WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s has specially wrapped one of its ACS64 electric locomotives to promote a National Geographic exhibit on King Tut in Boston and Washington. This is not the first time Amtrak and King Tut have been linked. An Amtrak Cascades F59PHI was wrapped to promote a King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center […]
Railroad: Amtrak
No easy fix for Albany track closure caused by unstable building façade
ALBANY, N.Y. — A bus bridge was hastily set up Friday to ensure the inaugural run of the Ethan Allen Express from its new northern terminus of Burlington, Vt., wouldn’t have to be cancelled. But getting travelers past a crumbling warehouse adjacent to the tracks that carry the Ethan Allen, Lake Shore Limited to […]
News photo: Ethan Allen begins service on extended route
VERGENNES, Vt. — The inaugural run of Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express from Burlington, Vt., arrives at the Ferrisburg-Vergennes station on Friday, July 29, 2022. The train had previously originated and terminated in Rutland, Vt. The station — added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 2021 — is a Rutland Railroad building dating […]
Competing claims complicate Amtrak-CN STB filings: Analysis
WASHINGTON — The question of how Canadian National should receive incentives or penalties for handling of Amtrak trains has no doubt chalked up hundreds — maybe thousands — of billable hours for the companies’ attorneys. The inability of the two sides to reach a new operating agreement first came to the Surface Transportation Board in […]
Mississippi city plans ceremony to mark preparations for still-pending Amtrak service
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — The status of Amtrak service on the Gulf Coast remains very much undetermined, but that’s not stopping the city of Bay St. Louis: It plans a ceremony today to mark “reactivation” of its Amtrak station, idle since passenger service was halted after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Al.com reports U.S. Department […]
Amtrak Capitol Limited day trip to Cumberland
An Amtrak Capitol Limited day trip from Pittsburgh is one of the few Amtrak journeys with single-day, round-trip offerings featuring Class I railroading across a famous mountain pass and a second train-riding experience involving a recently restored Mallet steam locomotive. Yes, Amtrak’s Capitol Limited between Pittsburgh, and Cumberland, Md., offers this and more on its […]
Amtrak now offering bus service for some trains through Albany, N.Y. (updated)
ALBANY, N.Y. — Amtrak has restored some service through the Albany, N.Y., area, offering bus connections for the Lake Shore Limited, Maple Leaf, and Ethan Allen Express. Empire Service west of Albany remains suspended, the company said in an update on its Amtrak Alerts Twitter feed. The Lake Shore Limited will originate and terminate in […]
Host railroads tell regulators modeling clearly shows Amtrak Gulf Coast service would cause unreasonable freight impairment
WASHINGTON — The launch of Amtrak Gulf Coast service without infrastructure improvements would cause “immediate and future impairment to freight service that is unreasonable under any definition,” CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern argue in their latest filing with the Surface Transportation Board. This is the exact opposite of the contention Amtrak makes in its latest […]
Amtrak again argues Gulf Coast service will cause ‘no unreasonable impairment’ to freight traffic
WASHINGTON — Amtrak says its additional analysis shows its proposed Gulf Coast passenger service will cause “no unreasonable impairment” on the proposed route between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., and argues that the case for such impairment by host railroads CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern “has failed.” Those contentions are included in the passenger railroad’s […]
Amtrak suspends rail service west of Albany because of potential building collapse (updated)
ALBANY, N.Y. — Amtrak has suspended operation of its Empire Service west of Albany, along with the Lake Shore Limited, because of a “potential safety concern with a non-Amtrak, privately owned building” located near the rail line. WNYT-TV reports the building involved is the Central Warehouse. Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan has declared a state of […]
News photos: Rare private Amtrak move in the upper Midwest
ELM GROVE, Wis. — In an unusual and unheralded move, Amtrak moved an eight-car train of privately owned legacy equipment from the Twin Cities to Chicago on Thursday, July 28. The train, scheduled to originate at Midway in the Twin Cities at 11:45 a.m. and arrive in Chicago at 8:30 p.m., was photographed in the […]
Canadian National blasts Amtrak proposal for dispatching control as ‘outrageously self-serving’
WASHINGTON — Canadian National calls an Amtrak proposal that would give it dispatching control over CN lines with poor passenger performance “an outrageously self-serving recipe” that would “cause profound harm to freight railroads, freight customers, American consumers, and the broader economy,” and urges the Surface Transportation Board to reject the concept “out of hand.” Amtrak, […]