LANCASTER, Pa. — Veteran preservationist, railroader, and journalist G. Wayne Laepple died of a heart attack on Monday July 10, 2023, two days short of his 76th birthday. Best known in recent times for his work in the restoration shops at the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum in Maine and the Railroad Museum of […]
RIO DE JANEIRO — Wabtec has landed the first South American order for FLXdrive battery locomotives, with Brazilian-based, multinational mining and logistics firm Vale placing an order for three of the locomotives. The companies will also collaborate on a study of ammonia as an alternative locomotive fuel. The three locomotives, to be built at Wabtec’s […]
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Santa Fe steam locomotive No. 3751 will make its first public appearance of 2023 at Los Angeles Union Station’s Trainfest Sept. 9-10, the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society announced today. The event, “Trainfest 2023: A Celebration of Past, Present & Future,” will be held each day from 10 a.m. to 6 […]
CHICAGO — Metra commuters suffered evening rush-hour delays, while Amtrak also halted operations for a time, because of tornado warnings and other severe weather warnings in the Chicago area. WMAQ-TV reports one tornado touched down at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, damaging some warehouses, and that the National Weather Service confirmed this morning (July 13) that […]
SNOWBIRD, Utah — The Utah Department of Transportation has chosen an 8-mile-long gondola system as the way to serve the Snowbird and Alta ski resorts, ending a lengthy process that also included a cog railway among the options. The Salt Lake Tribune reports UDOT made its final decision public on Wednesday, after releasing a preliminary […]
LOS ANGELES — Commuter rail operator Metrolink will extend service on its Ventura County Line to the site of the 2023 X Games during the extreme sports event at the Ventura County Fairgrounds July 21-23. Metroolink announced the additional service on Thursday. Normally, Metrolink trains terminate at the Ventura East station, but they will serve […]
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan has enacted legislation creating a program within the state’s Department of Transportation to fund grade crossing separation projects. Michigan Public Radio reports the legislation prioritizes projects closer to locations such as schools, trauma treatment facilities, and manufacturing sites. It would require local governments to cover matching funds covering up to 20% […]
NEW YORK — Full service on Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson Line will resume today (Thursday, July 13), following clean-up of storm damage that shut down the northern portion of the line on Sunday afternoon. Most service had been restored on Wednesday, with a few trains cancelled to allow for continued work. “The damage to the Hudson […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic for the week ending July 8, 2023, was down 5.1% compared to the same week a year earlier, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads. The total of 407,843 carloads and intermodal units included 197,086 carloads, down 2.3% from the corresponding week in 2022, while the 210,757 containers […]
WASHINGTON — Virginia Railway Express service disruptions will continue into a third day following Tuesday’s Amtrak derailment at Washington Union Station, as commuter operator announced it will run an “S” schedule on Thursday. The S schedule denotes holidays, weather issues, or other service disruptions. It means just four round trips, instead of the usual eight, […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans have released a proposed budget for fiscal 2024 that would effectively force Amtrak “to radically reduce or suspend service on various routes across the nation,” according to Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner. The legislation marked up Wednesday also calls for substantial reductions in infrastructure programs benefitting passenger rail. Its release begins […]
Vermont Rail System was hit as hard as its namesake state by storms early this week, but the company is beginning to get a handle on the damage. “I am feeling better today than I did yesterday,” president Selden Houghton said in a a telephone interview today (July 12) with Trains News Wire. VRS received […]
