MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada’s on-time performance plummeted in the first quarter of 2025, falling to 30% from 72% in the same period last year, the company said in a quarterly financial report issued on Tuesday, June 3. The company also said ridership also dropped by 2.7% compared to the first quarter of 2024, the […]
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers did not include funding for Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer in a budget bill passed last week, placing the future of the train between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City in jeopardy after a year that saw a 11% increase in ridership. The Texas Department of Transportation had sought $3.53 million for the […]
BRUNSWICK, Maine — New short line Cumberland & Knox made its debut last weekend, running its first train over a 56-mile, state-owned former Maine Central branch that hadn’t seen any freight action at all in eight months. The move saw locomotive LTEX 1555, an ex-Canadian Pacific GP9u, pick up 12 covered hoppers from the CSX […]
CHICAGO — Chicago-area transit agencies will begin planning for massive service cuts in the wake of the legislature’s failure to address the region’s funding shortfall — but there could still be a chance to avoid a 40% reduction in service. Legislators could still pass a bill in a special session or a fall veto session […]
DENVER — The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has lost a land-use fight stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic before the Colorado Supreme Court. The court, in a group of decisions announced May 27, upheld a ruling that LaPlata County had the right to regulate the railroad, as the Colorado Public Utilities Commission had previously […]
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Electrified train service to and from San Jose’s Tamien station, the southernmost stop of Caltrain’s electrified route, will be suspended for approximately eight months beginning June 16, the commuter operator has announced. The suspension will accommodate construction for replacement of the bridge over the Guadalupe River, just north of the Tamien […]
MONTREAL — Talks have broken off between VIA Rail Canada and Unifor, the union representing 2,500 workers including onboard attendants and mechanical workers, the union said today (June 2, 2025). The end of negotiations comes with a potential strike as little as three weeks away. Employees could walk out as soon as June 22 following […]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Chicago-area transit operations will face draconian cuts to service in the next fiscal year after Illinois legislators on Saturday passed a new state budget without addressing the $770 million shortfall for the Regional Transit Authority and its three operating agencies. While the state Senate passed a transit bill, HB3438, that had been […]
RALEIGH, N.C. — A ceremony Friday (May 30) marking the 30th anniversary of the North Carolina’s Piedmont passenger rail service between Raleigh and Charlotte, repainting a locomotive into the original Piedmont paint scheme to mark the event. Piedmont service was launched on May 26, 1995, with state-owned equipment. It has grown from a single daily […]
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Union Pacific and rail technology firm ZTR have concluded the first portion of the pilot program for their battery-diesel hybrid switching locomotives, the company said Friday, with the pilot remaining on track for completion in 2026. The mother-slug set has completed initial testing and proof of concept at the Jenks […]
PETALUMA, Calif. — Northern California commuter rail service Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit is set to launch service on its northern extension to Windsor, Calif., on Saturday (May 31). The North Bay Business Journal reports that SMART received final clearance from the Federal Railroad Administration to begin operation on Thursday, according to SMART General Manager Eddy […]
BOSTON — Four former Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority track inspectors and a current MBTA employee are facing federal charges for allegedly falsifying track inspection reports on the rapid transit Red Line. Brian Pfaffinger, 47, of Marshfield, Mass.; Ronald Gamble, 62, of Dorchester; Jensen Vatel, 42, of Brockton; Nathalie Mendez, 53, of New Bedford; and Andy […]
