WASHINGTON — In a boost to efforts to reestablish Amtrak service along the former North Coast Hiawatha route, a bipartisan group of eight U.S. senators have asked the Federal Railroad Administration to establish a group to study additional passenger service in the Pacific Northwest. The Missoula Current reports the senators — Republicans Mitt Romney (Utah), […]
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed the agency which operates South Shore Line commuter rail service is a “political subdivision” of the state, thwarting legal action by a worker who says he was injured on a maintenance-of-way project. The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that the state court ruled 5-0 that the Northern […]
NEW YORK — Amtrak will spend about $150 million to repair its existing tunnels between New Jersey and New York’s Penn Station as it awaits construction of two new tunnels on the Northeast Corridor route. Bloomberg reports the plans for the North River Tunnel, built in 1910, are outlined in a report week outlining work […]
All through December 2021, Classic Trains is celebrating the Chicago Great Western Railway. Please enjoy this image gallery of CGW passenger trains selected from Kalmbach Media’s David P. Morgan Library and first published in December 2016. Only from Trains.com! […]
WASHINGTON — When outgoing CEO William Flynn joined the company in March 2020, a direction for Amtrak that de-emphasized long distance trains and national network investment had already been established under Amtrak Board Chairman Anthony Coscia. Stephen Gardner, hired by then-President and CEO Joseph Boardman, has been the primary confidant on strategy for two other […]
NEW YORK — A Long Island Rail Road dispatcher supervisor and dispatcher have been disciplined after being found asleep on the job by investigators from the Office of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Inspector General. A report by Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny says the office received a tip that overnight dispatchers were turning off the lights […]
FILLMORE, Calif. —California short line operator Sierra Northern Railway will be the new operator of Ventura County’s Piru to Montalvo, Calif., rail line, the Ventura County Transportation Commission has decided. By a 13-1 vote, the commission approved the contract for operation of the 30-mile, county-owned former Southern Pacific branch, to be known as the Sierra […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has approved a design-build contract for the Penn Station Access project, which will bring Metro-North service to Penn Station via the existing Amtrak Northeast Corridor route over Hell Gate Bridge. A joint venture of Halmar International and RailWorks has received the contract for the project, estimated to take […]
MIAMI — Tri-Rail and Brightline are each suggesting the other party is at fault after Tri-Rail management told the agency’s board last week that the commuter agency’s trains would not clear the platform at Brightline’s MiamiCentral station [see “Tri-Rail service to Brightline’s Miami station faces clearance issues …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 13, 2021]. The […]
WASHINGTON — Bill Flynn will retire as Amtrak CEO as of Jan. 17, 2022, with Stephen Gardner, the company’s president, becoming both president and CEO, the company announced Wednesday. Flynn became CEO in April 2020, succeeding Richard Anderson. His retirement after 21 months comes as a surprise in light of comments from Amtrak board chairman […]
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — An Amtrak on-board service attendant injured in September’s derailment of the Empire Builder has become the latest to file suit over the accident. The Billings Gazette reports Tarrick Peyton filed suit in U.S. District Court in Great Falls against Amtrak and BNSF Railway for negligence in the Sept. 25 accident that killed […]
Days after Amtrak wrapped one of its ACS64 locomotives in the paint scheme once worn by its AEM7s, Bay Area commuter operator Caltrain has unveiled a repainted AEM7 in a variant of the red, black, and white scheme worn by its MP36 diesels. The ex-Amtrak unit will be used to test the Caltrain catenary system, […]
