The Surface Transportation Board (STB) in first-quarter 2022 will hold public hearings on three “significant” pending matters: CSX’s merger application to acquire Pan Am Systems, Amtrak’s application to operate Gulf Coast service, and proposed reciprocal switching regulations.
Amtrak will resume Cascades service on the Point Defiance Bypass between Seattle, Wash., and Portland, Ore., on Nov. 18, nearly four years after an overspeed derailment stopped service there.
Gulf Coast service would “impair unreasonably” freight operations unless Amtrak agrees to fund improvements necessary to support its proposal, host freight railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern wrote in a joint filing to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Nov. 3.
Amtrak is introducing new ticket kiosks. In addition, Chicago’s Metra has broken ground on the Peterson Ridge Station; MTA Metro-North Railroad has completed a $95 million renewal of its White Plains, N.Y., station; and Texas’ Trinity Metro has appointed Paul J. Ballard interim President and CEO.
Amtrak and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) have signed a workforce MOU that promotes a “pipeline of U.S. union construction workers to build and expand” passenger rail, they reported on Oct. 28.
House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Chair Donald M. Payne Jr. (D-N.J.), with Reps. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) and Committee Vice Chair Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.) on Oct. 27 introduced the “Ending Passenger Rail Forced Arbitration Act” (EPRFAA), the purpose of which is “to give customers the right to sue Amtrak to resolve disputes” by “eliminating the current arbitration clause for dispute resolution that passengers are forced to accept when they purchase an Amtrak ticket.”
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a preliminary report on its investigation into the Sept. 25 derailment of Amtrak’s Empire Builder train 7/27 near Joplin, Mont.
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on Oct. 25 helped mark the official start of Portal North Bridge construction in New Jersey.
Construction of a new Coatesville, Pa., station, serving Amtrak’s Keystone Corridor and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), will soon be under way. In addition, MTA Metro-North Railroad has launched the TrainTime app for Apple Watch; Toronto-area regional transit agency Metrolinx is running a contactless payment option pilot on UP Express; and Utah Transit Authority’s (UTA) TRAX light rail now stops at the Salt Lake City airport.
Amtrak and Penn Station Partners on Oct. 22 held a groundbreaking ceremony for redevelopment and expansion of the historic Baltimore Penn Station on the Northeast Corridor in Maryland.