BOSTON — The head of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority says the agency will seeks an outside review of its operations in the wake of two light-rail derailments in a four-day span and four so far in 2019. The Associated Press reports that MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak wants “a fresh set of eyes” to […]
CHICAGO – Metra may receive as much as $1.6 billion in state bond revenue for capital improvements over the next five years under legislation recently approved by the Illinois General Assembly, agency officials say. That number is far below the amount Metra had hoped for, but the commuter rail agency’s board members expressed gratitude to legislators […]
SAN FRANCISCO — The Transbay Transit Center, closed since last September, will reopen July 1 — but not, initially, for its primary use as a bus terminal. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the $2.2-billion transit facility, which closed just six weeks after its August 2018 opening because of cracks in two major steel support […]
Union Pacific OMAHA, Neb. — The Big Boy No. 4014 is headed back out on the Union Pacific system beginning July 8 for a tour, taking it through Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Called the Great Race Across the Midwest, the tour will include displays at the following locations: • July 13-14: Omaha, […]
ERIE, Pa. — Locomotive builders in Erie are working today knowing they don’t have to worry about contract talks for another four years. United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America locals 506 and 618 voted on final contract terms with Wabtec that keeps the former GE Transportation locomotive plant in Lawrence Park, Pa., flush […]
A power car at Alstom’s plant in Hornell, N.Y., shows the swooping lines of the next generation of Acela equipment. Bob Johnston Another power car, with its outer skin not yet installed, shows elements of the crash energy management system. Bob Johnston Carbody shells are made of aluminum and fabricated in Italy, which required a […]
Baldwin Locomotive Works No. 60000 is moved to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in September 1933. It took five days to move the locomotive five blocks from 24th and Vine Street. Barry R. Nemcoff PHILADELPHIA – A $6 million grant from the Hamilton Family Charitable Trust will transform the Franklin Institute’s Train Factory exhibit, which […]
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending June 8. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 513,099 carloads and intermodal units, down 8.5% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending June 8 were 246,758 […]
This 2017 view looking south at Dolton shows a northbound Hoosier State passenger train, then operated by Iowa Pacific, on the Union Pacific line. The lead locomotive is on the CSX Transportation line while the second locomotive is on the Indiana Harbor Belt line. Marshall W. Beecher CHICAGO – More than $19 million in federal […]
SAN FRANCISCO — An independent panel examining the design and repair of the Transbay Transit Center has determined the $2.2 billion facility is safe to reopen, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports a date for returning service to the facility has not yet been set. While preparations for reopening the center have been under way […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today announced the recipients of more than $326 million in grant funds under the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program and the Special Transportation Circumstances Program, for a wide variety of state and local railroad infrastructure projects. The grants will fund 45 […]
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — Distribution of malted grain for the distillery and brewing industries in the northern Kentucky region will expand dramatically with a new 33-railcar transload facility developed by Louisville & Indiana Railroad and Great Western Malting Co. The opening, planned for June 13, will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the rail-to-truck transfer site, which […]
