Hays T. Watkins Jr., a soft-spoken Kentuckian who made the CSX merger a classic success, is dead at the age of 96. Watkins died Friday after complications from a fall, his son Tom Watkins has reported. “Hays Watkins without a doubt was and to this day remains the person with the highest degrees of integrity […]
READING, Pa. — In a trip featuring the first appearance by a passenger train in Tremont, Pa., in at least 30 years, the Reading & Northern hosted the National Museum of Industrial History’s Anthracite Railroad Ramble on Friday, July 29. The trip, featuring Reading & Northern’s Budd Rail Diesel Cars, originated at the Reading Outer Station, […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — Amtrak has restored some service through the Albany, N.Y., area, offering bus connections for the Lake Shore Limited, Maple Leaf, and Ethan Allen Express. Empire Service west of Albany remains suspended, the company said in an update on its Amtrak Alerts Twitter feed. The Lake Shore Limited will originate and terminate in […]
DENVER—In what will most likely be its sole trip of 2022, Union Pacific No. 4014 — Big Boy — is attracting large crowds during a three-day excursion between Cheyenne, Wyo., and Denver. The proceeds from Sunday’s ticketed excursion will support the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Leading a 12-car train, including an […]
WASHINGTON — The launch of Amtrak Gulf Coast service without infrastructure improvements would cause “immediate and future impairment to freight service that is unreasonable under any definition,” CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern argue in their latest filing with the Surface Transportation Board. This is the exact opposite of the contention Amtrak makes in its latest […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak says its additional analysis shows its proposed Gulf Coast passenger service will cause “no unreasonable impairment” on the proposed route between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., and argues that the case for such impairment by host railroads CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern “has failed.” Those contentions are included in the passenger railroad’s […]
NEW YORK — The head of a union representing Metro-North Railroad employees is asking that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority drop its mask mandate because of a series of confrontations involving conductors on the commuter railroad and passengers who have become combative when asked to wear a mask. Lohud.com reports Edward Valente, general chairman of the […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — Amtrak has suspended operation of its Empire Service west of Albany, along with the Lake Shore Limited, because of a “potential safety concern with a non-Amtrak, privately owned building” located near the rail line. WNYT-TV reports the building involved is the Central Warehouse. Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan has declared a state of […]
ELM GROVE, Wis. — In an unusual and unheralded move, Amtrak moved an eight-car train of privately owned legacy equipment from the Twin Cities to Chicago on Thursday, July 28. The train, scheduled to originate at Midway in the Twin Cities at 11:45 a.m. and arrive in Chicago at 8:30 p.m., was photographed in the […]
BOSTON — A personal injury law firm says it has been hired by several passengers who were on board the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority train that caught fire on a bridge last week, and has taken the first step toward a possible lawsuit against the transit agency. WBZ Radio reports the firm Morgan & Morgan […]
OTTAWA — Full service on the O-Train Confederation Line is projected to resume today (Friday, July 29) after a lightning strike Sunday damaged part of the catenary for the light rail system. CTV News reports a precise time has not been determined, with Troy Charter, OC Transpo’s director of transit and rail operations, saying a […]
BLUE ISLAND, Ill. — Metra has broken ground on a $3.8 million rehabilitation of the Vermont Avenue station in Blue Island, a structure dating to 1868 on Metra’s Rock Island District. A Thursday, July 28, ceremony including Metra CEO Jim Derwinski and other state and local officials marked the start of a project including a […]
