NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has stopped using Twitter to post service updates “as the reliability of the platform can no longer be guaranteed,” an MTA official said late last week. The MTA Twitter account will remain active for other forms of messaging, and customers will be able to tweet to MTA accounts […]
DE SOTO, Wis. — BNSF Railway operations resumed today (Saturday, April 29) past the site of a Thursday derailment that injured four crew members and sent some cars into the Mississippi River. Clean-up at the site is continuing. The derailment occurred about 12:15 p.m. Thursday between the towns of De Soto and Ferryville, Wis., blocking […]
MONTREAL — Members of the Canadian union Unifor have ratified a two-year contract with Canadian National Railway, the union announced Friday. The union and railway had announced an agreement March 20. The deal covers more than 3,000 mechanical, intermodal, facility management, and clerical positions represented by Unifor’s Local 100 and Council 4000 [see “Canadian National, […]
CLEVELAND — The driver of a dump truck involved in a Cleveland grade-crossing accident that killed a Norfolk Southern conductor has pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter. WOIO-TV reports driver Ryan Hundley entered the plea Thursday in an appearance in Cleveland Municipal Court. Bond was set at $10,000. The March 7 accident occurred shortly after […]
CHICAGO — The locomotive of an Amtrak Michigan Service train derailed at Chicago Union Station on Friday, leading to some Metra delays and cancellations as well as Amtrak delays. No injures were reported. Patch.com reports the derailment occurred as the Amtrak train arrived from Michigan. Metra informed customers on Twitter that three SouthWest Service trains […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — The latest landslide interrupting rail service between Los Angeles and San Diego continued on Friday, increasing chances that Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner service between the two cities, and Metrolink service to Oceanside, could face another extended interruption. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the hill continued to slide behind the Casa Romantica […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Conductors and trainmen on CSX Transportation’s northern lines have ratified an agreement for paid sick time reached earlier this month, their union announced Friday. Members of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division GO-049 ratified the agreement on a majority of ballots returned, SMART General Chairperson Richard Lee announced. Exact ballot […]
For most of my 70 plus years I have been interested in trains. Wherever I lived, I built a number of layouts in basements and attics. It was not until I became interested in the life of the Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad that I thought it would be a railroad to model. It could not […]
Norfolk Southern and the union representing conductors have reached what they are terming a “ground-breaking, system-wide agreement” to address quality-of-life issues — not just paid sick leave, but scheduled days off, and additional pay for weekends and time away from home. NS and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division […]
SEATTLE — Light rail service in Seattle is facing a significant disruption for two weeks because of damage to the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel caused by construction at a station, Sound Transit has announced. The service change began Thursday night as a result of damage Tuesday when a ground-level construction crew broke through the roof […]
SANTA CRUZ, Calif — Two counties on California’s central coast have received almost $6 million to advance a pair of rail projects thanks to state funding announced earlier this week. The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission was awarded $3.45 million to fund a Project Concept Report for the proposed passenger rail service on the […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has significantly reduced its use of congestion-related embargoes, which last year drew scrutiny from the Surface Transportation Board and scorn from shippers. UP dramatically increased its use of embargoes last year, when it issued the vast majority of Class I railroad embargoes in order to prevent its local yards from clogging […]
