BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is slated to have submitted plans by today to address safety directives issued by the Federal Transit Administration, Streetsblog Mass reports. Corrective action plans were required to respond to the four directives issued by the FTA in June [see “Federal directives order MBTA to address safety issues,” Trains […]
WASHINGTON — Pressure to reduce terminal dwell figures has prompted some Union Pacific yards to routinely depart trains that include misrouted cars simply to get them moving, a UP engineer alleges in a letter sent to federal regulators. Michael Lindsey, a veteran engineer based in Pocatello, Idaho, used a train he ran to Nampa, Idaho, […]
WASHINGTON – Union Pacific has been delivering unit grain trains as scheduled to a major California poultry and feed producer since federal regulators issued an emergency service order last month. But Fowler Farms, the largest chicken producer in the West, is seeking a 90-day extension of the emergency service order, which expired on July 17. […]
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — It just may be that CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote is a bit weary of hearing about the evils of Precision Scheduled Railroading. In his customary blunt style, Foote gave that impression Tuesday when speaking to the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers about ongoing service issues for his railroad and the […]
NEW YORK — New York City and the state of New York have agreed on a plan to pay for renovation of Penn Station, the nation’s busiest passenger rail facility, and redevelopment of its surrounding neighborhood. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announced the agreement on Monday. As outlined by the website […]
CHICAGO — Inflation is still on the rise, reporting a 9% increase in June, driven in part by higher costs for energy and other commodities hauled by railroads. Updates to the nation’s consumer price index released for June earlier this week noted that inflation rose more than 1% from May as a result of elevated […]
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah state judge has dismissed a suit seeking to block state funding for the Uinta Basin Railway project, finding nothing improper in use of the funds. The Salt Lake Tribune reports Third District Judge Adam Mow concluded the $28 million in grants ticketed for the rail project from the Utah […]
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A plan for passenger rail service between Los Angeles and the Coachella Valley — the area including Palm Springs and Indio — has moved forward, with the Riverside County Transportation Commission adopting a service plan for the proposed route. Patch.com reports the commission has certified the final Tier I environmental impact statement/environmental […]
WASHINGTON – The Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad family is growing. Next month the New York state railroad will acquire a controlling interest in neighboring short line Ontario Midland Railroad, it said in a July 13 filing with the Surface Transportation Board. Ontario Midland operates 47 miles of trackage east of Rochester, N.Y., and connects […]
Belt Railway of Chicago locomotives: I recently photographed an ex-Belt Railway of Chiacgo Alco in, of all places, Olean, N.Y., on the Western New York & Pennsylvania. That old Alco and I go back to the mid 1980ss when I first laid eyes on her and a stable of other exotic beasts at BRC’s Clearing […]
Cowl locomotives: Six-axle cowl locomotives purchased for freight service have been rostered continuously on Class I railroads since Santa Fe first purchased EMD’s F45 model in 1968. More than a half century later, the industry is down to a single Class I railroad operating this locomotive design, Canadian Pacific. Although cowls have been hauling freight […]
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has named Ira F. Jaffe to chair the three-member Presidential Emergency Board addressing the rail labor dispute, Reuters reports. Also named to the board were Boston College professor David Twomey and independent arbitrator Barbara C. Deinhardt. Jaffe has served on five previous emergency boards — four involving rail disputes and one […]
