A U.S. District Court judge in Georgia has issued a nationwide stay of President Joe Biden’s Executive Order requiring government contractors to adopt COVID-19 vaccine mandates; BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific (UP) and Amtrak respond.
Railroads, including Amtrak, are hiring, but applicants are scarce. The Washington Post reports Amtrak is short 1,500 workers, and may be forced to eliminate some service, trim some daily long-distance trains to three times weekly, and delay inauguration of new routes. Already, Amtrak is operating at 80% of its pre-pandemic schedule.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)—including $198 million in grant funding—for the Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair Grant Program (Partnership Program); applications are due March 7, 2022.
The San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission (SJRRC) Board of Directors has certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project extending Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) service south between Ceres and Merced, Calif.
Now all that is left is the money.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Nov. 29 decided that Amtrak may access CSX’s Choctaw Yard in Mobile, Ala., as part of its Gulf Coast service planning efforts.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Build America Bureau has refinanced and increased a direct TIFIA loan to Empire State Development for the Moynihan Train Hall project in New York City.
BOOK REVIEW: Amtrak, America’s Railroad – Transportation’s Orphan and its Struggle for Survival. By Geoffrey Doughty, Jeffrey Darbee, and Eugene Harmon. Indiana University Press, 2021.
Amtrak is investing $16 million to update the 105-year-old Johnstown Station, which is served by the Pennsylvanian, a PennDOT-supported route between New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
In October, I reported on three events that took place within three days, all of which concerned the possibility of more Amtrak-operated state-supported trains in the Midwest. The events are now over,