SEATTLE — Flooding in parts of Washington state have disrupted the Seattle section of Amtrak’s Empire Builder, as well as Amtrak Cascades service. Both Cascades round trips between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, have been canceled today and tomorrow (Dec. 11-12) “due to the anticipated flooding of the Skagit River through Mount Vernon,” Amtrak said […]
NEW YORK — Amtrak and Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials say the East River tunnel rehabilitation project is on schedule after six months, with repairs on the first of two tunnels to be completed by July. The operators addressed progress on the tunnel project with local media on Wednesday (Dec. 10), with Laura Mason, Amtrak executive […]
CHICAGO — More evidence of the toll Amtrak’s aging locomotive and passenger car fleet is taking on operations was provided in recent days when long-distance and regional trains were canceled or suffered hours-long delays, most shortly after leaving Chicago. The common thread? Problems with electrical head-end power. On Monday, both the westbound California Zephyr and […]
Amtrak should be asking itself a $7 billion question about the future of its long-distance trains. Should it spend that Bipartisan Infrastructure Law windfall on nearly 600 new bilevel cars that would replace aging Superliner equipment — and continue with a problematic procurement process? Or would that money be better spent on a national single-level […]
NEW ORLEANS — A full complement of Amtrak board members convened in the Crescent City on Thursday for the only yearly meeting where the railroad’s management and board take questions from the public. As has been the case since the first mandatory annual public meeting held in St. Louis in 2022, many concerns affecting company […]
NEW ORLEANS – Ridership on Amtrak’s Mardi Gras service — launched in August to link New Orleans and Mobile, Ala. — has exceeded expectations in its first three-plus months of operation along the Gulf Coast. Amtrak on Thursday said that more than 46,000 passengers have ridden the twice-daily roundtrips since the long-awaited service launched using […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express have adjusted their schedules to make way for morning work blocks that will be in effect for the next five years between Washington and Alexandria, Va., to permit construction of a second two-track Long Bridge across the Potomac River. After months of negotiations, stakeholders have reached an agreement […]
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Norfolk Southern, Amtrak, and the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Foundation will team up on Dec. 13 for the 26th run of their Holiday Train over the former Delaware & Hudson between Binghamton and Delanson, N.Y. Since its inception, the Holiday Train partnership has collected hundreds of thousands of toys and […]
CHICAGO — While thousands of air travelers were stranded or severely delayed by canceled flights as a wind-swept snowstorm blanketed the Midwest and Great Lakes region, Amtrak’s sold-out trains suffered only a few significant setbacks nationwide over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Only the Floridian was delayed an hour and a half leaving Chicago Saturday (Nov. […]
In the February 2024 issue of Model Railroader, we reviewed the direct-current version of the Siemens ALC-42 Charger diesel locomotive from Kato USA Inc. Recently, we received a sample of the modern passenger unit equipped with a SoundTraxx Tsunami2 TSU-KN2 sound decoder. Prototype history With an aging fleet of General Electric P40 and P42 diesel […]
CHICAGO — As expected, shortened consists and surging holiday demand are responsible for Amtrak sellouts across the country, notably on segments of virtually every long-distance train nearest population centers, as well as on the Pacific Northwest’s Cascades, New York State’s Empire Service, and Midwest corridors. Repeating their analysis earlier this year for the Labor Day […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority would have to reduce Long Island Rail Road service into New York’s Penn Station to accommodate its proposal for temporary Metro-North service on its Penn Access route through the Bronx, according to Amtrak — which MTA CEO Janno Lieber says is not an option. In a paywalled article, […]
