Utah bill would require UP use of zero-emission switchers in Salt Lake City

Yellow locomotives

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s legislature is moving to pass a law that would require Union Pacific to use yard locomotives powered “wholly by a hydrogen fuel cell or electric power” in Salt Lake City no later than Jan. 1, 2028 — despite the railroad’s contention that the bill mandates an action not yet technologically […]

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Citing ‘false response’ to information request, Metra asks for more time to comment on CP-KCS merger

Train with red locomotive passing station

WASHINGTON — Chicago commuter operator Metra has asked the Surface Transportation Board for more time to file comments on the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, saying CP had originally “filed a false response” to Metra’s request for information, and only recently provided an incomplete set of documents Metra says it needs to assess the […]

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News photos: Blizzard aftermath and plow action in Ontario

Train throwing snow as it pushes through drifts

Winter hit Southern Ontario hard over the Feb. 19-20 weekend. A widespread blizzard whipped up snow for hundreds of miles, accumulating on rights of way and proving especially difficult on Canadian National and Southern Ontario Railway branch lines in Southwestern Ontario. CN’s north mainline is an internal short line, operated by crews formerly of the […]

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NTSB issues final report on Illinois short line fatality

Diagram of site of fatal accident

WASHINGTON — A conductor at an Illinois short line was killed when he was pulled off his train by the gate he was attempting to open while entering an industrial track, according to the final report on a November 2020 accident issued Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. The 35-year-old conductor of the Decatur […]

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New Mexico’s Sky Railway to operate original Super Chief lounge

Car interior with 1930s decor.

SANTA FE, N.M. — Sky Railway, the tourist railroad between Santa Fe and Lamy, N.M., on the former Santa Fe Southern, is adding an original Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Super Chief lounge car for operations beginning this spring. The Acoma, which made its debut in 1937, is the last operating car from the original […]

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Bid question delays SunRail extension

Commuter train at Spanish-style passenger station

DeLAND, Fla. — The Florida Department of Transportation has received four bids — all below its $44 million estimate — for the planned 12-mile extension of commuter railroad SunRail, but a bid protest by one of the contractors is delaying the award process. The West Volusia Beacon reports the four bids range from $32.9 million […]

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Pacific Surfliners get wi-fi upgrade

Blue and silver-painted locomotive at a station platform surrounding by brown steel work and palm trees. Amtrak Pacific Surfliner renewable diesel.

The LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, which operates Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliners, is rolling out improved wi-fi on its 351-mile route between San Luis Obispo, Calif., and San Diego. “We know the importance of providing stable Wi-Fi for our passengers,” Donna DeMartino, LOSSAN Agency Managing Director, said in a press release. “Whatever the purpose of their travel, […]

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Court ruling calls BNSF-union dispute ‘minor,’ making any strike illegal

FORT WORTH, Texas — A U.S. District Court Judge has again prohibited unions from striking BNSF Railway over new attendance policies, granting an injunction and saying the railroad is likely to prevail in arbitration, and that the strike would cause irreparable harm to the railroad. The heads of the unions involved in the dispute say […]

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Garden railroad MI Jack Crane

Model gantry crane on a garden railroad

A garden railroad MI Jack Crane: Something unique, something different, that’s what I needed to endure the long winter of the Midwest when outdoor railroading comes to a dead stop! A building project. If you are thinking about railroading in the period 2020, you must recognize the dramatic change to containerized shipping. What better way […]

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Double-track construction set to end South Shore street running

Electric multiple-unit commuter train running down street at night

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — The end is apparently at hand for the majority of  street running for South Shore Line commuter trains in Michigan City. Beginning Monday, Feb. 28, buses will replace commuter trains between the Carroll Avenue station in Michigan City and Dune Park in Porter, Ind., as part of the project to double-track […]

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Nashville Steam sets fundraising record, meets matching goal for 576 restoration

Portion of steam locomotive lifted by cranes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. —  The drive to restore Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis 4-8-4 No. 576 to operation has been boosted by a record-breaking, year-end fundraiser that raised $200,000 total. With over $26,000 raised on Giving Tuesday alone and an additional $74,000 raised between November 2021 and January 2022, the non-profit organization successfully met a $100,000 […]

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Trial of Amtrak 188 engineer set to begin

ntsb188

PHILADELPHIA — The lengthy legal saga of the engineer in a fatal 2015 Amtrak accident will finally go before a jury asked to determine if the events of that day constitute a crime. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports a trial is slated to begin today (Tuesday, Feb. 22) in which Brandon Bostian, 38, is charged with […]

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