Articles by Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The House was today expected to discuss a bill to reauthorize Amtrak and improve intercity passenger rail. Last month, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure approved HR 6003, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008. The bill authorizes $14.4 billion for Amtrak capital and operating grants, state intercity passenger grants, and high-speed rail over the next five years. Even if the house approves the bill, it faces a tough road since President Bush has said he supports a self-sufficient Amtrak. Major provisions of the bill include: – Authorizing $4.2 billion (an average of $840 million per

ELMWOOD PARK, Ill. — The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of an accident that occurred at a highway-railroad grade crossing in Elmwood Park, Ill., was a combination of factors including the intersection angle, the heavy holiday traffic and the complex street and rail pattern and related signal interactions at the intersection. “Despite the efforts of state and local authorities to address the safety concerns at this large and complicated grade crossing with a variety of signage and technology improvements, this accident occurred because these changes still failed to prevent vehicles from being trapped inside the crossing

WASHINGTON — Democratic and Republican senators want an investigation into the push that foreign investors are making to take control of CSX, according to a published report. “Very little is known about the investors in the TCI group or those investors’ agenda,” the senators said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, USA Today reported. “They are anonymous and invisible to government regulators” and could be fronts for foreign governments.” TCI is a hedge fund that formed a group to nominate a slate of directors to stand for election at the 2008 CSX annual meeting. In March, CSX filed