The multi-billion-dollar Washington Union Station Expansion Project, intended to modernize and revitalize one of the most iconic and beautiful train stations in North America, took a step further on June 16 when Grimshaw Architects, the project’s architectural firm, gave a presentation to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), which reviews and approves design proposals for certain public and private properties in the nation’s capital.
Amtrak passengers can now travel even faster on Acela as recent infrastructure improvements along a 16-mile segment of the Northeast Corridor in New Jersey between South Brunswick (Monmouth Junction) and Trenton known as the Raceway can accommodate speeds of up to 150 mph.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on June 10 ordered Board-sponsored mediation in the Gulf Coast case between Amtrak on one side and CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS), and the Alabama State Port Authority and its Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks division (collectively, the Port) on the other. CSX and Amtrak respond.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Amtrak and New Jersey Transit are requesting proposals from architecture and engineering firms for New York Penn Station reconstruction.
Amtrak’s accessibility-improvement project at Ashland (Va.) Station is complete. Also, four transit agencies have earned 2022 rail safety and security awards from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA); Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) on June 3 submitted its 2022 Recovery Plan to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA); and TransLink’s Brentwood Town Center Station upgrade in metro Vancouver will start later this month.
A settlement has been reached more than four years after Amtrak Cascades train 501, on its inaugural Point Defiance Bypass run, derailed in DuPont, Wash., as it entered a 30-mph curve at approximately 79 mph.
We recently reported on Amtrak’s request to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to set terms and conditions for a new operating agreement (OA) between Amtrak and CN, as one of the host railroads whose lines Amtrak uses for its trains.
The authority vested in the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to decide issues concerning passenger trains has been expanding lately. On May 27, Amtrak asked the Board to intervene in a dispute with Canadian National (CN) over a number of issues, including on-time performance (OTP), penalties for low performance, and incentives to improve performance.
Amtrak has been named to Forbes magazine’s “America’s Best Employer for New Graduates 2022” list. Additionally, “America’s Railroad” has partnered with Delivering Good to donate bedding, towels and linens to people in need.
A rail industry workforce development and apprenticeship program will launch this fall in Stockton, Calif., under a strategic partnership of Sacramento City College; Stockton Unified School District; Herzog Transit Services, Inc.; Union Pacific; and Amtrak.
