NEW YORK — Amtrak has fully restored service on the Northeast Corridor following computer and signal issues earlier today (Dec. 31, 2023), the company said in a post on the social media site X at 11 a.m. ET. NJ Transit and SEPTA, which were also affected, report their service has also resumed. Amtrak initially reported […]
Type of Train: Passenger/Transit
Top 10 stories of 2023, No. 2: Brightline begins service to Orlando
ORLANDO — Gutsy. There is no other way to describe the splash Brightline made — or the revenue risk it took — after the company flipped the switch on what, by year’s end, would become 32 trains each day between South Florida and Orlando. Service began Sept. 22 to much fanfare. The $6 billion effort […]
Maya Train suspension is for equipment testing, Mexico’s president says
MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador defended the sudden shutdown of Maya Train operations at a Friday press conference, saying the suspension of operation on the existing portion of the looping 965-mile route was necessary for ongoing tests of track and equipment. Trains on the 298-mile segment between Cancún and Campeche, which […]
David Parks’ Cumberland West in HO scale
David Parks’ Cumberland West in HO scale | In this Trains.com Video exclusive, modeler David Parks shares his large HO (1:87) scale layout built in Northern California. David has deftly combined elements of the Baltimore & Ohio and Western Maryland railroads as they operated in 1953 in and around Cumberland, Maryland. As narrated by 0ur […]
David Parks’ Cumberland West in HO scale
David Parks’ Cumberland West in HO scale | In this Trains.com Video exclusive, modeler David Parks shares his large HO (1:87) scale layout built in Northern California. David has deftly combined elements of the Baltimore & Ohio and Western Maryland railroads as they operated in 1953 in and around Cumberland, Maryland. As narrated by 0ur […]
Maya Train suspends operations for four days
CANCUN, Mexico — Mexico’s two-week-old Maya Train abruptly announced it was temporarily suspending service for four days on Thursday, announcing the move on social media less than an hour before the suspension took effect. A post on the social media site X, posted at 10:15 a.m., said that the suspension was effective at 11 a.m. […]
Top 10 stories of 2023, No. 4: Amtrak’s ongoing capacity issues
WASHINGTON — Amtrak touted across-the-board gains compared with 2022 in each of its three business units in its recap of results for fiscal 2023. But less equipment available for long-distance trains triggered near constant sellouts on portions of those routes throughout the year. As a result, ridership and revenue growth for the inter-regional segment was […]
Departing Sound Transit CEO to receive a year’s salary, remain available as consultant
SEATTLE — Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm will receive her full salary for 2024 after departing on Jan. 12 and has agreed to provide “on-call services” as a consultant next year, the Seattle Times reports, but the transit agency has not released the full agreement covering her departure. The Sound Transit board’s motion setting the […]
One killed in Christmas morning police shooting on Coast Starlight (updated)
MT. SHASTA, Calif. — One person was killed in a shooting by a police officer on Amtrak’s southbound Coast Starlight early on Christmas morning, the Mt. Shasta Police Department confirmed Tuesday evening. The officer involved and another person were injured the police department said in a press release on Facebook. The department had previously reported […]
View from the ‘Coast Daylight’
Two passengers on Southern Pacific’s Coast Daylight watch with fascination as a 2-10-2 helper and 4-8-4 road engine lift their train up Cuesta Grade out of San Luis Obispo in about 1949. Linn H. Westcott photo […]
Top 10 stories of 2023, No. 6 (tie): Federal infrastructure spending
Infrastructure is the shared theme of our stories in the tie at No. 6 — be it a single huge project in the form of New York’s Grand Central Madison, or general infrastructure spending across the country. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in November 2021, promised almost $400 billion for projects around the country, and […]
Top 10 stories of 2023, No. 6 (tie): Grand Central Madison opens
NEW YORK — The process of creating a new Long Island Rail Road terminal beneath Grand Central Terminal was long, arduous, and far more expensive than intended. For all of that, the opening of Grand Central Madison remains transformational — both for the day-to-day commuters that were the intended beneficiaries of the project from the […]