MTA prepares to award contract for rebuilding Park Avenue Viaduct

A train yard

NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced plans to award a $382 million design-build contract to begin reconstruction of the Park Avenue Viaduct in East Harlem, a project with huge implications for Metro-North commuter train operations. All Metro-North trains to Grand Central Terminal — which represent 98% of all the commuter railroad’s trains […]

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San Diego officials seek cost of reopening former SD&AE route

Map of rail line from Tecate, Mexico, to Plaster City, Calif.

SAN DIEGO — Transportation officials in San Diego are studying what it would take to revive operations on a long-dormant 70-mile segment of the former San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway to provide a direct freight link from San Diego to eastern markets, bypassing Los Angeles, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The so-called Desert Line […]

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Opening delayed for Aventura Brightline station

White and yellow station exterior

AVENTURA, Fla. — Brightline passenger service from the new Aventura station north of Miami, which was slated to begin Wednesday (Dec. 21) after ceremonies Tuesday marking its completion, has been postponed over delays in final construction inspections, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Brightline spokeswoman Vanessa Alfonso told the newspaper the issue involved the stations’s elevator […]

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Metra plans reduced schedules Friday because of winter storm

Commuter train in snow

CHICAGO — Commuter rail operator Metra will operate a modified Saturday schedule on most lines Friday, Dec. 23, as blizzard conditions are forecast for the Chicago area and many commuters will already have begun their Christmas holiday. Regular schedules are planned for today (Thursday, Dec. 22), although passengers are advised to allow extra travel time […]

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Sound Transit to receive $583 million for light rail projects

Light rail train on bridge

WASHINGTON — Sound Transit will receive $583 million for two of its light rail expansion projects as part of the Fiscal 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) announced Wednesday. The Federal Way Link extension will receive $329.14 million, while the Lynnwood Link extension will receive $254 million. The Federal Way money means […]

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Trains Magazine, Kalmbach set for Christmas break

Trains Magazine logo

WAUKESHA, Wis. — The staff of Trains Magazine and all other Kalmbach Media employees will begin an extended break for the Christmas holiday at the close of business today (Thursday, Dec. 22). With Christmas falling on a weekend, we will be closed on Friday, Dec. 23, to observe Christmas Eve, and on Monday, Dec. 26, […]

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Weekly U.S. rail traffic sees big drop

Weekly table showing U.S. carload rail traffic by commodity type, plus intermodal totals

WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic is heading toward the end of the year on a down note, with weekly volume down 5.5% from the same week in 2021, according to the latest statistics from the Association of American Railroads. U.S. railroads moved 476,232 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending Dec. 17. That includes […]

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Santa Fe’s wheat kingdom

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Several boxcars await loading at three classic wooden elevators along the Santa Fe at Dumas, Texas, in late summer 1936. In spite of the Dust Bowl, there’s still wheat to be loaded. Arthur Rothstein, Library of Congress photo […]

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Railroads urge regulators to stick with tried-and-true interchange policies

Black, gray, and yellow locomotives lined up in yard

WASHINGTON — The Chicago interchange dispute between Canadian National and Canadian Pacific should not upend long-standing practices that determine where railroads exchange traffic, three railroads have told federal regulators. The Surface Transportation Board in October said the CN-CP case raises broad issues regarding interchange practices, particularly after a federal appeals court set aside a board […]

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Year in Review: LIRR completes two major projects

Overhead view of EMU train on three-track main line

Today, Trains News Wire begins our review of the top stories of 2022. We’ll count down the Top 10 stories of the year, as voted on by Trains editors, columnists, and correspondents, beginning Dec. 26. As a prelude, we’ll be looking at major stories that didn’t quite make that list. Today: Notable transit stories. Several […]

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