SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the wake of a difficult 2023 for Southern California’s struggling Surf Line route, the Senate Transportation Subcommittee on LOSSAN (Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo) Rail Corridor Resiliency is requesting a formal partnership and shared goals with the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) in a leadership role. The […]
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The state legislature is considering a rail safety bill requiring railroads to be equipped with more safety features, limit the length and weight of trains carrying hazardous materials, and limit the time that trains can block major intersections while passing, according to a story aired by KRDO-TV. The bill’s sponsor, Colorado […]
Day Out With Thomas train rides Let’s get … bubbly? You’ve guessed it. This year’s theme is bubbles. As an endearing image for children, the Day Out With Thomas events — licensed by Mattel — have grown nationally and are conducted at many locations throughout the United States. Other countries host these events as well […]
Rolling stones Cresting Sand Patch while witnessing an Allegheny Summit sunrise on the former Baltimore & Ohio was one of the intangible benefits of being the engineer of Amtrak’s Capitol Limited between Washington and Pittsburgh in the late 1980s. Few things are as awe-inspiring, but Mother Nature can also be frighteningly treacherous. The right of […]
PORTLAND, Ore. — The latest in Amtrak’s series of weather-related operating cancellations in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest — caused by a mudslide, cold, and snow — will extend until at least Tuesday morning, based on information available as of Sunday evening, Jan. 21. A mudslide south of Kelso, Wash., on BNSF Railway’s Amtrak Cascades […]
What was your first byline in Trains? Doug Riddell: My first byline in Trains appeared in the February 2000 issue: “A dose of perspective” (Readers Platform). I’d just run into a retired Chesapeake & Ohio conductor, Gilly Parker, who shared a story with me. He’d worked passenger service between Richmond and Newport News in the early […]
CHICAGO — Amtrak Midwest state-supported services have taken another weather-related hit, with cancellations today through Monday for a trains on a number of routes. In an update posted at 9 a.m. today (Saturday, Jan. 20), Amtrak announced these trains have been cancelled in their entirety: Lincoln Service (Chicago-St. Louis) — Today, Sunday, and Monday: Trains […]
Forces outside the control of shipping firms have caused these companies to move containers from ships to trains around the globe in recent weeks. While drought has spurred the move on the 47-mile Panama Canal Railway [see “Maersk shifts some container traffic …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 11, 2024], the ongoing conflict in the Middle […]
SACRAMENTO — The CEO of California’s high speed rail project has tendered his resignation, but will stay on while the agency finds a successor. The Fresno Bee reports Brian Kelly, head of the California High-Speed Rail Authority since 2018, announced his departure on Thursday, submitting his resignation to the board’s chairperson, Fresno developer Tom Richards. […]
OTTAWA, Ontario — J. Mark MacKeigan has been reappointed to the Canadian Transportation Agency, while Marisa Eva Victor has been newly appointed to the regulatory body, Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced. MacKeigan was reappointed for a four-year term, effective Nov. 28, 2023. He rejoined the agency in 2018 after having previously served as a member […]
WASHINGTON —The Surface Transportation Board has called for Amtrak, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Port of Mobile, Ala., to provide “detailed information regarding the status of the implementation of the settlement agreement” agreed to in November 2022 to allow Amtrak service to begin between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. — and scheduled a February hearing […]
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s Fiscal 2025 budget proposal includes $150 million in restored funding for transportation projects across the state, including $8 million for the continued operation and expansion of MARC’s Brunswick Line into West Virginia, the Frederick News-Post reported. Some of the funds would also go toward a pilot program offering new […]
