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MOBILE, Ala. — The City of Mobile will not take part in the Surface Transportation Board’s hearing on delays in launching Amtrak service between Mobile and New Orleans, Mayor Sandy Stimpson informed the board in a brief letter today (Thursday, Feb. 8). The board announced Tuesday that it would proceed with that hearing on Feb. […]
VALLEY FALLS, N.Y. — Ten cars of a train on the Berkshire & Eastern Railroad derailed about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday night near Valley Falls, Spectrum News 1 reports, sending two into the Hoosic River and closing State Route 67 between Valley Falls and Johnsonville, N.Y. No injuries were reported. Genesee & Wyoming told the news […]
PHOENIX — Union Pacific has opened its Phoenix Intermodal Terminal, the latest addition to the railroad’s “pop-up” terminal strategy to test markets before building large, permanent facilities. The railroad says in an article on its website that the facility opened Feb. 1, 45 days after it first announced plans for the facility [see “Union Pacific […]
BERN, Switzerland — Freight and passenger traffic will increase through the Gotthard Base Tunnel in March, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) announced on Tuesday, Feb. 7, with tunnel scheduling accommodating additional passenger traffic during the Easter holiday period. Tunnel traffic has been disrupted since an Aug. 10, 2023, derailment that closed one bore of the two-bore […]
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern and the American Train Dispatchers Association will launch a pilot program next month that provides dispatchers with a scheduled rest day that rotates weekly. “We want everyone on our team to have access to predictable time off,” said Rodney Moore, vice president of network operations, said in a statement Tuesday (Feb. […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration will hold a public hearing regarding two Genesee & Wyoming short lines’ proposal to test Parallel Systems autonomous flat cars in Georgia. The hearing will be held March 12 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Vidalia, Ga., and will be livestreamed, the FRA announced today. People can submit […]
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board will return to East Palestine, Ohio, on June 25 for a public meeting on its final report on the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern derailment and toxic chemical release, the board announced today. During the meeting, set for 9:30 a.m. ET at East Palestine High School, the board […]
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board will proceed with its planned hearing on the status of Amtrak Gulf Coast service on Wednesday, Feb. 14, the board announced in a decision issued Tuesday. The parties to the agreement allowing service to begin — Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Alabama State Port Authority — had […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — BNSF freight traffic past the site of the latest landside in San Clemente has been halted by additional slide activity, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Tuesday night freight movement was suspended after the slope moved another 1.5 to 3 feet in a 24-hour period through Tuesday afternoon, Scott Johnson, Metrolink director […]
WASHINGTON — An Amtrak press release issued last week, “Ambitious 2024 Initiatives Propel Amtrak Ridership Growth,” outlines the company’s goal of doubling ridership by 2040. This is based on “improving passenger train service for our customers and efficiently and effectively carrying out a massive major infrastructure capital program aimed to modernize and upgrade our infrastructure, […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has issued an emergency order shutting down the Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad, a 37-mile, Class III short line in Oklahoma, saying the railroad is “operating with a complete disregard for the safety of the public and has not taken corrective action to resolve safety issues … posing imminent risks […]
The dynamics of dynamic braking A half-century ago, when diesel locomotives were replacing steam engines, a revolutionary breakthrough — dynamic braking — was making freight operations safer and more efficient. Dynamic braking is the method of train braking whereby the kinetic energy of a moving train is used to generate electric current at the locomotive […]
