Digest: Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority elects first president

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Friday afternoon rail news: Montana’s Bky Sky Passenger Rail Authority elects Strohmaier as president Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier, the driving force behind the effort to create Montana’s Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority, will serve as first president of the organization, the Missoula Current reports. In its second official meeting on Wednesday, the organization learned that […]

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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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Digest: Biden executive order requires masks on trains, other forms of transportation

Masked people wait for train

Friday morning rail news:   Executive order requires masks on trains, transit, other modes of transportation President Joe Biden has signed an executive order mandating use of face coverings on trains, public transit, planes, intercity busses, and in airports, the Washington Post reports. The newspaper says that order and one signed Wednesday requiring masks on federal […]

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Siemens Charger locomotives on Midwest trains

Diesel electric locomotive leading a train over a bridge.

  Chargers are among the newest and most popular passenger locomotives in North America today. The diesel-electric units are made by Germany-based Siemens, at the company’s Sacramento, Calif., manufacturing plant. This videos offers a Chicago-area tour of Chargers leading Amtrak train to Midwest destinations. […]

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Siemens Charger locomotives on Midwest trains

Diesel electric locomotive leading a train over a bridge.

  Chargers are among the newest and most popular passenger locomotives in North America today. The diesel-electric units are made by Germany-based Siemens, at the company’s Sacramento, Calif., manufacturing plant. This videos offers a Chicago-area tour of Chargers leading Amtrak train to Midwest destinations. […]

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Amtrak CEO joins call for more rail security, no-ride list

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Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn has joined the call by two labor unions for increased security for Amtrak passengers and railroad workers, especially in the Washington, D.C., area, in the wake of last week’s violence at the Capitol building. “There is nothing more important than the safety of our employees,” Flynn said in a statement. “Since […]

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Analysis: Coach sellouts hinder Amtrak long-distance travelers

A train riding besides another set of empty tracks

CHICAGO — In a period when the COVID-19 pandemic has made travel more of a last-minute decision than it has been in the past, a Trains News Wire review shows Amtrak passengers on the Northeast Corridor continued to purchase tickets throughout the New Year’s holiday weekend. Such late decisions are not an option for passengers on many […]

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New York’s Moynihan Train Hall to open Jan. 1

Train lounge in all-white.

NEW YORK — Amtrak’s Moynihan Train Hall, the facility connected to and across 8th Avenue from New York Penn Station, will be completed Dec. 31 and open Jan. 1. The opening of the facility in the historic James A. Farley Post Office Building will conclude a $1.6 billion project that has taken more than three […]

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Amtrak, MTA CEOs react to COVID aid funding

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Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn and New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Patrick J. Foye have both reacted positively to the COVID-19 relief funding included in a bill passed by Congress on Monday. Amtrak received $1 billion in relief funds, while transit agencies will receive $14 billion. In a statement issued Tuesday, Flynn thanked Congress for […]

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Digest: Transit, Amtrak to get funds in coronavirus aid and stimulus package

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Monday morning rail news: Amtrak, transit funds part of new coronavirus stimulus packageCongress has agreed to a coronavirus aid and stimulus package worth about $900 billion that includes money for transit and Amtrak. The Washington Post reports the House summary of the bill’s contents lists $14 billion in aid for transit, and $1 billion for […]

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