WASHINGTON — Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman has asked CSX Transportation CEO Jim Foote to explain ongoing service problems that range from missed switches and unfulfilled car orders to delayed manifest and bulk shipments. “Over the past several months the Board has continued to receive a steady stream of complaints about the adequacy […]
WASHINGTON — The DC Metrorail train that derailed Oct. 12, stranding passengers in a tunnel near Arlington National Cemetery, had derailed twice before that day, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday, and other cars in the same order had been involved in 31 failures since 2017. The Washington Post reports that inspections last week […]
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Dome-lounge-observation Tweedsmuir Park brings up the rear of VIA Rail Canada’s Churchill-Winnipeg train No. 692 at Roblin, Man., on Oct. 18, marking the return of the Park class cars to the remote-service train for the first time since spring 2020. The train’s nine-car consist — including three coaches, three Chateau-series sleepers, a […]
LONDON — TCI Fund Management today released its plan to improve Canadian National’s operational and financial performance, saying that replacing CEO JJ Ruest with former CN Chief Operating Officer Jim Vena would usher in a new era of growth and profitability. But TCI’s plan, included with the launch of a website called cnbackontrack.com, sets no […]
MARIETTA, Okla. — At least four people were reported injured Friday night when Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer hit a truck carrying automobiles, derailing the locomotive and apparently causing vehicles from the truck to strike one of the passenger cars. A Facebook post from the Love County, Okla., Fire Department reports the auto carrier had become high-centered […]
HANNIBAL, Mo. — While the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad is home of the under-restoration Mark Twain Zephyr, the city of Hannibal, Mo., is getting its own version of the streamliner — a 60-foot-by-14-foot mural. For a couple of weeks, muralist Ray Harvey of surburban St. Louis has been perched on a manlift above the corner of […]
WASHINGTON — DC Metrorail service will face a significant service reduction as of Monday — and potentially for weeks to come — as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority moves its newest rail cars, the Kawasaki-built 7000-series equipment, from service. The website DCist reports the independent Washington Metrorail Safety Commission ordered the cars removed from […]
AUSTIN, Texas — Acting on a second request, the Texas Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal regarding Texas Central’s eminent domain authority to acquire property for its planned high speed rail line between Dallas and Houston, a case hinging on whether Texas Central meets the legal definition of a “railroad company” or “interurban […]
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific will require employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccination by Dec. 8, the railroad has announced. In a brief notification on its website, the railroad says it is taking the action to comply with an executive order requiring vaccination for employees of federal contractors, noting UP’s status “as a federal contractor […]
FOUNTAINTOWN, Ind. — One of the Midwestern leaders of U.S. railway preservation has passed away. William Walter Gray, 49, died Oct. 12 from brain cancer. Known as one of the driving forces behind Indiana’s Whitewater Valley Railroad tourist line, he was a professional railroader, having worked as a Cincinnati-based CSX locomotive engineer for 26 years. […]
WASHINGTON – BNSF Railway will gain trackage rights over a short stretch of Union Pacific’s Jefferson City Subdivision in Missouri to begin serving a power plant 45 miles west of St. Louis. The 11.5 miles of trackage rights will allow BNSF to deliver coal trains from the Powder River Basin to Ameren’s power plant in Labadie, […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has granted a new extension for the process of addressing Amtrak’s request to require CSX and Norfolk Southern to allow passenger service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. — while cautioning that it will not look favorably on further efforts to delay the process. Amtrak filed the request in […]
