NJ Transit CEO discusses agency’s turnaround (corrected)

NJ Transit commuter train

NEWARK, N.J. — “It’s NJ Transit’s 3rd summer of hell,” read an August 2019 headline on NJ.com, a New Jersey local news website. For years, commuters endured overcrowded trains, late trains, canceled trains, and creaky 40-year-old Arrow III electric multiple-unit cars. Frustration reached a boiling point, with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy feeling the heat. […]

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Digest: BNSF train derails in Arizona, prompting lengthy ‘Southwest Chief’ delay

BNSF logo

More Monday morning rail news: BNSF intermodal train derails in Arizona, stopping Southwest Chief No injuries were reported when a BNSF intermodal train derailed Sunday afternoon near Joseph City, Ariz., KPHO-TV reports. Photos show several double-stack well cars off the tracks, with containers overturned. The Navajo County Sheriff’s Office says the accident was reported about 1 […]

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Digest: Conservation groups ask STB for full environmental review of Tennessee Pass revival

American Whitewater logo

Monday midday rail news: Conservation groups ask for full environmental review before Tennessee Pass operations can resume Conservation group American Whitewater, joined by seven other organizations and almost 700 individuals, have asked the Surface Transportation Board to require a full Environmental Impact Statement for the resumption of rail service on Tennessee Pass. The Friday filing asks the […]

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News Photos: Testing begins for new Amtrak cars (updated)

Passenger train in urban environment

With Charger locomotives on each end, the first over-the-road test of Siemens Venture cars for Midwest service leaves Chicago Monday morning, Jan. 25. The test train, with four coaches separated by former heritage sleeping car Pacific Bend, housing test equipment and personnel, is operating east to Pontiac, Mich., on the schedule of Wolverine Service train no. 350, which has […]

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Digest: Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority elects first president

Trains logo

Friday afternoon rail news: Montana’s Bky Sky Passenger Rail Authority elects Strohmaier as president Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier, the driving force behind the effort to create Montana’s Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority, will serve as first president of the organization, the Missoula Current reports. In its second official meeting on Wednesday, the organization learned that […]

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Digest: MTA head says agency will avoid service cuts, layoffs

MTA Logo

More Friday morning rail news: MTA CEO says agency will avoid service cuts, layoffs Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Patrick J. Foye says the agency will avoid service cuts and layoffs thanks to about $4 billion it will receive from the latest coronavirus stimulus package. Foye told WCBS Radio the agency was “out of the woods,” for 2021, […]

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Deputy administrators of FRA, FTA among appointments to U.S. Department of Transportation (updated)

WASHINGTON — Amit Bose has been named deputy administrator for the Federal Railroad Adminstration and Nuria Fernandez the deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, part of a group of more than three dozen appointments to the U.S. Department of Transportation announced today by the Biden Administration. “This experienced team looks forward to getting right […]

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Digest: KCS to develop logistics park in Dallas suburb

Rendering of planned industrial development

Thursday midday rail news: KCS, development firm to develop Wylie, Texas, logistics park Kansas City Southern and NorthPoint Development have announced plans to develop a 220-acre logistics park in Wylie, Texas, adjacent to the railroads’ David L. Starling Wylie Intermodal Terminal. The Wylie Logistics Park, in a northeastern suburb of Dallas, will have the potential […]

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