, but have been lifted on the Red, Orange, and Blue lines, following a Thursday night announcement of the systemwide slow order. The Boston Globe reports the overall restriction was lifted by 10:30 a.m. today […]
Norfolk Southern reaches paid sick time agreements with two more unions
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has reached agreements with two more of its labor unions to provide their members with up to seven paid sick days per year. These agreements provide four new days of paid sick leave while also offering flexibility to use up to three additional days of existing paid time off as sick […]
Amtrak seeks expansion of Crescent section to Dallas-Ft. Worth
NEW ORLEANS — Amtrak will apply for a federal grant that, if approved by the Federal Railroad Administration, would pay for 80% of a study of track and station improvements necessary to extend a section of the New York-New Orleans Crescent between Meridian, Miss., and Fort Worth, Texas. Nicole Bucich, Amtrak’s vice president of network […]
MBTA imposes systemwide speed restriction on rail transit network
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority instituted an immediate 25-mph speed restriction across its rapid-transit Red, Orange, Blue, and Green lines as of Thursday night following findings by the state’s Department of Public Utilities. The MBTA announced the restrictions about 10 p.m., the Boston Globe reports, after a visit to the Red Line between […]
Long Island Rail Road to switch four trains from Grand Central Madison to Penn Station
NEW YORK — Continuing to adjust its recently introduced schedule to address demand for service at Penn Station, the Long Island Rail Road will shift four trains from Grand Central Madison to Penn beginning Monday, March 13. Four other trains will have stops added to their schedules. Morning rush-hour trains will see the 5:42 a.m. […]
Brightline West, construction unions in California, Nevada reach agreement
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Brightline West, the planned high speed rail service between Las Vegas and Southern California, has announced agreements with buildings trades groups in California and Southern Nevada to ensure the rail project is built with union labor. The memorandum of understanding with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and […]