WASHINGTON — Mai Dinh has been named director of the Office of Proceedings at the Surface Transportation board, a position in which she oversees development of the public record of STB proceedings and manages the office’s legal and administrative sections. Dinh was appointed by STB Chairman Martin Oberman, with the approval of the rest of […]
WASHINGTON — A major grain shipper opposes Canadian National’s effort to force Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern to divest the KCS line linking Springfield, Ill., and Kansas City. Earlier this year CN asked the Surface Transportation Board to condition approval of the CP-KCS merger on divestiture of KCS’s Springfield Line. CN promises to spend […]
NEW HAVEN, Ind. — The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society has acquired two Pennsylvania Railroad passenger cars from the Washington, D.C., chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. The cars will be used to support the Indiana Rail Experience, a series of excursions with the society’s steam locomotive, Nickel Plate Road No. 765 [see “Indiana […]
CONCORD, Calif. — One passenger was taken to a hospital for treatment after the last two cars of a Bay Area Rapid Transit train derailed Tuesday afternoon. Extreme heat appears to have been responsible, a BART official said. The San Jose Mercury News reports the derailment occurred about 5:30 p.m., involving a train bound for […]
BOSTON — In the latest setback for its newest rapid-transit equipment, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has pulled its new Orange and Red Line cars from service after what officials called a “battery failure” on one of the cars. Meanwhile, the agency — hit last week by a series of directives from the Federal Transit […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak will add a second daily Northeast Regional departure from Roanoke, Va., as of July 11, creating a schedule with morning and afternoon trains in both directions between Roanoke, Washington, and other Northeast Corridor destinations. Trains will now depart Roanoke at 6:32 a.m. (arriving in Washington at 11:34 a.m.) and 4:30 p.m. (arriving […]
CHICAGO — Metra is bringing back special Saturday summer service it introduced on its Heritage Corridor route last year, offering residents to explore communities and recreational opportunities along the line which normally only sees weekday service. The “Rails, Trails, and Ales” excursions will operate on 10 consecutive Saturdays beginning July 2, with three round trips […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a lower-court ruling striking down an Oklahoma law allowing railroads to be fined for blocking grade crossings longer than 10 minutes. The Oklahoman newspaper reports the court turned down without comment Oklahoma’s appeal of a decision by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has taken the first step in the procurement process to replace Baltimore’s B&P Tunnel, issuing a Request for Letters of Interest for the new tunnel’s Southern Approach construction package. The $1 billion-plus Southern Approach package is the first of three major construction contracts for the project to replace the 1.4-mile tunnel dating […]
The U.S. Class I railroads’ recurring crew shortages, related bouts of service problems, and a lack of meaningful volume growth are intertwined. You can lay the blame for all three problems at just one place: Wall Street. BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific are in the midst of the mother of all […]
MONTREAL — Canadian National says it has “met or exceeded” the demands of striking Canadian signal and communications workers in negotiations, while the chief negotiator for those workers said that claim was technically correct but misleading. Some 750 workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical workers walked out across Canada on Saturday. The railroad […]
LONDON — Most trains in Britain have been cancelled or rescheduled as of today (Tuesday, June 21) due to a widespread strike. The action involves some, but not all, railway workers at 13 passenger companies, plus national rail infrastructure company Network Rail and the London subway (Tube) system. In total, around 40,000 people are striking. […]
