EVERGREEN, Colo. — Rail passengers traveling on the Amtrak route between Washington, D.C. and Miami will soon have the option of lingering over five-course dinners, sleeping in luxurious suites and enjoying personal butler service.
Called GrandLuxe Limited, the new service uses a separate, private, seven-car luxury train attached to Amtrak’s Silver Meteor to transport passengers between […]

SEATTLE, Wash. – Washington state, British Columbia, BNSF Railway Co. and Amtrak have reached an agreement to make infrastructure improvements that will permit a second daily Amtrak Cascades train between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.
Governor Chris Gregoire and Premier Gordon Campbell made the announcement June 8 at the King Street Station in downtown Seattle.
The Province of […]

WASHINGTON – Amtrak and Union Pacific Railroad have reached an agreement on a performance plan to reduce passenger train delays attributed to track conditions. Under the agreement, Union Pacific will limit speed restrictions that can cause Amtrak trains to fall behind schedule on Union Pacific’s routes.
Union Pacific is the nation’s largest railroad and is one […]

WILMERDING, Pa. — Wabtec Corp. said its MotivePower subsidiary has received orders worth $33 million for 12 MPXpress commuter locomotives from transit agencies in California, Minnesota and New Mexico.
The locomotives, to be manufactured in Boise, Idaho, are expected to be delivered in 2008-09.
“We’ve now delivered or received orders for 100 MPXpress locomotives from eight different […]

WASHINGTON — The Alaska Railroad (ARRC) and Alaska Railbelt Marine are the winners of its prestigious Win-Win Award, Argus Media Inc. announced.
The annual award is given to railroads, shippers and transportation companies which develop innovative partnerships leading to better service, better rates and other, mutually beneficial, service improvements.
Launched in 1998 by Argus Rail Business, the […]

WASHINGTON — Additional security grant funds for transit systems are likely as a result in increases in FY08 Department of Homeland Security appropriation bills that are pending in Congress.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee voted June 14 to approve the FY08 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill, which includes $400 million for rail/transit security grants […]

KANSAS CITY — The Surface Transportation Board will hold a public forum to examine issues related to the efficiency and reliability of railroad transportation of resources critical to the Nation’s energy supply, including coal, ethanol and biofuels, Chairman Charles D. Nottingham said.
The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. in the Ground Floor Conference Room of […]

CONCORD, Calif. — Pacer Distribution Services, Inc. (PDS), the warehousing and distribution arm of Pacer International, Inc., announced the opening of a new 52-door transload center in Carson, California to support increased demand for transloading services for international freight shipments moving from the West Coast to inland points.
The facility, located on 5.4 acres, is adjacent […]

CHICAGO — Chicago Transit Authority’s Diversey station — on the Brown Line — will temporarily close for renovation.
The closure begins June 25and will be closed for 12 months while construction crews work to upgrade and extend platforms, rebuild the stationhouse and make the station accessible to customers with disabilities. The adjacent stations – Wellington and […]

CHICAGO — FreightCar America, Inc. has delivered 162 electrically operated all-steel ballast cars to BNSF Railway from its railcar production facility in Johnstown, Pa.
These are the first ballast cars BNSF has acquired in over 20 years. They have higher capacity at 110 tons and feature a new technology operating system for the discharge doors.
The cars […]