SEPTA adjusts service after I-95 reopens

Four-car electric multiple-unit trainset

PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has readjusted commuter rail operations following Friday’s reopening of Interstate following a June 11 bridge collapse. SEPTA will continue to offer two additional morning trains and one additional evening train on its Trenton Line, while maintaining additional seating capacity on that line, as well as the West Trenton […]

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House legislation would provide more investigators for NTSB

intermodal train approaches curve with bluffs as backdrop

WASHINGTON — A U.S. legislator from Wisconsin has introduced a bill to fund additional investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board, part of the ongoing increase in rail legislation that has followed the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment in February. However, the bill by Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien), the Rail Inspector Safety Act, […]

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Man involved in drug case that spurred fatal shootout on Sunset Limited receives 10-year sentence

U.S. Department of Justice seal

TUCSON, Ariz. — A man involved in a shootout on Amtrak’s Sunset Limited in 2021 that led to the death of his accomplice and a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency officer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said in a press release. Devonte Okeith Mathis, […]

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CPKC releases 2022 sustainability report, first for merged railroad

Freight train with two locomotives

CALGARY — CPKC has released its 2022 Sustainability Data Report, which separately presents environmental, social, and governance accomplishments of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern in 2022, as well as insights on combined plans for the merged railroads. The report highlights such events and activities as: — Canadian Pacific’s hydrogen locomotive program, which saw the […]

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Bridge collapses beneath Montana Rail Link train

Railroad bridge collapsed into river with railroad cars in water

COLUMBUS, Mont. — A bridge collapsed beneath a Montana Rail Link train Saturday morning, sending cars carrying asphalt and molten sulphur into the Yellowstone River and creating drinking-water issues downstream. The Billings Gazette reports the accident occurred about 6:45 a.m.; the Stillwater County Department of Emergency Services says three cars of hot asphalt and four […]

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NTSB East Palestine hearing focuses on role of car inspection, wayside detectors

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The National Transportation Safety Board put a spotlight on Norfolk Southern’s car inspection practices and railroad industry wayside detector standards during its second day of field hearings on the disastrous Feb. 3 derailment of NS train 32N in this town on the Pennsylvania border. The derailment, which spilled hazardous materials initially […]

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Judge dismisses preservation group’s appeal of permits for new BNSF bridge in Bismarck

BNSF train crossing river bridge in winter

BISMARCK, N.D. — A state judge in North Dakota has dismissed a permit appeal by the preservation group seeking to block demolition of BNSF Railway’s 140-year-old bridge over the Missouri River. The Bismarck Tribune reports that South Central Judicial District Court Judge Jackson Lofgren on Friday dismissed on technical grounds the appeal by the Friends […]

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Sound Transit advances planning for light rail to Everett

Map of planned light rail line between Lynnwood and Everett, Wash.

SEATTLE — Sound Transit has advanced the process of designing a light rail line that would extend to Everett, Wash., with the agency’s board voting Thursday on potential station sites for the 16-mile extension north from the line to Lynnwood, Wash., that is now under construction. The Seattle Times reports plans approved Thursday would not […]

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STB orders BNSF to haul more coal for Powder River Basin company

orange locomotive and train comes around curve in Wyoming

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators today ordered BNSF Railway to haul more coal from Navajo Transitional Energy Co.’s Spring Creek mine in Montana to tidewater in British Columbia. The Surface Transportation Board’s 3-2 decision, which stemmed from a common-carrier complaint and emergency service order request from the coal producer, requires BNSF to transport 4.2 million tons […]

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K-Line O gauge Amtrak F40PH

K-Line O gauge Amtrak F40PH

The K-Line O gauge Amtrak F40PH has launched fans of the National Passenger Rail Corp. into heaven. Not only are there a host of toy-like Amtrak engines and cars available, there has also been a virtual explosion of scale and semi-scale gear in the colors of their favorite federal program. If the E8 is a […]

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South Carolina legislature provides more funding for Saluda Grade trail

Map of former rail route in North and South Carolina.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — South Carolina’s legislature has set aside an additional $10 million for development of the Saluda Grade Rail Trail, the Spartanburg Post and Courier reports. Lawmakers had already earmarked $5 million for the project before Norfolk Southern agreed to sell the dormant 31-mile, two-state rail route, once the steepest main line in the […]

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