BOSTON — The rapid transit Red Line and two commuter rail lines, the Needham and Haverhill, will see service interruptions in July for maintenance, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has announced. The Red Line work will include a weekend shutdown of the outbound/northbound platform at the Kendall/MIT station July 5-7, and a major shutdown between […]
Train Topic: Railroad Operations
With NTSB report looming, NS touts safety improvements made since East Palestine wreck
ATLANTA — With the National Transportation Safety Board’s final report on the East Palestine, Ohio, hazardous materials wreck due out next week, Norfolk Southern is touting the safety improvements it has made so far this year. The railroad released a midyear safety report on Monday, which outlines strides the railroad has made this year as […]
Amtrak suggests Adirondack passengers take the bus: Analysis
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — After more than a month with no mention in the “Passenger Advisories” section of Amtrak’s website that the New York-Montreal Adirondack wasn’t running north of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the passenger operator has acknowledged that the summertime hiatus will extend until Sept. 9. The “Modified Adirondack Service” notice appeared a week after […]
NJ Transit hosts workshop to prepare for 2026 World Cup
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit and partner organizations on Monday hosted a workshop at Rutgers University Newark to prepare for 2026 World Cup events at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, including the international soccer tournament’s championship game. The workshop, in partnership with the International Association of Public Transportion (UITP) and the Rutgers Center for Advanced […]
No injuries reported in UP hazardous-material situation in Arkansas
McRAE, Ark. — A one-mile area near the town of McRae was evacuated today (Monday, June 17) after a railcar on a Union Pacific train released a hazardous material, KTHV-TV reports. No injuries resulted from the incident, which involved nitric acid. State Route 367 was closed for about four hours. Union Pacific said in a […]
BNSF must pay tribe $394 million for oil-train operation in violation of agreement
SEATTLE — BNSF Railway owes Washington state’s Swinomish Indian Tribal Community $394.5 million for violating an agreement governing railroad operation across tribal land, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik reached that figure after a four-day bench trial, the Seattle Times reports. He had previously ruled the railroad had violated a 1991 […]
Start of MBTA South Coast Rail service pushed back to spring 2025
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Completion of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s $1.1 billion South Coast Rail project — to extend commuter rail service to Fall River and New Bedford — has been pushed back to May 2025, more than a year and a half after the original target date for the launch of service. The […]
TSB statistics show rail accidents in Canada declined in 2023
GATINEAU, Quebec — Rail accidents and incidents in Canada were down in 2023, although fatalities were up slightly, according to final statistics released last week by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The board received 1,235 reports of rail “occurrences” — 914 accidents (which involve a fatality or serious injury, or a derailment, collision, or […]
California concludes zero-emissions locomotives are ready to roll
The California Air Resources Board pitted a standard diesel-electric locomotive consist against zero-emissions alternatives – including battery-electric models from Wabtec and ProgressRail as well as Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s hydrogen fuel cell locomotive – in a hypothetical test run from the Port of Los Angeles to Barstow, Calif. The analysis concludes that the current zero-emissions […]
Third party to take over dispatching of Alameda Corridor
WASHINGTON – Union Pacific and BNSF Railway are contracting out dispatching of the Alameda Corridor to a neutral third party. The 16.1 mile grade-separated corridor, which leads to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., handled an average of 31 trains per day in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Alameda […]
CSX removing humps at three yards, adding new switching ladders to improve operations
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX is flattening the hump and demolishing the hump tower at its yard in Cumberland, Md., and building a classification yard ladder to make flat-switching more efficient. Similar moves are under way at the railroad’s yards in Hamlet, N.C., and Willard, Ohio, where the humps were decommissioned in 2017 as CSX shifted […]
Union Pacific train derails south of Omaha
UNION, Neb. — More than 20 cars of a Union Pacific train derailed Tuesday afternoon near the Nebraska-Iowa state line, with one tank car spilling its contents into an adjacent waterway, KLKN-TV reports. The derailment occurred about 4 p.m. near Union, about 4 miles west of the state line and 30 miles south of Omaha […]