NEW ORLEANS — Limited tickets remain for the Aug. 22 excursion from New Orleans to Plaquemine, La., to be pulled by UP Big Boy No. 4014. The excursion, the only one planned on this year’s Big Boy tour, is a fundraiser for the Union Pacific Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The trip along the Mississippi […]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed a bill creating a state high speed rail commission. House Bill 399, sponsored by Rep. Martin Moylan (D-Des Plaines) will require the commission to create a statewide plan for a high speed rail line connecting Chicago and St. Louis. [see “Digest: Delays add $300 million to […]
PALESTINE, Texas — County officials have accepted a donation of more than $14,000 for the court case seeking to keep Union Pacific from closing its car shop in Palestine, per an agreement that originated more than a century ago. The Palestine Herald-Press reports the Anderson County Commissioners Court has accepted $14,500 raised by an online […]
OLYMPIA, Wash. — A man arrested for trespassing on BNSF property during a protest over oil and coal trains will be allowed to argue in court that the action was his only recourse in addressing climate change, the Washington state Suprme Court has ruled. The Spokane Spokesman-Review reports the court ruled unanimously that Rev. George […]
ATLANTA — An investigation by the Georgia Department of Transportation found that the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority violated numerous safety rules, but MARTA has called investigation “flawed and biased.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained a copy of the investigation report, as well as written MARTA responses. The Georgia DOT report said the transit agency had […]
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — A 31-year effort by the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum has reached fruition with the acquisition of Central of Georgia combine car Fort Mitchell, giving the museum the complete four-car streamlined, stainless-steel Man o’ War trainset built by Budd Co. in 1945. When restoration efforts are complete, the museum believes it will […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — Wabtec has reached a milestone, completing its 1,000th remanufactured locomotive at plants in Fort Worth; Erie, Pa.; and Contagem, Brazil, since the program’s start in 2015. Norfolk Southern has received 500 of the locomotives since contracting with Wabtec to take 1990s-vintage, 4,000-hp, D.C. traction GE Dash 9 locomotives and rebuild them into […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern told federal regulators today that congestion in their busiest international intermodal terminals has been due to disruptions that are beyond their control. Both railroads have taken steps to limit the flow of containers, particularly to their terminals in Chicago, where bottlenecks have arisen from an unprecedented combination of […]
WASHINGTON—Calling the issue “ripe for adjudication,” the Surface Transportation Board has agreed with Amtrak’s request for expedited hearings to determine what, if any, infrastructure improvements must occur before it can begin operating between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. Amtrak had sought to start two daily round trips along the Norfolk Southern-CSX Transportation route in January […]
WASHINGTON – The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which sponsors Amtrak’s Downeaster service between Brunswick, Maine, and Boston, says it backs CSX Transportation’s proposed acquisition of Pan Am Railways. Amtrak’s Downeaster uses Pan Am trackage from the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border to Portland, Maine, and on to the passenger service terminus at Brunswick. The passenger […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis has released its final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Uinta Basin Railway, and selected the Whitmore Park Alternative as the environmentally preferred route for the approximately 85-mile rail line to serve a remote portion of northeastern Utah. The 637-page environmental document, accompanied by more […]
The Fiscal and Management Control Board was formed in response to operational and management failures at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority exposed by a brutal Boston winter in 2015. Joseph Aiello was named chairman and led the FMCB for six years until the board expired on June 30, 2021, having improved the agency’s debt and […]
