Can a railroad single-handedly preserve the intermodal dominance of North America’s biggest port complex? BNSF Railway is making a $1.5 billion bet that the answer is yes. The railroad announced on Oct. 1 that it will build a massive new intermodal facility in Barstow, Calif., to expedite the handling of freight imported and exported through […]
Cody is joined by Classic Toy Trains editor Hal Miller to identify possible contact issues with a reader’s Lionel O gauge layout. Are you looking to learn more about your model railroad, or do you have questions about full-size trains? Send us an email at: AskTrains@trains.com ………………………………… Ask Trains is a regular video feature of […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has asked the Surface Transportation Board to investigate what it calls the “abysmal” on-time performance of the Sunset Limited, which it attributes largely to the operating practices of Union Pacific, and seeks “damages and other relief” from UP as a result of those practices. Amtrak lays out the details of its complaint […]
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Winchester & Western Railroad has signed an agreement to serve a new Commercial Metals Co. steel mill in West Virginia, OmniTRAX, the railroad’s parent company, has announced. OmniTRAX says CMC, the largest manufacture rof steel reinforcing bar in North America and central Europe, selected the Falling Waters, W.Va., site after a […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority must resubmit a dozen corrective action plans to address Federal Transit Administration safety directives after the FTA asked for revisions to those plans, the Boston Herald reports. To date, the FTA has only received approval for eight of the 20 plans stemming from directives issued by the FTA […]
BISMARCK, N.D. — The preservation group seeking to prevent BNSF Railway from replacing its more than century-old bridge over the Missouri River is asking two North Dakota agencies to hold a hearing on permits needed to build a new bridge. The Friends of the Rail Bridge, which wants the current Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge — parts […]
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has decisively ratified a new contract with the Long Island Rail Road, with 84.97% of votes cast in favor of the agreement. Almost 74% of those eligible voted on the contract, the union said in announcing the agreement on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The four-year agreement […]
ATLANTA — The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has shut down its 3-mile-long downtown streetcar line after inspections found wheel degradation that could pose a safety risk, WSB-TV reports. Reporter Newspapers, citing a paywalled Atlanta Journal-Constitution report, says repairs are expected to cost $7.4 million and are expected to be completed by the end of […]
TACOMA, Wash. — Opening of the Hilltop Extension of Sound Transit’s Tacoma light rail line will be delayed for a second time, the agency said Thursday, pushing opening of the 2.4-mile addition close to a year behind schedule. The Urbanist website says the project had originally been scheduled to open in May 2022, but had […]
HARTFORD, Conn. — CTrail and Amtrak service on the Hartford Line will see schedule changes as of Monday, Dec. 12, with completion of second-stage work on the line’s rail replacement project, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has announced. Work in Meriden, and between Berlin and Hartford, had led to schedule adjustments of up to 35 […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific is in the Surface Transportation Board’s doghouse. In a letter to UP CEO Lance Fritz today (Thursday, Dec. 8), STB Chairman Martin J. Oberman said the railroad’s response to the board’s request for information about how and when it issues embargoes fell well short of what regulators were expecting. The STB […]
CSX Transportation and Union Pacific have relaxed their attendance policies in response to labor concerns. “Today we announced changes to the company’s attendance policy in order to provide CSX employees more flexibility and to respond to concerns expressed by craft employees and labor organizations. The new policy is applicable to all craft employees and is […]
