LOS ANGELES — Commuter rail agency Metrolink has begun offering free-ride vouchers for those impacted by Southern California’s wildfires. The Metrolink effort joins one by Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner, which is offering $10 fares between any two locations on the San Luis Obispo-San Diego LOSSAN corridor. Metrolink is working with local aid groups and elected officials […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Notes from the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers’ Winter Meeting, which concluded today (Jan. 16, 2025): The Iowa Northern decision The MARS meeting opened the day after the Surface Transportation Board issued its long-awaited decision approving Canadian National’s purchase of Iowa Northern Railway, a deal effective Feb. 13 [see “STB greenlights Canadian […]
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Approaching the likely end of his tenure as chairman of the Surface Transportation Board, Robert Primus made it clear: the hearing the board held last fall on growth in the rail industry did not ease his concerns about Class I efforts to increase volume. In a rare address today (Jan. 16, 2025) […]
Normally the addition of a 3.5-mile stretch of second main line isn’t a cause for celebration. But when those 3.5 miles happen to be the final section of regular double track added to BNSF Railway’s 2,200-mile Southern Transcon, well, then it’s a major milestone. BNSF cut over the new trackage between Rose Hill and Mulvane, […]
MIAMI — How much money Amtrak was willing to pay and the Florida Department of Transportation was willing to accept for use of the Miami Intermodal Center headhouse was apparently the main sticking point in a years-long impasse that ended when the passenger carrier notified FDOT in November that it would not move its South […]
WORCESTER, Mass. — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has proposed a 10-year, $8 billion transportation plan including an immediate move to stabilize the finances of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority — using funds from the state’s Fair Share tax on annual incomes over $1 million while requiring no new taxes. Legislation to enact the plan, part […]
CALGARY — Members of Canadian union Unifor have voted to authorize a strike against Canadian Pacific Kansas City if the railroad and union do not reach a new deal by Jan. 29, 2025. The union said the vote was 99% in favor of authorization by members of Local 101R, which represents more than 1,200 CPKC […]
SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board has scrapped its controversial rule that would have required the use of zero-emissions locomotives in the state beginning in 2030. The board, or CARB as it’s known, informed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week that it was withdrawing its requests to enforce zero-emissions rules covering trucks and […]
LOS ANGELES — Metrolink will adjust schedules on its San Bernardino Line as of Jan. 27 in an effort to address on-time issues that led the agency to offer discounts to monthly pass holders in January and February. The commuter agency’s CEO, Darren Kettle, said in a year-end message to riders that Metrolink’s efforts to […]
SUNBURY, Pa. — After 27 years of running holiday passenger trains, fund-raising excursions, and shipper specials, owner Jeff Pontius of Penn Valley Railroad LLC has sold his fleet of seven passenger cars to the Reading & Northern Railroad. R&N announced that it would receive the cars today (Jan. 14, 2025) and outlined the planned move […]
BARSTOW, Calif. — The federal Bureau of Land Management has approved sale of almost 30 acres of public land to BNSF Railway for its planned Barstow International Gateway intermodal and logistics facility. The Victorville Daily Press reports the land, valued at $98,000, was ruled to be suitable for private sale. The propery is isolated, surrounded […]
PENINSULA, Ohio — Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 will return to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad for six days in April and May as part of the “Steam in the Valley” series of excursions, the heritage railway has announced. The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s 1944 Lima locomotive is set for excursions on April […]
