PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has removed some of its electric multiple-unit railcars from service for inspections related to two fires earlier this year, leading to delays and cancellations of some Regional Rail service. In an Aug. 14 press release, SEPTA said it has been cancelling some trips because “out of an abundance […]
MONTREAL — Réseau express métropolitain light rail service between downtown Montreal and Brossard, Quebec, is slated to resume on Monday (Aug. 18) following a six-week closure to prepare for the opening of most of the rest of the REM system. The closure of the 10.3-mile (16.5-kilometer) section that opened in July 2023 was necessary, REM […]
LOWELL, Wis. — Approximately 30 cars of a CPKC unit train of crude oil derailed today (Friday, Aug. 15, 2025) near the town of Lowell, with some oil believed to be leaking from the derailed tank cars, according to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office. The derailment has led to service disruptions for Amtrak’s Empire Builder […]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Rocky Mountaineer has announced a limited-run trip through Canada’s Banff and Jasper national parks to be offered for four weeks in summer 2026. The “Passage to the Peaks” service will feature two days of viewing the parks with an overnight stay in Kamloops, B.C. It will offered beginning June 10 from […]
PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will begin service cuts on Aug. 24 after the agency’s Thursday, Aug. 14, deadline passed for funding to avert the service reductions. According to a statement from the agency released early today (Aug. 15, 2025), “With no new funding secured, SEPTA must proceed with work to implement service […]
STAUNTON, Va. — Tickets for the upcoming Shenandoah Valley Limited fall excursions behind Norfolk & Western No. 611 are now available for purchase, ranging from $128 to $318 per person. The J-class 4-8-4 is poised to return to the Buckingham Branch Railroad for the first time since 2023 [See “Norfolk & Western No. 611 to […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration today disbanded its Railroad Safety Advisory Committee as part of a broader Department of Transportation push to bring federal advisory panels in line with a presidential executive order. “These committees are long overdue for a refresh. Many have not held a single meeting in over a year, while others […]
MIAMI — Florida passenger rail operator Brightline is reissuing almost a billion dollars of private activity bond debt for which a mandatory redemption has come due. The more than 1,300-page Series 2025B “Limited Remarketing Memorandum” distributed to interested parties Tuesday has a term rate of 10%, but is expected to yield 15% to bondholders of […]
Most railfans will not dispute this statement: The most iconic General Electric locomotives to be employed by Amtrak were the Genesis series. These streamlined, monocoque-body (single shell) workhorses have been everywhere along the passenger carrier’s regional and long-distance services since the 1990s. The impact of the Genesis series locomotives can make it easy to forget […]
Of the more than 500 stations Amtrak serves across its 21,000-mile network, most are pretty straightforward. Some serve as originating/terminating points for the carrier’s trains, while others are stops along the way for through services. But there are more than 30 Amtrak stations with both originating/terminating and through services. These dual-purpose facilities are small depots […]
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Senate has passed a funding bill that would largely use capital funding to maintain transit operations, a move the state’s governor and Democratically-controlled House say is not a viable solution to the funding shortfall that could lead to major service cuts in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia-area Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation […]
NEW YORK — The Long Island Rail Road has added more seating on the mezzanine level of Grand Central Madison, responding to customer requests during a period of rising ridership at the two-year-old facility. The station originally had no seating on the mezzanine — the area between the two levels of tracks well below Grand […]
