WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific Kansas City insists that it did not miss any deadlines when it asked federal regulators to give Canadian National’s proposed acquisition of Iowa Northern Railway a more thorough review. CN this week claimed that CPKC missed two deadlines when it asked the Surface Transportation Board to consider the $230 million deal […]
LOWER SAUCON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A National Transportation Safety Board investigator has filled in town officials on additional details of last weekend’s incident collision and derailment involving three Norfolk Southern trains, saying a total of nine railcars derailed in the incident, WFMZ-TV reports. Ruben Payan, who is leading the NTSB team looking at train operations, […]
CANCUN, Mexico — When is a route inauguration not really the start of service? With Mexico’s Maya Train, the answer, apparently, is when a political deadline is involved. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obardor was among the officials on board Feb. 29 for a trip to inaugurate a new section of the Maya Train, a […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic was up 4.9% in February compared to the same month a year ago, according to statistics from the Association of American Railroads, while volume for the week ending March 2 was also up, the sixth straight week of gains compared to 2023. The February gains came after January’s traffic levels […]
WASHINGTON — The controlled burn of vinyl chloride following last year’s derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was unnecessary, National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy told a Senate hearing today — and might have been avoided with better communication. Homendy, testifying at a Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on NTSB investigations, said in […]
WASHINGTON — The Senate Budget Committee has unanimously voted to advance a bill that would permanently exempt railroad workers’ unemployment and sickness insurance benefits from sequestration cuts, and end current cuts. Industry and labor groups had jointly written members of the committee earlier this week asking for support for S.1274, the Railroad Employee Equity and […]
CHICAGO — Beginning today (Wednesday, March 6) Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr will depart Chicago for California for the first time the Feb. 27 departure encountered freight congestion and weather obstacles that resulted in arrival into Emeryville, Calif., 10 hours, 35 minutes late. Those cars and locomotives, stranded for more than a week at Amtrak’s Oakland […]
Transfer locomotives Transfer runs are trains that move cars from one freight yard usually to a nearby yard of another railroad (but not always). Early in dieselization, three of the major builders marketed locomotives built specifically for such service, called transfer locomotives, which demanded a lot of pulling power but not much speed. Transfer units […]
STOCKTON, Calif. — The operating agency for Amtrak’s San Joaquins and the California Department of Transportation officially launched San Joaquins service using Siemens Venture equipment on Tuesday, March 5, with ceremonies featuring Caltrans director Tony Taveres, state Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin, and other officials. The first Venture cars debuted in San Joaquins service without […]
BOONTON, N.J. — The United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey continues to expand offerings of its Hudson River Rail Excursions, this year scheduling more than 50 day trips beginning and ending in New York City, as well as six overnight trips between New York and Chicago. Tickets for the 2024 trips go on sale […]
PHILADELPHIA — A contractor on the project to restore Amtrak’s 30th Street Station in Philadelphia is facing a federal bribery charge after allegedly providing more than $300,000 in gifts and favors for an Amtrak employee, who altered a contract to nearly double the value of the contractor’s contract, KYW Radio reports. A court document says […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Two daily Pacific Surfliner round trips will resume through the San Clemente area as of Wednesday, March 6, providing through service between San Diego and Los Angeles for the first time since a Jan. 24 landslide at Mariposa Point. The Orange County Transportation Authority announced today (Tuesday, March 5) that Metrolink […]
