WASHINGTON — Without fanfare, Amtrak last week posted its 2024 annual report, which also contains its funding appeal for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2025. The company’s 137-page “General and Legislative Annual Report and Fiscal Year 2026 Grant Request” recaps financial results for fiscal 2024, operating metrics to date, and projections for future years. […]
CHICAGO — The agency overseeing the Chicago area’s three transit operators is directing Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority, and bus operator Pace to develop two versions of their 2026 budgets: one based on the current funding shortfall, and one if the state legislature comes through with more funding. Streetsblog Chicago reports that at a June […]
WASHINGTON — DC Metrorail is now operating its entire system with Automatic Train Operation, having expanded use of the automated system to the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines as of today (June 15, 2025). The system, which was part of Metrorail from its launch in 1976, was shut off in 2009 following a fatal collision. […]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canadian National Railway is taking legal action to force Parks Canada to allow it to build a berm to protect its main line against potential flood damage in Alberta’s Jasper National Park. The CBC reports that CN, in a federal court filing, says the agency has for more than eight years […]
LOS ANGELES — Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner is adding an additional round trip serving San Diego staring on Monday, June 16, while also making additional schedule adjustments. The Los Angeles-San Diego service will now have 12 daily round trips. New will be southbound train No. 584, departing Los Angeles at 4:10 p.m. and arriving in San […]
WASHINGTON — What is it about rail operations and health-care fraud? Two train operators with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority were arrested Friday on charges relating to a scheme to submit fraudulent health insurance and short-term disability claims for non-existent ailments, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has announced. Michelle Shropshire, […]
NORTH WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The Metro-North Railroad has unveiled the seventh unit in its heritage locomotive series and the first to be repainted, rather than wrapped. The scheme on MN P32AC-DM 203 replicates the image applied to seven Conrail FL9s in 1980 when New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority funded their rebuild by General Electric […]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Santa Fe 4-8-4 steam locomotive No. 2926 will now be able to stack up additional mainline miles. The locomotive’s owner and operator, New Mexico Heritage Rail, announced that the New Mexico Department of Transportation approved expanded access along the Rail Runner Express commuter corridor out of Albuquerque. According to a press release, […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Citing substantial infrastructure work already completed as evidence the California High Speed Rail Authority is on track to complete an initial operating segment by 2033, CEO Ian Choudri challenged the Federal Railroad Administration’s contention that $4 billion of federal grants should be terminated. Earlier this month, the FRA issued a 314-page report […]
BNSF and CSX teamed up to haul nearly 100 pieces of military equipment – tanks, armored vehicles, and tactical vehicles – from Fort Cavazos in Texas to Jessup, Md., in support of the Army’s 250th Birthday Parade scheduled for Saturday in Washington, D.C. The 4,611-ton train originated on BNSF and was interchanged with CSX at […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific is implementing a technology strategy that focuses on safety, service, and operational excellence, and a customer-focused approach where real-time information is now a standard expectation, the company said in a recent webinar for customers. Kenny Rocker, UP executive vice president of marketing and sales, highlighted the role of application programming […]
LONDON — High speed rail operator Eurostar, facing the prospect of competition from across Europe through the Channel Tunnel, has announced plans for new services of its own. But not soon. The company announced this week that it plans to launch three new routes in “the early 2030s” — London-Frankfurt, London-Geneva, and Amsterdam/Brussels-Geneva — once […]
