STB establishes office to probe Amtrak delays on host railroads (updated)

Amtrak train reaches grade crossing

WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board has created a passenger rail office that will be responsible for investigating and analyzing Amtrak on-time performance on host railroads. The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 authorizes the STB to investigate the causes of substandard passenger rail on-time performance, to identify mitigating measures, and, under specified […]

Read More…

Parties to keep talking in effort to iron out Amtrak Gulf Coast dispute

Passenger train with theater car at rear stopped at station

WASHINGTON – The Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday granted a request from all parties involved to extend by 14 days the board-sponsored mediation regarding Amtrak’s effort to launch Gulf Coast passenger service. Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority will continue to talk through Oct. 25. All parties agreed that “an […]

Read More…

Amtrak Wolverine to Chicago delayed more than 13 hours

Passenger train approaching grade crossing

CHICAGO — Some details have emerged from an ill-fated Friday, Oct. 7, trip of Amtrak Wolverine No. 351, the morning departure from Pontiac, Mich., which arrived in Chicago more than 13 hours late. The trip, scheduled for a trip of 5 hours, 49 minutes with a 10:32 a.m. arrival finally reached Chicago Union station at […]

Read More…

BNSF’s new Sandpoint, Idaho, bridge nears opening

Front view of train crossing bridge with second bridge under construction at left

SANDPOINT, Idaho — BNSF Railway’s nearly mile-long second bridge across Lake Pend Oreille near Sandpoint is now structurally complete and tracklaying has begun. BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent says, “The new bridge will have trains operating over it by the end of November.” Initially, the second main will be laid from a point near the northwest […]

Read More…

City of New Orleans, Crescent resume seven-day operation

Passenger train on curve

NEW ORLEANS — Amtrak will finally restore daily service to and from New Orleans on the Crescent and City of New Orleans, among the last of the routes that have only offered five-day-a-week operations since service cuts in January. Saturday and Sunday service on both the Chicago-New Orleans City route and the New York-New Orleans […]

Read More…

Pacific Surfliner business-class interiors get upgrade

Side view of blue and silver bilevel passenger car

LOS ANGELES — Travelers who choose business class on the Pacific Surfliner route between San Diego and San Luis Obispo, Calif., have always enjoyed more bang for the extra bucks. That’s because Surfliner’s version includes wine, snack packs, and morning pastries as well as soft drinks, coffee, and juice — all served by an attendant […]

Read More…

Amtrak, Delaware receive funds to support rail job training

Amtrak logo.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Amtrak and the Delaware Department of Transportation have been awarded an $11 million grant to fund a new “Railroading 101” training program. The funds from the U.S. Department of Labor will offer a program to develop railroad-related skills. It will also improve job opportunities in Delaware and build a more diverse rail […]

Read More…

Lenox Tower project complete, Illinois DOT announces

Freight train crosses tracks near building being demolished

  MITCHELL, Ill. — A $10.1 million project to reconfigure and modernize rail operations at Lenox Tower, a key rail junction northeast of St. Louis, has been completed, the Illinois Department of Transportation has announced. The joint federal and state project, also funded by Amtrak and freight railroads, was announced more than a year ago […]

Read More…