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ABOARD THE TEXAS EAGLE — “There is no Sightseer Lounge on this train. Once again, there is no Sightseer Lounge on this train,” emphasized the public-address announcement. “You must buy food to sit in the café car; if you don’t buy food and we see you sitting in the café, we will ask you to […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s continuing effort to gain access to data relating to freight traffic on the route of its proposed Gulf Coast passenger service has drawn strong protest from CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern. In a Tuesday filing with the Surface Transportation Board, the two freight railroads urged the board to reject the passenger operator’s […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak is proposing that, in extreme examples of routes with poor on-time performance, it would be allowed to take over dispatching from host railroad Canadian National as part of a new operating agreement with CN. In asking the Surface Transportation Board to set terms of a new agreement with CN, the passenger railroad […]
CHICAGO — Depending on the route, Amtrak trains can either offer a welcome alternative to record high gas prices or no relief at all. That’s because where sufficient capacity exists, fares remain flexible, but where Amtrak management has failed to marshal the resources to return sidelined equipment to duty, the traveling public suffers. Corridors offer […]
WASHINGTON — The freight railroads involved in the Surface Transportation Board’s proceeding over Gulf Coast passenger service have again asked that the matter be sent to mediation — and Amtrak is again opposing that request. In a May 19 filing, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority and its its short line […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s effort to use eminent domain to take control of Washington Union Station is being challenged by the current operator of the landmark structure, saying projects planned by the passenger railroad do not meet the legal requirements for the takeover or require the move. The Washington Post reports that Union Station Investco LLC […]
PHILADELPHIA — Amtrak opened a second-generation Acela high-speed trainset for press inspection Monday at 30th Street Station, giving a look at the interiors of the first-class, business-class, and café cars that will make up 28 160-mph trainsets projected to enter service between Boston, New York, and Washington late next year. Parked at an underground boarding […]
MADISON, Wis. — A 32-year-old Portland, Ore., man has been sentenced to five years in prison for intentionally interfering with an Amtrak conductor in a November 2020 incident aboard the Empire Builder. A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin says Timothy Thomas pleaded guilty to the charge on […]
SEATTLE — In its determination to cut costs in 2020 and 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic sucker-punched its prized Northeast Corridor moneymakers, Amtrak management turned off the hiring pipeline while furloughing employees nationwide. But state-based decisions deferring resumption of regional round trips have exacerbated the situation, especially in efforts to hire operating personnel, as prospective […]
ORANGE, Calif. — Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner is adding a carry-on pet program beginning May 20, expanding the locations where the passenger operator allows passengers to bring along small dogs and cats. Dogs and cats weighing up to 20 pounds may be brought aboard in a carrier which should remain under the passenger’s seat. There is […]
A special Metroliner carries President Nixon and Mrs. Nixon out of Washington on the evening of Jan. 24, 1970. The President and First Lady were en route to Philadelphia for an orchestra concert. The Metroliners had entered service 12 months earlier, and Nixon wanted to ride one. Don Phillips photo […]
WASHINGTON — Sixteen of 43 Amtrak routes, none of them long-distance operations, met the 80% customer on-time performance threshold established by the Federal Railroad Administration in first-quarter 2022 statistics released Tuesday by the FRA. The latest quarterly stats are the first to use all of the metrics established by the FRA [see “FRA publishes final […]
