BALTIMORE — The Maryland Transit Administration has awarded Alstom a five-year contract for operation and maintenance of the MARC commuter rail Camden and Brunswick lines, with options for two extensions. The initial contract is worth $401 million, with a total of value of $1.4 billion including the potential extensions in 2028 and 2033. Alstom, which […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Funding to launch passenger rail service between the Twin Cities and Duluth, Minn., has been included in transportation bills in both houses of the Minnesota legislature, although the two versions provide substantially different levels of funding. The Duluth News Tribune reports that the budget bills prepared by both houses, controlled by […]
RICHMOND, Va. — The cost of a second rail bridge over the Potomac River — a key part of Virginia’s plan for major expansion of Amtrak and commuter-rail service on the I-95 corridor south from Washington, D.C.— has risen substantially, leading to a $389 million shortfall, the Washington Post reports.= The new two-track Long Bridge […]
The history of the “Heritage Fleet” column is an interesting one. This regular feature in Model Railroader magazine between March of 1987 and March of 1990, helped toy train enthusiasts and scale modelers discover classic miniature locomotives, cars, and more designed and sold in the first 50 or so years of the 20th century. In […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration on Friday issued a safety advisory calling on railroads to address potential safety risks resulting from the structure of long freight trains, saying it has “noticed a rising trend in recent incidents where train build and makeup have been identified as a potential cause or contributing factor.” Limitations on […]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation has reached an agreement with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Mechanical Department (SMART-MD) to provide paid sick leave, its ninth such agreement with a union representing CSX workers. “CSX continues to work collaboratively with all of our union partners to find solutions that improve the […]
All the positive freight railroad safety statistics in the world — like more than 99.9% of hazardous materials shipments arriving without incident — can’t overcome that image of a towering column of black smoke rising from East Palestine, Ohio. The toxic cloud from the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment did far more than upend 4,700 […]
WASHINGTON — For passengers on long-distance trains, compared to those on the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is falling short of its pledge to “restore our business to pre-pandemic levels,” as voiced by Vice President Dennis Newman at a public Board of Directors meeting in St. Louis last December. Demand for long-distance travel was the strongest among […]
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s railways continue to use diesel locomotives supplied new by American builders EMD, GE, and Alco in the late 1950s, with Buenos Aires possibly the only place on the planet where those diesels are working side by side, hauling and switching freight in 2023. More modern Chinese-built locomotives, as well as […]
If you’re new to the hobby, you might be wondering why some modelers change the couplers on their trains. Couplers are the devices that connect individual locomotives and rolling stock together while playing a critical role in determining the realism and reliability of a model train. To put it simply, some model railroaders choose to […]
Railroad drone photography Digital photography is constantly improving, and these advancements are empowering photographers to push the boundaries and implore new styles of photography. A new style that has recently emerged reinvents the classic, pan and pace. Using a low shutter speed and a steady hand, this style allows photographers to focus on the subject […]
Of the big six Class I railroads, only Canadian Pacific’s traffic volume was in positive territory for the first quarter. But that was due to favorable comparisons with last year’s first quarter, when a March labor dispute in Canada shut down CP’s operations for two days. The best the other railroads could do during the […]
