Articles by Railfanning.org News Wire

No Picture
Commuter Rail

AP: Iran-Pakistan Rail Service Halted

March 25, 2006 Railfanning.org News Wire
QUETTA, Pakistan – Rail service between Iran and Pakistan has been suspended, The Associated Press reported. Trains had been running between Zahedan, Iran, and Quetta. However, a series of rocket attacks and bombings led to the halt in service, the news agency reported. The bi-weekly passenger service and the weekly freight service was the only rail service between the two counties. There have been five rocket attacks against the rail line over the past 10 days, according to The Associated Press. No word on how long service might be halted.
No Picture
Commuter Rail

Commuter Rail Safety System Being Tested

March 25, 2006 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON – The federal government is testing new safety devices for commuter trains that are designed to better protect passengers during crashes, Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta announced. Mineta unveiled the new safety measures and released footage of a crash test of a train equipped with them during a March 23 news conference in Glendale, Calif., site of a deadly commuter train crash in January 2005. The test, conducted earlier in the day at the Department’s rail testing facility in Pueblo, Colo., was designed to determine if the safety devices that are part of the Crash-Energy Management system will
No Picture
Commuter Rail

Texas Advocates Want Funding for Feasibility Study

January 21, 2006 Railfanning.org News Wire
DALLAS – What would happen to jobs, real-estate development and highway congestion if travelers could ride passenger trains that went 110 mph and shippers could route their freight on intermodal containers trains that did 90 mph? That’s the issue railroad executives, state government officials and managers from some of Texas’s biggest corporations will address Jan. 27 when Texas Rail Advocates holds its second annual conference on the South Central High Speed Rail Corridor at the Dallas Forth Worth International Airport Hyatt Regency Hotel. “In the autumn of 2000 the federal government designated nearly 1,000 miles of main line in Texas
No Picture
Miscellaneous

Cryo-Trans Buys Refrigerated Cars From Greenbrier

January 20, 2006 Railfanning.org News Wire
OWINGS MILLS, Md. –  Cryo-Trans Inc., a leasing company specializing in the development and leasing of railroad freight cars for transporting frozen and perishable products, has placed an order for 429 new refrigerated boxcars. These state-of-the-art railcars, ordered from The Greenbrier Companies Inc., have an interior length of 72 feet and have the highest cubic capacity in the industry – 7,765 cubic feet. The cars, ordered in November 2005, will be delivered later this year. Cryo-Trans officials cite Greenbrier’s expertise in building these highly specialized cars and its reputation for innovative, quality products as reasons for placing the recent order
No Picture
CSX

CSX Transportation to Re-Open Gulf Coast Rail Line

January 19, 2006 Railfanning.org News Wire
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Transportation is resuming local freight rail service on its Gulf Coast line, a vital transportation artery to New Orleans, railroad officials announced Jan. 18. Service through the entire area is expected to be restored beginning in early February. “We are incredibly proud of our employees and contractors for their tireless efforts to help bring the railroad and its economic benefits back to the region,” CSXT Chief Operating Officer Tony Ingram said. “Many of them contributed to the rebuild straight through the holidays while dealing with their own storm-related issues at home.” Over the past five months,
No Picture
Norfolk Southern

Flames Reported After Ala. Wreck

January 18, 2006 Railfanning.org News Wire
LINCOLN, Ala. – Two Norfolk Southern trains, including one that was carrying sodium cyanide, collided Jan. 18 near a Honda plant, causing a "massive" fire, WXIA-TV reported on its Web site. Flames as tall as 60 feet were reported after one train was rear-ended by another, according to reports. Three injuries were reported as a result of the wreck, according to the WXIA-TV report. About 500 people living within two miles of the crash were evacuated, the television station reported. Service on Norfolk Southern’s line between Birmingham, Ala., and Meridian, Miss., was restored a day earlier following a Jan. 16
No Picture
Amtrak

Amtrak and Cianbro Corp. Announce $76 Million Bridge Span Replacement at New London, Conn.

January 13, 2006 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON – The nearly 100-year-old Thames River Bridge between New London, Conn., and Groton, Conn., will undergo a $76 million replacement of its aging bascule lift span under a construction contract between Amtrak and Pittsfield, Maine-based Cianbro Corp., the parties announced. The construction project will take two years to complete and is the largest single capital improvement Amtrak will make to the Northeast Corridor during this time. Work on the project begins this month on the installation of seven new underwater communications and signal submarine cables. In the most dramatic phase of the construction project to occur over 12 days