Four-mode trains enter service in Europe

Blue, green, and white multiple-unit passenger trainset on display at trade show.

Italian national rail company Trenitalia launched its latest hybrid passenger trains earlier this month on the scenic route from Taranto to Reggio Calabria on the nation’s southern coast. The trains, built by Hitachi in Italy, are claimed to be the world’s first four-mode hybrid trains — and while they are the first to enter service, […]

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Railroads file suits to block two-person crew law

BNSF crew change

Four railroads have filed lawsuits in federal court to block the Federal Railroad Administration’s requirement for two-person crews for most freight trains, the Associated Press reports. Union Pacific, BNSF Railway, the Indiana Rail Road, and Florida East Coast Railway filed individual suits this week in different appellate courts, all saying the rule is arbitrary, capricious, […]

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When Ringling Bros. rode the rails

For 146 years, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train criss-crossed the nation as America’s longest passenger train.  With a mile-long train of passenger cars and container flats and housing about 300 performers and crew, the circus train was a regular sight on American railroads. The Ringling Bros. shut down operations in 2017 […]

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Lionel Catalog Volume 1 for 2024

Lionel Catalog Volume 1 2024 Cover

Lionel Catalog Volume 1 for 2024 is filled with plenty of treasures. What’s there? How about fantastic locomotives loaded with tons of special effects and realistic details as well as lots of superb pieces of scale rolling stock and entertaining operating cars of all sorts? And plenty of spectacular and enjoyable train sets for modelers […]

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U.S. weekly rail traffic remains ahead of 2023 levels

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

WASHINGTON — The well-established pattern for U.S. rail traffic continued for the week ending April 6: carload traffic was down compared to the same week in 2023, while intermodal traffic was up. Overall, that added up to 450,142 carloads and intermodal units, a 1.6% increase compared with the corresponding week a year ago, according to […]

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Vermont Rail System to acquire New Hampshire Central

Map of short line with two disconnected segments

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Vermont Rail System has reached an agreement to purchase assets and operating rights of the New Hampshire Central Railroad to expand its operations in northern New Hampshire, the companies announced Tuesday. “VRS has a 60-year tradition of helping local businesses with efficient and reliable freight service,” Selden Houghton, Vermont Rail System president, […]

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Schulte named president of Anacostia’s Northern Lines Railway

Man in dark sweater, white shirt, and tie

CHICAGO — Quentin Schulte has been named president of Northern Lines Railway, Anacostia Rail Holdings has announced. Schulte has previously been the general manager of the 25-mile railroad that operates BNSF Railway trackage in the St. Cloud, Minn., area, handling more than 10,000 carloads annually. He joined the short line after 15 years with BNSF […]

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Norfolk Southern releases preliminary financial results, announces settlement of East Palestine class action lawsuit

black locomotives on track

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern, which remains under pressure from an activist investor, today took the unusual step of releasing preliminary first quarter financial results, which included a $600 million proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit related to the East Palestine, Ohio, hazardous materials wreck. Including the impact of the settlement, the railroad’s operating income […]

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Colorado rail regulation bill advances

Orange locomotive and coal train

DENVER — Colorado legislation limiting train lengths and requiring wayside detectors, among other provisions, has passed the state’s House of Representatives and been introduced in the Senate. HB24-1030 is sponsored in the House by state Rep. Javier Mabrey (D-Denver) and in the Senate by Sens. Lisa Cutter (D-Lakewood) and Tony Exum (D-Colorado Springs.). As passed […]

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