Chicago Union Station’s Great Hall Bob Johnston CHICAGO – A long-dormant space on the west end of Chicago Union Station’s Great Hall is set to become a conduit to booming West Loop commercial and residential activity through construction of a new entrance with access to “full interior infrastructure redevelopment,” according to Amtrak. In 1980, a […]
Limited track capacity at the Portland Transportation Center can delay trains that need to back in and out of the branch line to the station. Dan Zukowski PORTLAND, Maine – Steady population and economic growth along the southern coast of Maine is creating new opportunities for more passenger trains with more connections to more communities. […]
BRANSON, Mo. – The Branson Scenic Railway has acquired three cars from Amtrak in its latest sale of retired equipment. They are Amtrak baggage cars 1204 and 1245, and dining car 8521. The two baggage cars were built by Budd in 1953 for Santa Fe as Nos. 3533 and 3534 respectively. They were assigned to […]
Morning Amtrak Cascades No. 500 heads north near Salem, Ore., in June 2015. Amtrak has pledged funds in support of an Oregon effort to secure a federal grant to add a passing siding on the Cascades route south of Portland, Ore. Bob Johnston OREGON CITY, Ore. — Amtrak has pledged to contribute $750,000 to a […]
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Flyer, a two-year pilot program to provide “one seat” passenger service from New York City to Berkshire County in Massachusetts, will move ahead, as funding for the program was included in the state’s budget signed into law Wednesday. The program will receive “not less than $270,000” for its inaugural year, […]
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s plans for increasing Chicago-Milwaukee Amtrak Hiawatha service may not be as close to fruition as state officials have believed. Canadian Pacific Railway, the host railroad for much of the Hiawatha route, has released a letter to the state’s rail program manager saying it will not support additional service without additional improvements […]
UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill. — Amtrak’s southbound Illini derailed Sunday evening after hitting a truck at a grade crossing near the University Park Metra station, about 30 miles south of Chicago. The driver of the truck was killed, according to a University Park Fire Department official quoted by ABC News, and two people on board the […]
The Surface Transportation Board is once again being asked to settle a dispute between Amtrak and Metra over rent at Chicago Union Station. TRAINS: David Lassen CHICAGO — Declaring the matter at an impasse, Amtrak has asked federal regulators to determine compensation and terms over Metra’s lease at Chicago Union Station. In a filing with the […]
An Amtrak Acela Express prepares to stop at Metropark, N.J., in 2017. Amtrak will begun running one nonstop Acela round trip daily between New York and Washington in September. Scott A. Hartley WASHINGTON — Amtrak will begin one nonstop round trip between Washington and New York’s Penn Station, the passenger railroad announced today. The service […]
Former Amtrak president and CEO David Gunn. Bob Johnston WASHINGTON — Former Democratic presidential candidate and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis remembers his time on the Amtrak Board of Directors as working with people well-versed in transportation and “committed to the simple but powerful notion that the entire country needs a first-class rail passenger system.” Former […]
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator observes activity at the site of the Amtrak train No. 188 crash in 2015. National Transportation Safety Board PHILADELPHIA — For a second time, criminal charges have been dropped against the engineer of an Amtrak train involved in a fatal derailment in Philadelphia in 2015. Charges against Brian Bostian, […]
New York to Miami Silver Star train No. 91 was operating on track warrants and verbal communication with CSX Transportation dispatchers when it crashed into a parked CSX autorack train about 2:27 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2018, at Cayce, S.C. Jonathan Hinely WASHINGTON — Human error combined with inadequate attention to safety risk led to […]
