World
Railfanning.org News Wire
CSX
May 2005 Wreck Roundup
A vacuum train derailed May 31 at a Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn, Newsday reported. The MTA train pulled out of a station around 4 a.m. and it took crews almost 12 hours to clean up the derailment. A Canadian National train derailed May 30 in Baton Rouge, La., and forced the evacuation of some downtown blocks, The (Baton Rouge) Advocate reported. Eight cars derailed, half of which were carrying the flammable gas propylene oxide, according to the newspaper. On May 24, a Union Pacific train derailed in Los Angeles and a car leaked acetone, a television station reported. A pair
Transit
MARTA Board Approves FY06 Operating and Capital Budget
ATLANTA – The Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Authority today passed a $770.7 million Operating and Capital Budget for Fiscal Year 2006, which begins on July 1, 2005. In conjunction with their decision, the Board also passed a new policy requiring that an amount equivalent to 10% of the prior year’s operating budget be maintained in an operating reserve account. "After careful thought and deliberation, this board has passed a budget that is responsible and that will allow us to continue to provide the best possible service to our customers through enhancements to our operations as well
Canadian Pacific
Canadian Pacific Railway names Kamloops’ interchange in honor of Chinese rail worker
KAMLOOPS, British Columbia – In a ceremony highlighted by a Lion Dance that symbolizes good luck and good blessings, Canadian Pacific Railway named a railway interchange in Kamloops in honor of Cheng Ging Butt, a railway laborer who represented the dedication of those who came forward to work on the CPR transcontinental line in the British Columbia interior, the company announced. Thousands of Chinese railway workers helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway from the West Coast to Eagle Pass in the Monashee Mountains of Western Canada and many perished. "Cheng Ging Butt is representative of the extraordinary people who withstood
Transit
BNSF
BNSF to Expand Use of Environmentally Friendly ‘Green Goat’ Switch Engines in Los Angeles Area and Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas – BNSF Railway Company and RailPower Technologies Corp. have announced that BNSF will keep its Green Goat, an environmentally friendly hybrid switch engine, in service for five years in the Los Angeles area and that it is acquiring four cabless Green Goat units for use in Texas. In Los Angeles, the Green Goat(R) joins BNSF’s four Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) locomotives in service elsewhere in the area; the four are the only LNG locomotives in the country. The Green Goat uses a relatively small, clean, efficient, diesel genset in conjunction with over 300 batteries to improve fuel
Safety
Railroads Set Safety Record in 2004
WASHINGTON — Employees at the nation’s railroads reported their lowest employee casualty rate in history during 2004, Edward R. Hamberger, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, said May 19 at a luncheon ceremony honoring railroads with the best employee safety records last year. Twelve railroads received gold, silver or bronze E.H. Harriman Memorial Safety Awards in four separate categories at the awards luncheon. Hamberger told the audience that last year’s employee casualty rate was nine percent lower than it was in 2003, when the previous record was set. "And for the first two months of this year,
Amtrak
Amtrak: Problems Force Acelas Off Tracks, Metroliners Ride Again
WASHINGTON — Amtrak suffered yet another blow in April, when its high-speed trains in the Northeast were taken off line, forcing the railroad’s management to add more Metroliners to the schedule. Starting April 25, Metroliner trains were added in most Washington-New York Acela weekday time slots between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. All 13 hourly departures will be covered by Metroliners starting May 2. “We are going to do everything we can to satisfy our passengers, running a reliable schedule that they can count on,” said Amtrak’s Senior Vice President of Operations, William Crosbie. Click here to read more.
Amtrak
April 2005 Wreck Roundup
More than 20 cars from a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed April 26 in North Carolina, snarling rail traffic and delaying Amtrak trains. In all, 21 of the train’s 112 cars derailed. The train was traveling from Asheville, N.C., en route to Linwood, N.C., when it derailed about 40 miles north of Charlotte, N.C. No one was injured in the derailment. A dozen cars derailed April 22 in a CSX rail yard in Waycross, Ga., a Jackson, Fla., television station reported. The 12 cars, which were carrying primarily logs, and two engines derailed in the east end of Rice Yard,
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