Positive train control: signal course instructors tell Trains how railroads met the Dec. 31 deadline

By: Steve Sweeney One of Trains’ sources of information on positive train control and signaling from 2016 to present has been materials from a University of Wisconsin-Madison Engineering Professional Development signaling basics course taught in Philadelphia. Trains published an article on the course in June, but as the final deadline for a nationwide PTC rollout […]

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New York’s Moynihan Train Hall to open Jan. 1

Train lounge in all-white.

NEW YORK — Amtrak’s Moynihan Train Hall, the facility connected to and across 8th Avenue from New York Penn Station, will be completed Dec. 31 and open Jan. 1. The opening of the facility in the historic James A. Farley Post Office Building will conclude a $1.6 billion project that has taken more than three […]

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Digest: UP train derails near Dixon, Ill.

Building America logo

Thursday afternoon rail news: UP train derails near Dixon, Ill. Thirty-nine cars of a Union Pacific train derailed near Dixon, Ill., on Thursday morning. WIFR-TV reports UP initially informed the Lee County, Ill., Sheriff’s Office of the derailment at 1:49 a.m., and just before 5 a.m., updated its initial report to say diesel fuel, nut […]

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Digest: Bombardier signs deal to maintain new Toronto light rail line

Bombardier logo

More Thursday morning rail news: Bombardier to provide maintenance for Toronto’s Finch West light rail Bombardier has signed a 30-year contract to maintain Toronto’s Finch West Light Rail Transit project. Under the contract, Bombardier will maintain the light rail vehicles, track, and catenary for the system being built by a public-private partnership of transit agency […]

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News Wire Top 10 stories of 2020: Nos. 2-4

A passenger train

Continuing the Trains News Wire countdown of 2020’s top stories: No. 4: The PTC deadline It was a long, expensive process, but the railroad industry has met the huge technological challenge of positive train control. When NJ Transit announced on Dec. 18 that its PTC system had been certified, it meant the last railroad considered […]

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Digest: Honolulu gets extension for federal rail funding

HART logo

Still more Wednesday morning rail news: Honolulu gets extension for federal funds withheld because of rail system issues Honolulu has secured a year-long extension for $250 million in federal funding for its troubled light rail system, but must make enough progress in that year to earn the release of that money from the Federal Transit […]

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Digest: BNSF train derails in Washington after hitting truck

A derailed train

More Wednesday evening rail news: BNSF train derails after hitting truck A BNSF train derailed near Mabton, Wash., after hitting a truck carrying farm equipment. KING-TV reports three locomotives and seven cars derailed in the accident at State Route 22 and Phillips Road on Wednesday morning. Some diesel fuel was spilled from two of the […]

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Digest: Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road complete PTC implementation

A train yard

Wednesday afternoon rail news: Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road complete PTC implementation The two commuter railroads of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority have met the deadline for positive train control deadline. Metro-North Railroad President Catherine Rinaldi and Long Island Rail Road President Phil Eng made the announcement today the MTA’s Mid-Day Storage Yard in Long […]

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