The San Francisco Bay Area is marking the 150th anniversary of rail service on the peninsula in 2014. Southern Pacific predecessor San Francisco & San Jose completed the line to San Jose in January 1864. SP steam and Fairbanks-Morse diesels are long gone, but commuter operator Caltrain still runs its service with a varied fleet […]
Sandpoint, Idaho, is near Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced “pond oray”) in Idaho’s Panhandle. Sandpoint features the main line of BNSF’s Kootenai River Subdivision, the busy northern transcontinental route, as well as Union Pacific’s Spokane Subdivision from Eastport, Idaho. UP trains to and from Eastport use trackage rights on BNSF’s Newport Subdivision from North Sandpoint (where […]
California is known throughout the country for its passenger trains — and its traffic jams. The city of Martinez is the perfect location to get away for a day on Amtrak, with 42 daily passenger trains scheduled to stop on weekdays. Those trains connect Martinez to Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, and many other cities within […]
In Redding, Calif., California Highway 273 (old Hwy. 99) lets you follow the action on Union Pacific Railroad’s north-south I-5 corridor. The former Southern Pacific main line through the area is now part of UP’s Valley Subdivision, from Dunsmuir at milepost 321.4 to East Roseville at milepost 106.4. Photographers will love the climate: Redding has […]
About 20 miles east of Tucson, Ariz., is a vastly underrated train-watching location: Cienega Bridge. The bridge carries Union Pacific’s former Southern Pacific Sunset Route over itself and Cienega Creek. The main line is split through this section of the desert, and each main track has its own dedicated right-of-way. In 1880, SP built what […]
CHICAGO — Metra has sued Union Pacific for breach of contract over its fare collection policies on the three Metra lines operated by UP, saying an “arbitrary and capricious” refusal to deploy conductors is severely damaging Metra’s bottom line, reputation, and customer experience. In a response Wednesday afternoon, Union Pacific said it is “is unwilling […]
OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific has cut more than 60 dispatching positions at its Harriman Dispatching Center in Omaha and its joint dispatching office in Spring, Texas, this week. The affected dispatchers, who are management employees, were notified on Thursday and Friday that their jobs were being eliminated, according to a person familiar with the […]
More Wednesday morning rail news: UP to close one hump at Bailey Yard Union Pacific will close one hump at Bailey Yard in North Platte, Neb., consolidating car sorting to the newer, westbound hump on the world’s largest railroad yard. The North Platte Telegraph reports the eastbound hump, which opened in 1968 and sorts cars […]
Still more Monday morning rail news: UP hit by derailments in Wyoming, Nebraska A pair of derailments disrupted Union Pacific Overland Route operations on Saturday, with 67 cars of grain derailing in an incident near Bosler, Wyo., and 38 cars derailing near Maxwell, Neb. KTWO Radio reports the grain derailment, involving a train bound from […]
More Thursday morning rail news: Fire shuts down UP line in Colorado’s Glenwood Canyon, disrupts Amtrak service Operation of Union Pacific trains and Amtrak’s California Zephyr were disrupted Tuesday by a fire in Colorado’s Glenwood Canyon that shut down the former Denver & Rio Grande Western rail line through the canyon. The Glenwood Springs Post […]
CHICAGO – The Surface Transportation Board is declining to intervene in an ongoing dispute between Metra and Union Pacific – for now. In a decision published Wednesday, the STB is holding a decision on its jurisdiction in abeyance and has directed both parties to inform the agency of any rulings issued by the federal district […]
TEMPE, Ariz. – Union Pacific expects to reopen the derailment-damaged bridge, and thus its line to Phoenix, “late next week,” the railroad has told customers in a service update. “Our Engineering and Operating teams have been working around the clock. All debris and damaged rail equipment have been removed and repairs to the bridge are […]
