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 […]
Mark Twain Zephyr mural takes shape
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 […]
DC Metrorail service to be limited after newest cars are sidelined
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 […]
Texas Supreme Court reverses itself, will hear Texas Central case
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 […]
Union Pacific to require employees to receive COVID-19 vaccinations
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 […]
William Gray, midwestern preservation figure, dies at 49
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. […]
BNSF to activate trackage rights over Union Pacific in Missouri to reach power plant
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, […]
STB sets new schedule for Amtrak Gulf Coast case
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 […]
Trains, December 2021
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DC Metrorail service restored through site of derailment
ARLINGTON, Va. — Full operation was restored Friday morning on the DC Metrorail Blue Line, more than two days after service was halted between the Arlington Cemetery and Foggy Bottom stations as the result of a derailment. An investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board is continuing after one car of a train derailed […]
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum celebrates 60 years
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.—One of the senior organizations in American railway preservation, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, is celebrating its 60th anniversary the weekends of Oct. 16-17 and Oct. 23-24. Plans include rides featuring the museum’s two operational steam engines, as well as steam- and diesel-themed night photo sessions, as the non-profit looks ahead with […]
New Brightline trainset arrives in South Florida (video)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The first of Brightline’s new trainsets for expansion of service to Orlando has arrived at the passenger operator’s West Palm Beach maintenance facility. A video provided by Brightline shows the trainset — the first of two five new two-locomotive, four-car trains — completing its trip from Sacramento, Calif. Service to […]