WASHINGTON — The end may not be near — given Amtrak’s current, chronic capacity shortage, exacerbated by last spring’s sudden withdrawal of the Horizon coach fleet — but the company has begun the lengthy process of selling off its most productive and enduring assets: stainless steel Amfleet coaches and cafes that began arriving from the […]
HARTFORD, Conn. — Full Amtrak and CTRail service on the Hartford Line will resume between Hartford and Springfield, Mass., on Saturday (Nov. 1), following the completion of track projects that led to long-term substitution of buses for some trains. In all, 10 trains will be restored north of Hartford: — Northbound: CTRail train 4400 (departing […]
Santa Fe trains 93, the West Texas Express, and 94, the Eastern Express, were the Amarillo–Lubbock connection for the San Francisco Chief. Between 1955 and 1965, the trains looked like this: an E8M (rebuilt from an E1), baggage-express car, coach, and sleeper. Fred M. Springer photo […]
NEW YORK — The Amtrak-led project to redevelop New York’s Penn Station announced several steps forward on Thursday, most notably a call for the project’s master developer. A 98-page request for letters of interest available at Amtrak’s procurement site describes the project as a “a comprehensive redevelopment … to transform the station into a modern […]
WASHINGTON — An operator’s failure to obey a stop signal was the probable cause of an Oct. 1, 2024, derailment of a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority light rail train in Somerville, Mass., the National Transportation Safety Board said in its final investigation report released this month. The train’s excessive speed was a contributing factor, according […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board has approved purchase of 378 R268 subway cars from Kawasaki Railcar under a contract valued at $1.507 billion. The approval came during the board meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 30. Tim Mulligan, the MTA’s chief of rolling stock, said the purchase would complete replacement of R68 and R68a […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak is advising passengers to book early for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday period to get the best prices and ensure seating, saying it is expecting record-breaking ridership based on early bookings. Last year, the company saw 1.2 million riders during the Thanksgiving season. The company will add cars to Northeast Regional routes between […]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A new proposal to fund Chicago’s transit agencies was introduced on Tuesday (Oct. 28) in the state’s House of Representatives. By Wednesday, it appeared to be dead. Gov. JB Pritzker said at a Wednesday event that the bill was “not going forward” in its current form because he had issues with the […]
PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has asked the Federal Railroad Administration for more time to complete inspections of its Silverliner IV car fleet, a SEPTA spokesman said today (Oct. 29, 2025). Public broadcaster WHYY reports that the SEPTA has asked for an additional two weeks to complete the inspections of the 223 Silverliner […]
Class A 4-4-2 No. 2 hauls the Milwaukee Road’s newly launched Hiawatha up the hill and around the curve out of Chicago Union Station in mid-1935. Alexander Maxwell photo […]
Soon after the first railroad bought the second locomotive it became apparent that some rules of the road were needed. There had to be a way to keep a following locomotive from running into the one ahead and to prevent head-on collisions when locomotives are moving toward each other on a single track. In the […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has completed a five-year revamp of the Grand Central-42nd Street station, the second busiest in the New York City Transit subway system, and says the extensive remodeling was finished on time and approximately $46.5 million under budget. The project — for a station served by the 4, 5, […]
