Digest: Transport Canada issues updated rules on winter operations, hazardous-material trains

Transport Canada logo

Canadian government revises rules for winter operations, hazardous-material trains The Canadian government has revised rules regarding winter operation and hazardous material trains, updating rules first issued in response to derailments in 2020. The rules announced by Transport Minister Omar Alghabra will: — Define “higher risk key trains” as those carrying large quantities of crude oil […]

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NTSB: Brake and end-of-train device problems led to deadly Sherman Hill runaway (updated)

Overhead view of derailed train

WASHINGTON — A brake system failure — which included an air flow restriction and the failure of an end-of-train device to respond to an emergency brake command — was the probable cause of the October 2018 runaway and subsequent collision that killed two Union Pacific crewmen on Sherman Hill in Wyoming, the National Transportation Safety Board […]

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Navigating New York’s Moynihan Train Hall and Penn Station

Train station exterior with clock

NEW YORK — “In the old time,” Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “you arrived at Pennsylvania Station at the train platform. You went up the stairs to heaven. Make that Manhattan. And we shall have it again.” The late U.S. Senator from New York, who died in 2003, never got to see his words emblazoned […]

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Rochelle, Ill. — a Midwest railroad hotspot for train watching

An orange painted diesel locomotive leads a train over a double-diamond.

Join Trains editors on a short tour of the best parts of Rochelle, Ill., for rail fans — the places where train horns sound often.  Rochelle is the crossroads of Union Pacific and BNSF Railway mainlines in the middle of Illinois, in the middle of the Midwest — ensuring dozens of a train a day […]

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Metra board approves order for 200 new passenger cars, with option for 300 more

Metra train

CHICAGO — Metra’s board of directors has approved the purchase of up to 500 new multilevel cars from Alstom, a purchase CEO and Executive Director James Derwinski calls “truly transformational.” The Alstom Coradia cars, while compatible with the current fleet of gallery cars, will feature two entrance doors on each side, as opposed to the […]

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Union Pacific writes down Brazos Yard investment

Trains logo

OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific will write off half the value of the aborted hump yard it was building in Hearne, Texas, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday morning. UP in April 2019 stopped construction of the $550 million Brazos Yard, which the railroad had described as the largest single capital investment […]

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Digest: Program in Canada to reduce wildlife killed by trains shows promising results

Canadian Pacific beaver logo

More Tuesday morning rail news: Effort to reduce wildlife deaths along rail line in Canadian park shows promising results A pilot project to reduce wildlife deaths along Canadian Pacific’s route through Banff National Park is showing promising results two years into a five-year project. The CBC reports the project, which cut 38 kilometers (23.6 miles) […]

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