Seattle-area light rail projects face delays from concrete strike

Light rail train at elevated station with construction equipment

SEATTLE — A strike by concrete workers is placing the schedule of Sound Transit light-rail projects at risk, according to the agency’s CEO. KIRO Radio reports that CEO Peter Rogoff told the Sound Transit board that completion dates of the four light-rail extension projects in progress — to Lynnwood, Bellevue, Redmond, and Federal Way — […]

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Amtrak makes moves to restart service to Vancouver, B.C.

Train approaching bridge

SEATTLE — Almost two years after halting the service because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amtrak has begun preparations to restore Cascades operations to Canada from Seatttle. Last week, Amtrak posted a notice on the Facebook page dedicated to the Cascades service informing customers that they might see Cascades trains running between Seattle and Vancouver, British […]

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First day of Gulf Coast hearing brings significant new information

Two men at table with charts in background

WASHINGTON – Active cross-examination by Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin Oberman and other board members marked almost eight hours of testimony Tuesday on the first of two days of public comment on the ramifications of two proposed daily Amtrak round trips between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. Some 45 witnesses spoke Tuesday. While most repeated […]

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Brightline completes construction in Orlando airport area (with video)

Railroad tracks passing under airplane on taxiway

ORLANDO, Fla. — Brightline has completed construction in the first of the four construction zones in its expansion from West Palm Beach to Orlando, Fla., finishing the small but complicated 3.5-mile Zone 2 in and around Orlando International Airport. “Our construction through OIA presented one of the most complex construction efforts of this entire project […]

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Southern Pacific passenger trains remembered

GL130801-1

All through February 2022, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Southern Pacific Lines. Please enjoy this photo gallery of Southern Pacific passenger trains selected from the image files in Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library. This gallery was first published in January 2019. […]

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FRA report details Amtrak delays, other performance statistics

Passenger train in city

WASHINGTON — The Cardinal, Sunset Limited, and Texas Eagle were the Amtrak trains experiencing the most delays in fiscal 2021’s fourth quarter,   according to a report on Amtrak performance released Monday by the Federal Railroad Administration. The quarterly report on performance and service quality uses metrics defined by the rule issued in 2020 which requires […]

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Acela suffers seven-hour stoppage in New York

Acela_ElizabethNJ_Lassen

NEW YORK — An Amtrak Acela train bound from Boston to New York was stalled on the Northeast Corridor for more than seven hours after losing power on Monday, the Associated Press reports. Train No. 2151 left Boston at 5:05 a.m. but lost power in the Hunter’s Point neighborhood of Queens at 8:37 a.m., 10 […]

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Narrow gauge electric line

Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad

The 3-foot-gauge Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn was built in 1875 and in 1928 electrified its double-track line along the shore north of Boston. Business was brisk at first, as attested by this scene at Crescent Beach, Mass. Nevertheless, the BRB&L was abandoned in 1940. General Electric photo […]

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