Metrolink adds service for X Games in Ventura

Metrolink_BurbankAirport_Lassen

VENTURA, Calif. — Southern California commuter rail operator will once again add service for the X Games extreme sports competition in Ventura, to be held this year June 28-30. Metrolink will offer two round trips between Los Angeles and the Ventura Downtown/Beach station on Saturday, June 29, and Sunday, June 30. Schedules and other details […]

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Mobile, port, and Alabama strike tentative deal to equally fund $3 million Gulf Coast grant: Analysis

Passenger train surrounded by crowd

MOBILE, Ala. — Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said Tuesday that his city’s funding obligation to support two daily Amtrak round trips could be split equally between Mobile, the state of Alabama, and the Alabama State Port Authority. As originally reported by AL.com, Stimpson announced Republican Gov. Kay Ivey had dropped her long-standing opposition to provide […]

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Caltrain sets Sept. 21 date to launch electrified service

Red and white electric multiple-unit trainset under dramatic sunset

SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Caltrain announced plans to launch electrified service on its San Francisco-San Jose service on Sept. 21 after a final weekend of testing that included running eight trains of electric equipment simultaneously, the agency said on Monday. Electrified operation will see service between San Francisco and San Jose in less than an […]

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Head of MTA says without congestion pricing funds, focus will be ‘to make sure system doesn’t fall apart’ (updated)

A train yard

NEW YORK — The head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Monday night that the transit agency would focus on state-of-good-repair work instead of improvements as a result of the planned halt to the Manhattan congestion pricing a program, a decision that will cost the agency $1 billion a year for its capital program. The […]

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MBTA completes Orange Line work, removing 10 more speed restrictions

Maintenance workers in subway tunnel

BOSTON — The latest Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority service shutdown for track maintenance work led to removal of 10 speed restrictions on the rapid-transit Orange Line, the agency says. Service was suspended between the Wellington and Back Bay stations from May 28 through June 6. During that period, nine slow orders were addressed in the […]

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Two passengers injured when South Shore train hits truck

South Shore Line logo

GARY, Ind. — Two passengers were injured when a Chicago-bound South Shore Line commuter train hit a dump truck reportedly stalled on the tracks in Gary this morning (Monday, June 10), the Chicago Tribune reports. The collision occurred about 7:45 a.m. at the Rutledge Street crossing, west of the Gary Metro station. The driver of […]

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House subcommittee schedules hearing on California locomotive rule

Trains Washington Watch logo

WASHINGTON — A subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has scheduled a hearing this Thursday on California regulations that would require zero-emissions locomotives in the state beginning in 2030. The focus of the hearing by the Investigations & Oversight Subcommittee is clear from its title: “Environmentalism Off the Rails: […]

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Deteriorating CN track adds time to VIA’s Ocean: Analysis

Passenger train at station with large ship in background

MONTREAL — Beginning June 19, VIA Rail Canada is adding 90 minutes to the westbound schedule of its Montreal-Halifax, N.S. Ocean and 45 minutes to the eastbound train, “to provide passengers with a schedule which better reflects actual travel times,” according to a statement provided by VIA in response to a set of detailed questions […]

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Colorado’s San Luis Central shut down by washout

Collapsed irrigation canal

MONTE VISTA, Colo. — Short line San Luis Central Railroad embargoed its entire 13-mile line May 28 after its crossing of the Empire Irrigation Canal, one mile north of Monte Vista, collapsed. According to local farmers, the crossing, a series of culverts surrounded by cement walls, had been seeping water between the pipes for a […]

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Are trains in Michigan Central’s future?

View looking up at front of Michigan Central Station.

DETROIT — The magnificent indoor space at Michigan Central Station that once hosted New York Central passenger trains has been brought back to life in spectacular fashion by the Ford Motor Company. It joins New York’s Grand Central Terminal, union stations in Washington and Chicago, and Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal as well-preserved classics built […]

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Failure of rail joint likely caused 2020 Canadian Pacific oil train derailment and fire, TSB says

Black smoke rises from burning tank cars

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Failure of a plug rail joint, installed about a week earlier, likely led to the derailment and fire involving a Canadian Pacific crude oil unit train near Guernsey, Saskatchewan, in February 2020, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada determined in a final investigation report released Friday (June 7). The Feb. 6 incident […]

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Suspension of Amtrak’s Adirondack to Montreal will continue into September (updated)

Passenger train with red and blue locomotive with body of water in foreground and high-rise apartments behind

NEW YORK — Amtrak’s planned six-week outage of Adirondack service north of Saratoga Springs to Montreal, originally slated to last through June 29, will now apparently stretch into the second week of September. The news was originally reported by the Adirondack Explorer, based on Amtrak booking cancellations and a letter obtained by the non-profit news […]

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