WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a public hearing next week on proposed California regulations that would require the use of zero-emissions locomotives in the state beginning in 2030. The California Air Resources Board approved the so-called in-use locomotive regulation last year. The EPA must review California regulations that exceed federal regulations; […]
GATINEAU, Quebec — Effects of alcohol consumption by the rail traffic controller involved were likely a factor in a September 2021 collision between a Canadian National intermodal train and industrial switcher at Prescott, Ontario, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in an accident report issued today (Wednesday, March 13). As a result, the TSB […]
Ancora Holdings, the activist investor leading a proxy fight against Norfolk Southern, says it’s taking the high road and conducting a fact-based campaign to oust the railroad’s management. The reality is that Ancora is stuck on the misinformation highway with a safety white paper that makes several claims that can’t hold up to scrutiny. Ancora’s […]
COCOA, Fla. — Brightline and local officials announced their intention Tuesday to build a station on over 40 acres of Brightline-owned land near the junction where its trains from Orlando International Airport join Florida East Coast Railway’s north-south main line. The planned Cocoa, Fla., station is 40 miles east of the company’s Orlando terminus, and […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota bill to limit the length of freight trains has cleared its first legislative hurdle, passing a committee of the state’s House of Representatives on Tuesday. HF3499, introduced by Rep. Jeff Brand (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, St. Peter, Minn.), would limit trains to 8,500 feet, with penalties escalating from as little as […]
WASHINGTON — A CSX maintenance-of-way foreman was killed when he was struck by a ballast regulator while waiting for flaggers to arrive to protect a grade crossing, the National Transportation Safety Board said in the preliminary report issued Tuesday on an accident that occurred Feb. 13 in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. The accident description confirms details […]
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed the bill that would have required two-person crews for freight trains within the state, the news website Virginia Mercury reports. Youngkin said in a veto message issued March 8 that he took the action because the actions in the bill “appear premature and lack the necessary […]
VIDALIA, Ga. – Railroad labor union leaders today urged the Federal Railroad Administration to reject or at least severely restrict a proposal that would allow a pair of Genesee & Wyoming short lines to conduct intensive tests of Parallel Systems autonomous, self-propelled battery-electric freight cars. The Heart of Georgia and Georgia Central railroads last year […]
CHICAGO — Upgrading speeds and capacity or simply keeping tracks well-maintained for passenger trains has tradeoffs that often compromise a rail corridor’s ability to provide meaningful mobility while the work is going on. An example will occur in Michigan beginning May 6, when Amtrak and the state of Michigan jointly made the decision to suspend […]
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Caltrain’s electrification process took another step forward the weekend of March 9-10, with successful testing of trains and catenary on the commuter line’s Redwood City-Mountain View segment, the agency announced Monday. Test runs beginning at 20 mph and increasing to the 79-mph speed limit were conducted, with a total of 25 […]
BOSTON — Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority work on the rapid transit Green Line in February and March removed 11 speed restrictions and made unnecessary a planned suspension of service on the C Branch this fall, the MBTA said on Monday. The C Branch outage this fall is no longer needed because work eliminated a slow […]
U.S. railroads introduced long-haul luxury coach trains in the 20th century to attract a more budget-conscious traveler. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the worst of the Great Depression in the U.S. was over, and railroads began to invest in new passenger equipment; both new diesel motive power, and a radical new […]
