A San Diego-bound Pacific Surfliner departs Los Angeles in February 2017. Amtrak is adding a 13th San Diego-LA Surfliner round trip beginning Monday. TRAINS: David Lassen ORANGE, Calif. — Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner will add a 13th round trip between San Diego and Los Angeles beginning Monday, Oct. 14. The new southbound train No. 578 will […]
Magazine: Trains Magazine
San Bernardino County seeks expanded commuter service over light rail extension NEWSWIRE
A Gold Line light rail train bound for L.A. Union Station starts in Azusa. A committee of San Bernardino County’s transportation authority has voted to pursue commuter rail service between Pomona and Montclair, Calif., rather an an extension of the Gold Line between those cities. Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A […]
News Wire Round Up for the week of Oct. 11, 2019 NEWSWIRE
Watch as Jim and Steve talk about all the rail news that is fit to published — in less than 10 minutes. Return (almost) every week as Trains editors summarize News Wire: the Internet’s premiere source for rail news. […]
AAR: Total rail traffic is down more than 7% NEWSWIRE
Association of American Railroads WASHINGTON — The Association of American Railroads this week reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Oct. 5. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 515,061 carloads and intermodal units, down 7.1% compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending Oct. 5 were […]
Jammed doors lead to service woes on new Ottawa light rail line
OTTAWA, Ontario — Ottawa’s recently opened light rail Confederation Line experienced major operating issues because of jammed doors on Wednesday, with some passengers reportedly walking more than two miles to reach work as they abandoned the backed-up rail system. It was the second straight day the rail line was plagued by jammed doors on the […]
No one injured when NS train derails, strikes gas line in Georgia NEWSWIRE
No injuries were reported when 34 cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Perry, Ga., rupturing a gas line to a nearby factory. Houston County Emergency Management Agency, via Facebook PERRY, Ga. — A section of a state highway will remain closed at least until Friday following the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train […]
Report: LA’s Metrolink seeks high speed funds to electrify Burbank-Anaheim route NEWSWIRE
A Metrolink train departs the Burbank, Calif., station in February 2019. The Los Angeles Times reports Metrolink is proposing the use of California high speed rail funds to electrify its route between Burbank and Anaheim. TRAINS: David Lassen LOS ANGELES — Commuter railroad Metrolink is proposing electrification of its route between Burbank and Anaheim for […]
Ask Trains: What are the rules on when locomotive bells should ring?
An eastbound BNSF Railway train passes a stopped BNSF freight at “Summit” in California’s Cajon Pass in 2013 — this meet is one of several conditions which might require a locomotive bell to be sounded. Trains staff Q: What are the rules concerning when a train should ring its bell at a crossing or elsewhere? […]
Ask Trains: What is the Chicago-area yard that rhymes with ‘Marks’?
A Canadian National train with Illinois Central-painted locomotives departs Chicago’s Markham Yard in 2017. TEH-17089-16 Jacob Metzger Q: When I was in the second grade, we took a field trip to what was then the largest freight yard in the country. That was over 50 years ago, when I lived in a Chicago suburb. I […]
FRA to hold regional workshops on right-of-way trespassing NEWSWIRE
Trespassers stop to pose for photos on Florida East Coast Railway tracks in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in May 2018. Bob Johnston CHICAGO — The Federal Railroad Administration will hold six regional workshops in response to an alarming increase of the number of fatalities along railroad rights-of-way, in or near locations where such incidents are most […]
MBTA may extend contract with commuter operator Keolis NEWSWIRE
MBTA MPI HSP-46 No. 2028 pushes a Worcester, Mass.-Boston train as it departs Yawkey station (since renamed Lansdowne) in the Kenmore Square section of Boston. The MBTA may consider extending its current contract with commuter operator Keolis. Scott A. Hartley BOSTON — Massachusetts Department of Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack said this week that […]
Proposed Metra budget boosts spending for locomotives, cars, infrastructure NEWSWIRE
Metra’s capital budget funds continued in-house rebuilding of the railroad’s MP-36PH locomotives (at right), as well as a new program for the former Amtrak F59PHI locomotives (at left). TRAINS: David Lassen Stations to receive major upgrades as part of Metra’s proposed 2020 budget include the Davis Street station in Evanston, on the UP North line. […]