WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has turned down an application from a company seeking to revive a long-dormant portion of the former Northwestern Pacific route in Northern California after the company missed a filing deadline. The North Coast Railroad Co. was seeking to purchase 176 miles of rail line between Willits and Eureka, Calif., […]
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The California High-Speed Rail Authority has released the final environmental report for the San Jose-San Francisco section of the project, moving closer to receiving environmental clearance for the entire San Francisco-Los Angeles route. The authority board of directors will consider the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement at its meeting in […]
WASHINGTON — The House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials will hold a hearing on freight rail safety on Tuesday, June 14. The hearing, announced by Rep. Peter Defazio (D-Ore.), chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.), chair of the subcommittee, is set for 10 a.m. […]
THOROLD, Ontario — An agreement with shortline holding company GIO Rail has returned rail service to an industrial park in Thorold, near Niagara Falls, for the first time in more than two decades. GIO Rail’s switching agreement with HOPA Ports — the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority — and Bioveld Canada, owner of the Thorold Multimodal Hub, […]
CSX Transportation and Union Pacific both had trains derail Friday morning, with no injuries in either incident. An estimated 12 to 15 cars of a CSX train derailed at the CSX yard in Augusta, Ga., the Augusta Chronicle reports. The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office reported no hazardous materials were involved. A CSX release said the […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will allow a limited number of Amtrak personnel access to raw train data used by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern so the passenger operator can run its own Rail Traffic Controller capacity modeling study. In a decision issued Friday, the STB also ordered board-sponsored mediation to address the differences […]
WASHINGTON — The Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger threatens to degrade intermodal service on the Meridian Speedway that serves as a shortcut between the Southeast and Southwest, Norfolk Southern told federal regulators this week. NS and KCS currently operate interline intermodal trains over the Meridian, Miss.-Shreveport, La., joint venture. KCS handles the NS trains over […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has issued its new rule on railroad fatigue management, set for formal publication on Monday, and at least one rail union leader has offered a positive response. The final rule, “Fatigue Risk Management Programs for Certain Passenger and Freight Railroads,” is available here for public inspection. Following its publication […]
Ford F-850 boom truck Scale: HO (1:87.1) Price: $34.99 Era: 1960 to 1980+ (varies depending on paint scheme) Manufacturer: Athearn Trains, 2904 Research Rd., Champaign, IL 61822, 800-338-4639, athearn.com Ford F-850 boom truck features: Factory-assembled injection-molded plastic model Positionable boom and outriggers Molded cab interior with separate, factory-applied steering wheel Clear window glazing Rubber tires Available […]
OMAHA, Neb. — A Singapore-based shipping firm, Ocean Network Express, is suing Union Pacific over the thefts of packages it says were stolen from UP trains during a widely reported series of break-ins to intermodal trains in Los Angeles. The Omaha World Herald reports ONE has filed suit over the theft of $166,000 worth of […]
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh’s public transit has a new name. The Port Authority of Allegheny County has rebranded itself as Pittsburgh Regional Transit, the agency announced in a Thursday press conference at its Gateway light rail station in downtown Pittsburgh. Along with the new name comes a new logo: the letters PRT in yellow circles. The […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak is seeking more than $200 million in federal funding, along with money from state and local sources, in an attempt to fix a series of long-standing deficiencies, capacity limitations, and how trains from the south and east enter Chicago. The passenger operator is competing for a portion of $5 billion available between […]
