LOS ANGELES — The new owner of Washington state’s two Talgo Series VI trainsets says the equipment is available — but not for long. “It’s a sensitive matter for everyone involved, and it wasn’t supposed to turn into a spectacle,” Noah McCann of NSM Transportation Co. tells Trains News Wire. He adds, “If anyone is interested, they […]
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History of the Seaboard Air Line The Seaboard’s beginnings date to 1832, when the Portsmouth & Roanoke was chartered to build from Portsmouth, Va., to Weldon, N.C. Opened in 1834 the companies’ backers saw great potential to link the North with the South’s agricultural and forest products and with its developing potential for industry. P&R […]
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I decided to make history repeat itself in August 2000, when my son, Liam, was 4. I wanted Liam to experience a train ride that I took with my grandfather 50 years ago. My grandfather had taken me on passenger trains from the San Francisco Bay Area to the San Joaquin Valley town of Merced, […]
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WASHINGTON — Although the New York-Florida Silver Meteor and Silver Star are set to operate through the end of this week, Amtrak has preemptively cancelled trains in Virginia and the Carolinas as another winter storm is predicted to dump ice and snow on the area. With one of the two Auto Train equipment sets still […]
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Two trailers involved in Saturday’s derailment of a Union Pacific intermodal train in Normal, Ill., caught fire Sunday morning, requiring a multiple-alarm response from the Normal Fire Department because of extreme cold and accessibility issues. Normal Fire Department Chief Mick Humer said the fire was caused by the refrigeration unit during salvage work one of […]
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CHICAGO — The Union Pacific stack train derailment just south of the Normal, Ill., Transportation Center early Saturday kicked off a challenging Presidents Day weekend for Amtrak trains across the country. That derailment led to cancellation of Lincoln Service trains and a reroute of the Texas Eagle between St. Louis and Chicago [see “Digest: UP […]
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WASHINGTON —Amtrak CEO William Flynn has outlined his company’s “top five priorities that we ask Congress to address” in a letter sent to legislators last week. The letter, released by Amtrak, says those priorities are: — Emergency funding: $1.541 billion of COVID relief this year “to sustain and restore operations and recall employees” through September 30 […]
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Monday morning rail news: Metra to add trains on Rock Island line Metra is introducing a new schedule on its Rock Island District as of Monday, Feb. 1, including new morning and evening rush-hour trains, new express service, and additional midday trains. Other trains have been renumbered or had schedule adjustments. Among the additions […]
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CHICAGO — In a period when the COVID-19 pandemic has made travel more of a last-minute decision than it has been in the past, a Trains News Wire review shows Amtrak passengers on the Northeast Corridor continued to purchase tickets throughout the New Year’s holiday weekend. Such late decisions are not an option for passengers on many […]
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Monday morning rail news: Amtrak, transit funds part of new coronavirus stimulus packageCongress has agreed to a coronavirus aid and stimulus package worth about $900 billion that includes money for transit and Amtrak. The Washington Post reports the House summary of the bill’s contents lists $14 billion in aid for transit, and $1 billion for […]
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WASHINGTON — The agencies overseeing state-sponsored Amtrak trains in California have asked Congress to address the national passenger railroad’s method of charging them for operations, focusing new attention on a long-simmering dispute. A Nov. 30 letter by San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission Executive Director Stacey Mortenson, obtained by Trains News Wire, urges “that states only […]
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Third in a series OAKLAND, Calif. — The Los Angeles-Seattle Coast Starlight was a 1971 Amtrak concoction cobbling together three trains: Southern Pacific’s Coast Daylight and overnight Cascade, even though the SP trains hadn’t connected at the time, and the unnamed Portland, Ore.-Seattle Burlington Northern or Union Pacific “pool trains.” Originally, and ambitiously, the south […]
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