Digest: Brightline to begin work on Tampa route in 2022

Still more Monday morning rail news: Brightline to begin work on Tampa route in 2022; reaching Disney World a priority Work on Brightline’s planned Orlando-Tampa line line will not begin until 2022, with a goal of operation beginning in 2025. The Tampa Bay Business Journal reports Michael Cegelis, Brightline’s executive vice president of rail infrastructure, laid out […]

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Digest: NJ Transit approves $2.6 billion operating budget for 2021

Electric locomotive hauls commuter train through S curve

More Thursday midday rail news: NJ Transit board approves $2.6 billion operating budget NJ Transit’s board has approved a $2.6 billion operating budget for 2021 — a figure representing a 10% increase made possible by coronavirus relief funds. NorthJersey.com reports some $955 in federal CARES act funding will help offset $860 million in revenue losses from decreased […]

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VIA Rail Canada to resume service between Vancouver, Winnipeg

MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada will resume service on the Vancouver-Winnipeg portion of the route of its flagship train, the Canadian, as of Dec. 11. In a Tuesday press release announcing the service, the passenger operator said it would offer one round trip per week between those cities, while observing health and safety measures including social distancing, […]

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Digest: Safety Commission says evidence of DC Metro train separation was tampered with

WMATA/DC Metro logo in black and white.

Wednesday morning rail news: DC Metro tampered with evidence of train separation, safety commission says Evidence relating to the separation of a moving DC Metro train earlier this month was tampered with during the investigation, according to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission. The Washington Post reports that between the initial investigation incident on Oct. 9 and the […]

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Amtrak CEO tells hearing company projects 72% decline in ridership

WASHINGTON — Amtrak is projecting fiscal 2021 ridership of just 9 million, a 72% decline from 2019’s record 32.5 million passengers, CEO William Flynn told members of the Senate Commerce Committee, who expressed skepticism and concern over the move to three-day-a-week service for most long-distance trains. In testimony submitted Wednesday morning, Flynn qualifies his estimate […]

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Digest: Suspect arrested in fatal LA Metro stabbing

Los Angeles Metro logo

More Tuesday morning rail news: Suspect arrested in stabbing death of LA Metro rail employee Police have arrested a suspect in Friday’s stabbing death of an LA Metro rail employee at a downtown Los Angeles subway station. The Los Angeles Daily News reports Irma Monroy, 25, was booked on suspicion of murder and held in lieu of […]

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Digest: MTA introduces detailed, real-time online subway map

More Tuesday afternoon rail news: New MTA map shows trains in motion, reroutes, station information New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has unveiled a new online subway map offering remarkably detailed real-time information on the subway system. Curbed.com reports the map, using the MTA’s own data streams, makes it possible to follow the movement of individual trains, as well as […]

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Photo of the Day

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Stranger on the Central of Georgia The Tuscan red-painted stainless-steel Pennsylvania Railroad cars of the Chicago–Miami South Wind follow Central of Georgia 4-8-2 488 through Weems, Ala. (9 miles east of Birmingham) on April 4, 1948. The streamliner was detouring over the CofG because of flooding on its normal route. Linn H. Westcott photo […]

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