BERN, Switzerland — The long-term future of Switzerland’s historic Gotthard Pass rail line, which has been in question since the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2016, has been assured with the decision of the Swiss government and Swiss Federal Railways, or SBB, to spend some 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.16 billion) to renovate […]
Norfolk Southern, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the SMART-TD union will participate in the Federal Railroad Administration’s Confidential Close Call Reporting system, or C3RS, the railroad and labor unions said in a joint statement today. “NS is proud to partner with our labor leaders and FRA to make another industry-leading advancement in […]
FAIDO, Switzerland — Rail traffic through the one functioning tube of the Gotthard Base Tunnel was suspended for about six hours today (Monday, Jan. 29) after a vehicle caught fire at the southern tunnel exit near Faido, Swissinfo.ch reports, citing reports from SRF, Swiss public radio. The vehicle, belonging to a security firm, caught fire […]
PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed a $282.8 million annual increase in public transit funding — the first increase in state funding in more than a decade — to prevent service cuts or fare increases on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. The 1.75% increase in statewide funding announced Sunday, reported by WHYY, follows […]
CANCÚN, Mexico — The launch of Mexico’s tourist-oriented Maya Train on the Yucatán Peninsula continues to run into problems, the latest being that the last portion of the looping 950-mile route will not be complete by the end of February, as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had previously said. López Obrador — the project’s primary […]
NEW YORK — New York’s first batch of “open gangway” subway cars — those with accordion-style connections, rather than doors between cars, making it easy to walk from car to car — will not be able to operate on some express lines because their design creates a conflict with New York City Transit operating rules, […]
We’ve all seen blue flags. A sign with words “STOP MEN AT WORK” clamped to the head of a rail, or hanging from the side of a locomotive. It was placed there by a railroader working in the area, and the rules of its use are strict and unbending. A blue flag, is defined by […]
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit has cancelled a controversial natural-gas power plant designed in part to provide emergency power for rail lines, saying the project is “not financially feasible,” and will reallocate federal grant funds to other projects, the transit agency announced on Friday. The TransitGrid Microgrid Central Facility in Kearny, N.J., would have generated […]
In the past, railroad dining car meals were something to write home about, positively. A notable summary of this can be found in the lyrics of the popular song Chattanooga Choo-Choo, with its assertion that “dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer.” As private-railroad passenger service declined in the 1960s, however, this […]
SEATTLE — For the second consecutive weekend, Amtrak Cascades service has been disrupted between Portland and Seattle because of a landslide. According to an Amtrak service advisory, all Cascade trains are cancelled today (Saturday, Jan. 27) and Sunday, Jan. 28, between Seattle and Portland with alternate transportation (buses) provided. Coast Starlight trains with originate or […]
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Officials have no estimate when rail service might resume past the site of a landslide near the San Clemente Pier, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. A Wednesday, Jan. 24, slide destroyed a bridge on a pedestrian trail, sending debris and parts of the bridge onto the Surf Line tracks below. The […]
MIAMI — Beginning this Saturday, Jan. 27, South Florida’s West Palm Beach-Miami International Airport Tri-Rail service will be connected to downtown Miami with 13 weekday round-trip shuttle trains and 12 round trips on the weekends. Since the service’s Jan. 13 launch, the commuter authority has been gradually ramping up service to Brightline’s MiamiCentral facility [see […]
