WASHINGTON — Twitter wars are common enough between people of opposing political views, some celebrities, or various social-media influencers. But between Amtrak and one of its host railroads? A Wall Street Journal report (behind a paywall) notes that Amtrak and Norfolk Southern have been trading letters about an Amtrak tweet last month in which the […]
Magazine: Trains Magazine
Three dead in apparent terrorist shooting on Dutch light rail train (updated) NEWSWIRE
Authorities in the Netherlands are calling a fatal shooting on a light rail vehicle in Utrecht a terrorist attack. Google maps AMSTERDAM — Three people have been killed and five seriously injured after a shooting incident this morning on a light rail train in the Dutch city of Utrecht, and a suspect has been arrested […]
‘California Zephyr,’ Missouri trains disrupted by floods
CHICAGO—Flooding in eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, and northwest Missouri has caused delays, truncations and outright cancellations to the Chicago-Emeryville, Calif., California Zephyr and two state-sponsored Missouri River Runner round-trips between St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo. Today’s eastbound Zephyr is cancelled entirely out of California; Amtrak has blocked sales east of Denver until at least […]
Coast Guard will no longer allow rush-hour openings of key Northeast Corridor bridge NEWSWIRE
Responding to requests from Amtrak, NJ Transit, and New Jersey officials, the Coast Guard will no longer allow opening of the Portal Bridge during rush-hour periods. Russell Sullivan SECAUCUS, N.J. — The U.S. Coast Guard has changed rules regarding the opening of New Jersey’s troublesome Portal Bridge, reducing the risk of disrupted Northeast Corridor service […]
CSX crews repair track from Friday’s Baltimore derailment; museum closes indefinitely NEWSWIRE
BALTIMORE — CSX Transportation trains are moving again through Baltimore after a Friday afternoon derailment closed the railroad’s main line and damaged an electric substation for the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. The Baltimore Sun reports that CSX crews worked Friday and Saturday to repair a line that leads to the Howard Street tunnel in the city. The […]
Flooding forces UP to embargo service on five subdivisions NEWSWIRE
OMAHA, Neb. — Widespread flooding across the Union Pacific system has forced the railroad to announce a number of service embargoes. A UP notice to customers notes that flooding and track washouts have UP lines out of service in the Omaha, Blair, Columbus, Lincoln, and Falls City subdivisions, and that the widespread nature of the […]
FRA denies Kansas City Southern request to move brake test to Mexico yards NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration has denied Kansas City Southern’s request to shift a brake test from the International Railway Bridge in Laredo, Texas, to one of its yards in neighboring Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. For more than a decade, KCS has used an existing FRA waiver to conduct a Class III brake test on […]
Hudson Tunnel project receives low federal rating, blocking funding eligibility NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — The proposal to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River has once again received a low rating from federal regulators that makes it ineligible for a key source of U.S. government funding, the Associated Press reports. The Federal Transit Administration has rated the new tunnel between New York and New Jersey […]
Nebraska, Iowa floods inundate railroads NEWSWIRE
Darrell Wendt BNSF lines out-of-service map as of March 15 BNSF Railway MILWAUKEE — Union Pacific and BNSF Railway are halting trains and assessing damage to hundreds of miles of rail lines threatened or damaged by rising flood waters in the Missouri River valley. Rapidly warming temperatures in the past two weeks have led to […]
New York marks opening of development over West Side rail yard NEWSWIRE
The Hudson Yards project, looking east from the High Line Viaduct. The 30-track Long Island Rail Road Caemmerer Yard in the lower part of the photo will eventually be covered by the second phase of the project. Ralph Spielman Hudson Yards construction had just started when this picture was taken on April 2, 2015. The […]
Journey to Promontory
Also in this issue: GALLERY, pg. 92 From the Heartland to the Pacific […]
Amtrak inspector general: company has trouble identifying employee drug, alcohol issues NEWSWIRE
WASHINGTON — Amtrak has difficulty in identifying and addressing issues of drug and alcohol use among its employees, “a longstanding challenge for the company,” Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General says in a new report. The report issued Wednesday summarizes the following issues with the company’s program for employees in “safety-sensitive positions:” — Testing requirements were […]