BOSTON — A group of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority track workers experienced another near-miss incident on March 1, the transit agency reported Thursday, the latest in a series of safety incidents that helped lead to federal oversight of the rapid transit system. The Boston Globe reports that one flagger and four track workers were involved […]
Type of Train: Passenger/Transit
Metrolink brings back Angels Express service
ANAHEIM, Calif. — LA-area commuter rail operator Metrolink will revive Angels Express service after a five-year hiatus, offering round-trip service to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Los Angeles Angels baseball home games, as well as midweek games against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 26, Sept. 3, and Sept. 4. Round trips will operate from LA […]
FRA awards $900,000 to three states for interstate rail programs
WASHINGTON — Projects in Illinois, Louisiana, and North Carolina have received a total of $900,000 in planning and development funding under the Federal Railroad Administration’s Interstate Rail Compacts grant program, the FRA announced today (Thursday, March 14). Compacts are agreements between two or more states to support development of intercity passenger rail services that can […]
Orange County agency considers half-mile wall to address San Clemente slide issues
ORANGE, Calif. — The Orange County Transportation Authority is considering a proposal to build a $200 million, half-mile-long wall along the Surf Line right-of-way to address slide issues that have repeatedly closed the rail route since 2021 — but the city of San Clemente has reservations about the idea. Meanwhile, work continues on the temporary […]
Reading & Northern continues to develop Nesquehoning campus
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — The Reading & Northern Railroad this week updated progress on its development of the former KME Fire Apparatus industrial complex in Nesquehoning Borough, which is being developed for a variety of uses by the railroad, including a new passenger station. The nine-building, 10-acre facility was acquired by the railroad in 2022, […]
Hartford Line schedule changes begin Monday
NEWINGTON, Conn. — Small but long-running adjustments to Amtrak and CTrail schedules on the CTrail Hartford Line will begin Monday, March 18, to accommodate Amtrak’s Continuous Welded Rail project, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has announced. The schedule changes, which will see some schedules adjusted by as much as 12 minutes, will continue through late […]
Pennsy’s Broad Street Station on fire
The Pennsylvania’s giant Broad Street Station in Center City Philadelphia suffered a major fire on June 11, 1923. Train service was quickly restored, but the 16-track trainshed had to be removed. PRR photo […]
Siemens to build new light rail equipment for St. Louis
ST. LOUIS — Siemens Mobility will build 55 new battery hybrid S200 high-floor light rail vehicles for the Metro Transit system, replacing the oldest vehicles in the MetroLink light rail system, the company has announced. Bi-State Development, operator of Metro Transit, selected Siemens, which previously built the system’s SD400 and SD460 LRVs in orders beginning […]
Brightline to add Cocoa, Fla., station
COCOA, Fla. — Brightline and local officials announced their intention Tuesday to build a station on over 40 acres of Brightline-owned land near the junction where its trains from Orlando International Airport join Florida East Coast Railway’s north-south main line. The planned Cocoa, Fla., station is 40 miles east of the company’s Orlando terminus, and […]
Trackwork sidelines one Wolverine round trip Mondays-Thursdays through fall: Analysis
CHICAGO — Upgrading speeds and capacity or simply keeping tracks well-maintained for passenger trains has tradeoffs that often compromise a rail corridor’s ability to provide meaningful mobility while the work is going on. An example will occur in Michigan beginning May 6, when Amtrak and the state of Michigan jointly made the decision to suspend […]
Caltrain tests electric trainsets on Redwood City-Mountain View segment (with video)
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Caltrain’s electrification process took another step forward the weekend of March 9-10, with successful testing of trains and catenary on the commuter line’s Redwood City-Mountain View segment, the agency announced Monday. Test runs beginning at 20 mph and increasing to the 79-mph speed limit were conducted, with a total of 25 […]
MBTA removes 11 speed restrictions with Green Line work
BOSTON — Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority work on the rapid transit Green Line in February and March removed 11 speed restrictions and made unnecessary a planned suspension of service on the C Branch this fall, the MBTA said on Monday. The C Branch outage this fall is no longer needed because work eliminated a slow […]