NEWTON, Kan. — Extending the Heartland Flyer 198 miles to connect with the Chicago-Los Angeles Southwest Chief at Newton, Kan., has been a goal of passenger rail advocates ever since the state-funded train between Fort Worth, Texas, and Oklahoma City debuted in June 1999. In the meantime, passengers wishing to travel between these north-south and […]
GUNTER, Texas — BNSF Railway is pulling back from plans to develop a 950-acre logistics center north of Dallas in light of community opposition. The railroad announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing an application to rezone and annex property in the community of 2,200 in Grayson County, about 45 miles from downtown Dallas, “based on […]
MARSHALL, Texas — A wide variety of state and local officials, as well as current and former representatives of Amtrak and its host railroads, assembled last week to honor two people in large part responsible for keeping alive a proposed extension of Amtrak’s Crescent between Meridian, Miss., and Fort Worth, Texas. Retired Harrison County Judge […]
FAIRMONT, Okla. — High winds are being blamed for the derailment of a BNSF train today (July 21) near the town of Fairmont. BNSF said 29 cars derailed while the train was stopped because of high winds, according to the Associated Press. The railroad said no one was injured and no hazardous materials were involved. […]
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 made its 2023 debut in June and July with the Home Run Express to the NCAA Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Though a tradition for the Class I railroad to showcase its various equipment at the 12th Street display site outside Charles Schwab Field, […]
BISMARCK, N.D. — The group seeking to prevent BNSF Railway from demolishing a 141-year-old bridge over the Missouri River is taking its long-running effort to the North Dakota Supreme Court. The Bismarck Tribune reports that the Friends of the Rail Bridge preservation group, joined by the Downtown Business Association of Bismarck, is seeking to overturn […]
Was the Blue Streak Merchandise the last Great American Freight Train? “You define a passenger train by its cars, its menu, its route — even its patrons,” says railroad historian Fred W. Frailey in his 1991 book on the Blue Streak. “But the Blue Streak defined the railroads over which it runs — seized control of […]
BISMARCK, N.D. — A state judge in North Dakota has dismissed a permit appeal by the preservation group seeking to block demolition of BNSF Railway’s 140-year-old bridge over the Missouri River. The Bismarck Tribune reports that South Central Judicial District Court Judge Jackson Lofgren on Friday dismissed on technical grounds the appeal by the Friends […]
POWELL, Texas — Severe weather is believed to have played a part in the derailment of a Union Pacific train Wednesday evening in Powell, WFAA-TV reports. About 26 cars of an intermodal train derailed during a period that the Navarro County Office of Emergency Management says included storms with winds up to 80 mph. No […]
AUSTIN, Texas — CapMetro commuter rail service will be suspended from Wednesday, July 5, to Friday, July 14, the transit agency has announced, to allow for maintenance along the rail road and work on McKalla Station, a new stop near Q2 Stadium, the home of Austin’s Major League Soccer team. That station is scheduled to […]
PALESTINE, Texas — The Texas State Railroad, a heritage railway in East Texas, will receive $10 million under the budget passed last month by the state legislature. The Palestine Herald-Press reports funding will go toward capital projects that could include tie and ballast work, replacement of 100-year-old rails, railcar maintenance, safety improvements, and other projects. […]
AUSTIN, Texas — Austin’s City Council and the board of directors for its transit agency and the Austin Transit Partnership have formally adopted a plan for Phase I of the city’s revised Project Connect light rail project, a 9.8-mile route to run from 38th Street in the city’s Northwest to Yellow Jacket Lane in the […]
