NEW YORK – Amtrak will operate two additional round trips between New York and Albany/Rensselaer, N.Y., beginning Dec. 5. The new departures will bring the total number of weekday round-trip trains to 12, one fewer than Amtrak’s pre-COVID schedule for the route. A new southbound train will depart Albany/Rensselaer at 11:10 a.m. Sunday through Friday, […]
Zone & Region: Northeast
Volunteers navigate new Grand Central Madison Terminal
NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Transportation Authority held a station operations exercise No. 13 at Grand Central Madison, the new 700,000 square-foot Long Island Rail Road terminal set to debut this year at Grand Central Terminal. Around 200 volunteers participated in an exercise to navigate the concourse and make notes on travel paths throughout […]
Baltimore area takes next step in assessing transit corridors
BALTIMORE — Three rail options are among the seven alternatives for a north-south transit corridor in the Baltimore region, for which the Maryland Department of Transportation ended public comment on Nov. 7. Comment on seven alternatives for east-west corridors concluded Aug. 1. Both sets of corridors are part of the Central Maryland Regional Transportation Plan, a […]
Voters in two cities approve MBTA South Coast Rail service
BOSTON — Voters in the communities of New Bedford and Fall River, Mass., have voted to join the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, clearing the way for operation of South Coast Rail commuter service, which is expected to begin in 2023. Boston.com reports those two communities and Taunton, Mass., are the only major cities within 50 […]
Brightline to halt service early on Wednesday because of approaching storm (updated)
MIAMI — Brightline is altering operations between Miami and West Palm Beach as of this afternoon (Wednesday, Nov. 9) because of the approaching Tropical Storm Nicole, which forecasters have predicted will be a Category 1 hurricane when it makes landfall on Thursday. But while the passenger operator initially said it also expected to modify Thursday […]
Strasburg details 96-hour repair to engine No. 475
STRASBURG, Pa. — Strasburg Rail Road’s ex-Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 steam engine No. 475 returned to excursion passenger duty this week after the company’s mechanical department worked overtime to repair smokebox damage from a Nov. 2 collision with a tracked excavator. The locomotive was back in service on Monday [see “Strasburg No.475 back in service […]
Lackawanna M.U. train
A westbound Delaware, Lackawanna & Western electric multiple-unit train passes under Wyoming Avenue as it approaches the Millburn, N.J., station in July 1953. Don Wood photo […]
Strasburg No. 475 back in service after accident
RONKS, Pa. — Strasburg Rail Road 4-8-0 No. 475, damaged in a Nov. 2 collision with a piece of track maintenance equipment, is back in operation on the railroad’s trains today (Monday, Nov. 7), Strasburg General Manager Jim Hager reports in a note to Trains News Wire correspondent Dan Cupper. The locomotive suffered damage to […]
Coming at East Broad Top: the new Colgate Grove
SHIRLEYSBURG, Pa. — A new generation of facilities is planned for next summer at East Broad Top Railroad’s time-honored Colgate Grove picnic area, the line’s historic tourist-era turnaround point. Sometime during the coming season, the EBT Foundation Inc. will open two small pavilions and restrooms, along with something that the location never had before, a […]
MBTA set to meet several FTA deadlines, but still needs dispatchers
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority should meet a number of deadlines in November for corrective action ordered by the Federal Transit Administration, MBTA officials told the transit agency’s board on Thursday. But the agency remains short of the number of dispatchers it needs to restore subway cuts that were made in June because […]
Dousing the hogs
Keeping hogs wet in summer heat was vital in keeping them healthy during transit in stock cars. This manual twin-handle pump soaks both decks of hogs on Swift Live Stock Express cars in a New York Central train east of Rome, N.Y. S.K. Bolton Jr. photo […]
Workers killed on Ben Franklin Bridge were on track before it was closed, NTSB says
WASHINGTON — Two construction workers who were killed when struck by a Port Authority Transit Corp. train on the Ben Franklin bridge were on Track 2 of the bridge before it was scheduled to be closed to allow for construction work, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report posted Wednesday on its […]