STB issues decisions in two passenger rail proceedings
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) released two decisions on July 28 related to its oversight of Amtrak’s operations under the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA).
Amtrak
Philadelphia unveils 30th Street Station District Plan
On June 16, Amtrak, Brandywine Realty Trust, Drexel University, PennDOT and SEPTA unveiled the Philadelphia 30th Street Station District Plan and announced the initiation of several follow-on projects to improve the immediate station area and catalyze future development throughout the District.
Commentary
Amtrak 188 wreck: NTSB responds; Schanoes rebuts
David Schanoes’ personal analysis of the Amtrak train No. 188 derailment at Frankford Junction curve on the Northeast Corridor last year elicited a response from National Transportation Safety Board Director Robert J. Hall, P.E. We publish it in full, followed by Schanoes’s response:
Rail Insights: AAR on passenger rail and freight
From Chicago, and Railway Age’s Rail Insights Conference and Expo today, June 7:
From Chicago: Rail Insights: Ed Hamberger
From Chicago, and Railway Age’s Rail Insights Conference and Expo today, June 7:
Final Siemens ACS-64 for Amtrak rolls out of Sacramento
On Thursday, June 2, 2016, Amtrak and Siemens marked completion of the 70th and final Amtrak Cities Sprinter (ACS-64) electric locomotive at the Siemens rail manufacturing hub in Sacramento, Calif., when No. 670 rolled out of the plant, bound for the Northeast.
Commentary
A final helping of Amtrak’s “Swedish Meatball”
You know you’re getting old when a locomotive that has hauled passenger trains on which you’ve ridden as an adult winds up in a museum.
Amtrak seeking CUS Master Developer
Amtrak is seeking responses to a Request For Qualification (RFQ) for a Master Developer for commercial elements of Chicago Union Station (CUS) and neighboring properties.
Commentary
The short, the long, the skinny, and the fat
Executive Summary: After one year of investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board has determined that the cause of the fatal derailment of Amtrak train 188 at Frankford Junction is exactly the same as the cause determined within eight hours by everyone who knows anything about railroading.
NARP statement on Amtrak 188
One day after the National Transportation Safety Board released its findings on Amtrak 188’s derailment, National Association of Railroad Passengers President Jim Matthews issued this statement on May 18, 2016: