Union Pacific to require employees to receive COVID-19 vaccinations

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

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 […]

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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. […]

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STB sets new schedule for Amtrak Gulf Coast case

Surface Transportation Board logo

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 […]

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DC Metrorail service restored through site of derailment

WMATA (DC Metro) logo

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 […]

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Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum celebrates 60 years

Steam engine pulling passenger train

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 […]

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New Brightline trainset arrives in South Florida (video)

Aerial view of passenger train pulled by blue freight locomotive

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 […]

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Long Island Rail Road conductors warned for ticket violations

Long Island Rail Road logo

NEW YORK — Eight Long Island Rail Road conductors have received warnings over not properly cancelling and processing tickets gathered on trains, following an investigator triggered by the arrest earlier this year of a conductor who allegedly pocketed tickets to be used by friends or cashed for refunds. The Long Island Press reports the Metropolitan […]

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CSX honored for climate initiatives

CSX logo

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation has been honored by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and The Climate Registry for its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The railroad has received a 2021 Climate Leadership Award for greenhouse gas reduction goal setting, recognizing ““exemplary corporate, organizational, and individual leadership in reducing carbon pollution and […]

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Nevada Northern receives $10 million grant to extend route

Steam engine in desert landscape

ELY, Nev.—The Nevada Northern Railway Museum has been awarded a $10 million grant to rebuild 16 miles of railroad from Ely to McGill and install a turntable. The legendary preservation railroad is getting ready to expand train service in a big way. For years, the railroad has been eyeing a section of long-unused track to […]

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Bruce Sterzing, legendary D&H president, dies at 88

Black and white photo of man in locomotive cab

Of all the colorful stories that emerged in the 1970s from the tangle of Northeast railroading after Penn Central’s 1970 bankruptcy, perhaps none is more intriguing than the Delaware & Hudson’s battle to maintain its independence, a fight led by its president, Carl B. “Bruce” Sterzing Jr. A lawyer by training, Sterzing became president of […]

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