Incoming Mexican government will need $4.4 billion to complete Maya Train, Interoceanic rail projects

Train passing through shower of confetti

XALAPA, Mexico — Mexico’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, said Thursday it will take an additional 83 billion pesos ($4.4 billion) to complete the Maya Train and Interoceanic rail projects begun under current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Mexico News Daily reports that figure includes about 35 billion pesos ($1.86 billion) for infrastructure to make the Maya […]

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Illinois Railway Museum sets night steam photo shoot

Night photo of steam locomotive

UNION, Ill. — The Illinois Railway Museum will host a night photo shoot featuring Frisco No. 1630, its 1918 Baldwin 2-10-0, on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. The event begins at 5 p.m. Tickets are $100 and participation will be limited. No. 1630 will be staged at locations around the property with actors wearing period-appropriate attire. […]

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Chicago may ask Union Station to house Greyhound passengers

CHICAGO — The city of Chicago wants Chicago Union Station to provide waiting-room space for Greyhound bus passengers after the expected closure of the city’s Greyhound station in mid-September, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. But Amtrak — Union Station’s owner — says it hasn’t been contacted about any such plan and has reservations about the area’s […]

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Caltrain to place first electric trainsets in service

Caltrain electric trainset passes through station

SAN FRANCISCO — Caltrain will begin public operation of its electrified trainsets this Sunday, Aug. 11, the news site SFGate reports. Agency spokesman Dan Lieberman told SFGate that “a couple” of the electric trains will be in operation, but that Caltrain has decided against announcing which specific trains will be operating with the new equipment […]

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VIA Rail Canada’s public meeting discusses challenges, offers explanations: Analysis

VIA corridor assenger train with heritage HEP cars

MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada recaps the company’s forward-looking initiatives and financial performance for calendar 2023 in a 30-minute audio recording of its annual public meeting released on Wednesday, Aug. 7. The session is moderated by Jamie Orchard, VIA’s senior advisor of corporate communication, and features board of directors chair Francoise Bertrand, CEO Mario Peloquin, […]

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MARC, VRE begin cross-honoring passes

Commuter train with two engines and bilevel coaches

BALTIMORE — While through-running operation for MARC and Virginia Railway Express trains beyond Washington, D.C., remains a wish-list items for some passengers and both agencies, the two commuter rail operators are now making it a little easier and less expensive for some riders to make use of both services. A new agreement, announced Thursday and […]

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Atlas N scale EMD GP40-2

N scale diesel painted red, white, and black on scenic base

Atlas Model Railroad Co. has released a new run of Electro-Motive Division (EMD) GP40-2 diesel locomotives in N scale. The model, part of the Master Line, features plastic and die-cast metal construction, a Scale Speed motor, and body-mounted Accumate couplers. Prototype history Between April 1972 and November 1986, EMD built 903 GP40-2 diesel locomotives. The […]

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Amtrak to resume second Chicago-Quincy train as of Saturday

Short Amtrak train with Siemens Charger locomotive

CHICAGO — Amtrak will restore the second train on its state-supported Chicago-Quincy, Ill., route as of this Saturday, Aug. 10, the company announced this evening (Thursday, Aug. 8). Trains Nos. 381 and 382, the Carl Sandburg, had been suspended since July 30 because of a “high shop count,” according to an Amtrak spokesman [see “Amtrak […]

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