Runaway UP ore train derails in California desert (updated)

Badly damaged railcars and track at derailment site

KELSO, Calif. — Two locomotives and 55 cars of a runaway Union Pacific train carrying iron ore derailed near the Mojave Desert community of Kelso today (Monday, March 27), officials from the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District reported. Union Pacific spokesman Mike Jaixen has confirmed that there was “uncontrolled train movement” of the southbound […]

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UP, union reach agreement to maintain two-person crews on much of railroad (updated)

Two crew members stand next to their train as another train passes

OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific has reached an agreement with General Committee 953 of the SMART-TD union to maintain two-person crews, the railroad announced, confirming an earlier report by the North Platte Telegraph. General Committee 953 covers workers in a 13-state area on the Union Pacific and four short lines, and in its current form […]

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PTC issues cause Amtrak cancellations and delays

Passenger train under gray skies

CHICAGO — Amtrak trains on some routes are experiencing cancellations or delays today (Friday, March 24) as a result of a nationwide server issue that is keeping the positive train control initialization process from taking place. “It is a back-office issue, and we have been working with our [PTC] vendor to resolve it,” Amtrak spokesman […]

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Federal agency issues advisory calling for shippers to stop using DOT-111 tank cars

Workers and equipment around burned out tank cars

WASHINGTON – A federal agency has issued a safety advisory recommending that shippers and tank car owners stop using DOT-111 tank cars in the wake of the February derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio. “The safety advisory re-emphasizes concerns with the survivability of DOT-111 tank cars and encourages tank car owners […]

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Swiss gauge-changing trains temporarily restricted to narrow-gauge operation

Bright green locomotive on passenger train in snow-covered mountain town

MONTREUX, Switzerland — Concerns over excessive track wear have led the innovative Swiss Golden Pass Express trains that switch from meter gauge to standard gauge to be temporarily restricted to meter-gauge operations. The Golden Pass Express, or GPX, trains, began operating late last year on the route between Montreux and Interlaken [see “Swiss gauge-changing Panoramic […]

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“Black Marias” on the New Haven

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Alco’s initial answer to EMD’s wildly successful FT freight diesel of 1939 was a three-unit locomotive built as a testbed/demonstrator in 1945. Its lines and paint job led observers to dub it “Black Maria,” a slang term for a police wagon. Nos. 1500A, B, and C tested for barely a year on several New England […]

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