Repairs continue to be made on Amtrak’s system in order to resume service to and from New York City from points south and north on the Northeast Corridor.
The recovery effort from Hurricane Sandy will be a monumental affair that will last weeks, if not months.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) hired Frank Vacca, chief engineer of Amtrak, as its chief program manager. Vacca has more than 35 years of experience in commuter, intercity and high-speed passenger rail systems.
Outside of the New York Metropolitan area, passenger and freight rail service is returning to normal operation with residual delays.
Freight and passenger rail providers across the Northeast scrambled Tuesday morning to assess damage left by Hurricane Sandy and restore service where possible.
The start of 110-mph rail service in Illinois was demonstrated between Dwight and Pontiac on the Chicago-St. Louis rail corridor on October 19.
Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) has now launched the Delaware Third Track Construction Project. The project involves the addition of a third track along a 1.5-mile segment between Ragan and Brandy Interlockings on the Northeast Corridor, south of Wilmington near Banning Park.
On October 17, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Amtrak, Metrolink and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority celebrated the opening of three new Los Angeles Union Station tracks and a platform to serve Amtrak and Metrolink passengers.
The Railway Association of Canada (RAC) selected the winners of the 2012 Safety Awards. The awards were presented as part of the RAC’s Canadian Rail Summit and annual meeting held in Montreal.
The OneRail Coalition, an alliance of freight and passenger stakeholders, has issued letters to the Obama and Romney presidential campaigns emphasizing the importance of the nation’s rail networks.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has kicked off a two-year study to explore the possibility of passenger rail service from Oklahoma City to South Texas.
Amtrak named Michael DeCataldo, Jr., to the new position of general manager, Northeast Corridor (NEC) Services. He will have accountability for safety, customer satisfaction, ridership, on-time performance and financial results for the Northeast Corridor business line. DeCataldo is currently Amtrak general superintendent, Northeast Division.
The five regional district members of the Island Corridor Foundation are being asked to contribute CA $3.2 million (US $3.26 million) for the structural repairs to the 48 bridges between Victoria and Courtenay, British Columbia.
Amtrak carried more than 31.2 million passengers in Fiscal Year 2012 ending September 30, marking the highest annual ridership total since America’s Railroad® started operations in 1971 and the ninth ridership record during the past ten years.
The two-year project making upgrades and repairs along 190 miles of track between St. Albans and Vernon on Amtrak’s Vermonter line was completed on time and on budget.
Connecticut will receive $120 million in high-speed intercity passenger rail program funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to complete construction on the Hartford segment of the New Haven to Springfield, Mass., passenger rail corridor.
Beginning September 24 and continuing into next week, Amtrak plans to operate high-speed test trains at 165 mph in four areas covering more than 100 miles of the Northeast Corridor.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, joined by Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider and other state and local officials, broke ground September 21 on a new multimodal transportation center in downtown Joliet, Ill.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $26.5 million to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to improve reliability and reduce delays on Amtrak service in eastern North Carolina. The resulting improvements are centered in the area between Rocky Mount, N.C. and Petersburg, Va., and will improve service for both the Amtrak Carolinian line, which runs between New York City and Charlotte, N.C., and the Amtrak long distance trains that run between New York City and Florida.
In a major step forward for California high-speed rail, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a Record of Decision that approved the alignment from Merced to Fresno, allowing construction to begin next year.
