‘Missouri River Runner’ service cut to one daily round trip

Passenger train at station platform

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As of today (Jan. 3, 2021), Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner service between St. Louis and Kansas City has been cut from two round daily trips to one. The move comes after the state failed to provide sufficient funding to continue to the twice-daily round trips and federal coronavirus relief funding, which […]

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Amtrak faces some holiday cancellations

Passenger train with freight locomotive in lead

WASHINGTON — Although airlines cancelled thousands of flights, resulting in horror stories for stranded travelers, Amtrak was mostly able to keep its trains running during the Christmas-New Year holiday period. There were some cancellations, though. While booked passengers were asked via email or text to choose a different train or travel another day and no […]

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Dubuque, Iowa, seeks overpass, other projects from CP to address merger impact

Unit train of tank cars rounds curve in area surrounded by buildings

DUBUQUE, Iowa — The City of Dubuque has become the latest to voice concerns over traffic increases that could result from the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, writing in a letter to the Surface Transportation Board that it seeks nine forms of mitigation — including construction of a $20 million overpass — if it is […]

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News Photos: CSX traffic in Kentucky halted by tornado damage

Debris on railroad tracks

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. — Damage from what has subsequently been identified as a small tornado halted CSX Transportation traffic on New Year’s Day in Hopkinsville, the second time in less than a month that a tornado has affected the railroad’s operations in the area. WZTV in Nashville reports the damage, initially attributed to high winds, was […]

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Cleburne, Texas, set to open expanded rail museum

Logo of the Cleburne Railroad Museum

CLEBURNE, Texas — The remodeled and expanded Cleburne Railroad Museum is set to open Jan. 13, the Cleburne Times-Review reports. The museum traces a railroading history that dates to 1881 and includes more than a century when the Santa Fe Railway was the community’s largest employer, thanks to a major shop facility. The expanded museum […]

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Progress Rail sells part of EMD La Grange property

Progress Rail logo

LA GRANGE, Ill. — Progress Rail has sold 88 acres of the former Electro-Motive Division property in La Grange, the company informed La Grange-based employees in a December email. The land was bought by Bridge Industrial, which specializes in acquisition and development of industrial properties, and will be redeveloped. Progress will maintain its existing offices […]

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News Wire No. 1 story of 2021: CP, CN battle for Kansas City Southern

Two Canadian Pacific locomotives and one from Kansas City Southern on a train

The Battle for Kansas City Southern, culminating in Canadian Pacific’s triumph over Canadian National, is Trains’ top railroading story of the year. (Editor’s note: This may have seemed like a foregone conclusion, but balloting was close, with this story receiving just one more first-place vote and nine more points than the No. 2 story.) Stage […]

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Explosion damages CSX coal facility in Baltimore

Smoke rising from coal facility

BALTIMORE — No injuries have been reported after an explosion Thursday morning at a CSX coal silo in South Baltimore’s Curtis Bay. The facility sustained significant damage after the blast that residents reported feeling miles away. The explosion occurred about 11:30 a.m. The Baltimore Sun reports the explosion occurred on a conveyer belt and resulted […]

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News Wire Top 10, No. 2: Amtrak’s infrastructure-bill funding

Passenger train barely visible through girders of steel bridge

WASHINGTON — The infrastructure bill signed into law in November opens the door for the possibility of more rail funding than Amtrak and states sponsoring intercity passenger service have ever received at one time. The challenge now will be to get money out that door and spend it wisely. How much funding? More than $66 […]

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DC Metrorail 7000-series cars again removed from service

WMATA (DC Metro) logo

WASHINGTON — The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has again been ordered to remove Metrorail’s 7000-series railcars from service, after only a few had been restored to operation. The website DCist reports the independent Washington Metrorail Safety Commission ordered the cars to be sidelined after it found five cars that did not meet the inspection […]

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