PHOENIX — Never underestimate the value of experience and institutional knowledge. That’s one of the many lessons from Union Pacific’s Dry Canyon Bridge reconstruction project in 2022. The project, which replaced a major fire-damaged trestle in Northern California in 2021 — about a month faster than was originally projected — has been much discussed and […]
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The state of Alabama this week announced the creation of the A-USA Corridor, a proposed $231.6 million program of rail projects to upgrade economic development infrastructure in central and southern Alabama. The first phase of the A-USA Corridor initiative involves a $71.6 million initiative to link the Port of Mobile with the McCalla […]
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. – The adoption of precision scheduled railroading may be causing railroads to downsize their locomotive and car fleets, but freight carbuilder Greenbrier Cos. still received new orders of 6,200 units valued at $670 million for the first fiscal quarter of 2022. Car orders include intermodal, boxcars, gondolas, tank cars, covered hoppers, and automobile carriers. […]
MEXICO CITY — Work to supply electric power to the Mérida-Cancún stretch of Mexico’s Maya Train will begin this month at an estimated cost of $73.7 million. Mexico’s Environment Ministry said the electrification project would require the construction of three substations from which all the electricity necessary to feed the line will be supplied. The […]
WASHINGTON — The well-publicized snowstorm that stranded motorists for 24 hours along Interstate 95 near Fredericksburg, Va., didn’t spare Amtrak trains operating through the region from cancellations and monumental delays. But the disruptions weren’t limited to the Northeast, as mudslides, cold temperatures, and snow caused route truncations and delays elsewhere. In Virginia, trees laden with […]
Finding the best approach for a track plan isn’t always easy. Even if you’re building your layout in a small room, you still have an almost infinite number of choices, decisions, and trade-offs to make. What scale? Around-the-room or island shape? Duckunder/gate or walk-in? Staging? And if so, what kind? To illustrate my thought process […]
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BOSTON – The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has announced that service over the single-track Gloucester drawbridge is expected to be restored by May 2022, allowing commuter rail service to resume to the Gloucester and Rockport stations. While construction of a replacement bridge continues, the disruption in service allowed MBTA opportunity to accelerate other projects planned […]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Delivery of new rail for the Kansas City Streetcar Main Street Extension began this week. Delivery is anticipated to take two weeks, with four trucks per day delivering rail, for a total of 36 deliveries. The rail will be used on the 3.5-mile extension of the KC Streetcar System that will […]
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Adolph N. Ojard, former general manager of both the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway and the US Steel Great Lakes Fleet in Duluth, Minn., died Dec. 30 in Augusta. He was 72. While DM&IR general manager, he also served on the board of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and was instrumental […]
PHOENIX — Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz will be the featured guest speaker and all seven Class I railroads are scheduled to outline capital spending plans for the year at the 2022 National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association Conference set for this week in Phoenix. The conference kicks off with a Wednesday evening reception, with […]
Handsome D&RGW 1800, first of the road’s five class M-68 passenger 4-8-4s built by Baldwin in 1938, poses for a broadside portrait near Denver Union Station in August 1940. R. H. Kindig photo […]
