Tag Archives: Amtrak

The Hill reports: The Biden administration on Monday will announce a $16.4 investment for rail projects along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor as part of the overall investments in infrastructure by President Biden, a longtime Amtrak user. The funding will go to 25 passenger rail projects and will come from the bipartisan infrastructure law’s overall $66 billion investment in rail. The projects …

The Washington Post reports: It took decades for Congress to deliver on its promise to pour new money into the nation’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and internet connections. Now, House Republicans are trying to slash some of the same funds. A series of GOP bills to finance the federal government in 2024 would wipe out billions of dollars meant to …

Axios reports: Amtrak canceled all of its long-distance routes starting Thursday in response to a potential railroad workers strike. It’s the latest disruption stemming from the looming labor strike that could start as soon as Friday, which would lead to a shutdown of most of the country’s railway system. It is not expected to affect Northeast Corridor, as it is …

Kansas City’s ABC News affiliate reports: Missouri Highway Patrol has confirmed that an Amtrak passenger train has derailed in rural Missouri early Monday afternoon. Several train cars can be seen on their side in photos posted to social media shortly after the incident. The crash appears to have taken place near Mendon, Missouri. Amtrak has confirmed that several cars derailed …

Axios reports: United, American, Delta and Southwest Airlines all announced that mask requirements would be suspended in the U.S., and on select international flights, effective immediately. JetBlue Airways said Monday evening that masks would be optional in the U.S. Face masks are also now optional onboard all Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. Uber announced Tuesday that riders and drivers are …

The Washington Post reports: Amtrak said Thursday that it will reduce its schedule between New Year’s Eve and Jan. 6 as it battles bad weather in some parts of the country and a surge in coronavirus cases among its employees. “Amtrak regrets any inconvenience,” the railroad said in a statement. “We are continuing to monitor changing conditions and will make …

The Associated Press reports: At least three people were killed Saturday afternoon when an Amtrak train that runs between Seattle and Chicago derailed in north-central Montana, toppling several cars onto their sides, authorities said. The westbound Empire Builder train derailed about 4 p.m. near Joplin, a town of about 200, Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said in a statement. The accident …

Washington DC’s NBC News affiliate reports: Amtrak Northeast Regional trains will not travel in Virginia next week leading up to the Presidential Inauguration. Customers will not be able to use Amtrak Northeast services south of Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Jan. 19, or Wednesday, Jan. 20. The Northeast Regional line won’t be operating in Norfolk, Richmond, Lynchburg or Roanoke on Tuesday …

The New York Times reports: For more than half a century, New Yorkers have trudged through the crammed platforms, dark hallways and oppressively low ceilings of Pennsylvania Station, the busiest and perhaps most miserable train hub in North America. Entombed beneath Madison Square Garden, the station served 650,000 riders each weekday before the pandemic, or three times the number it …

Roll Call reports: The new chief of Amtrak told a House subcommittee Wednesday that his government-subsidized company will need an additional $4.9 billion from taxpayers to avoid sweeping service cuts and job losses after Oct. 1 William J. Flynn, who became president and CEO of Amtrak in April, said the company, which received $1 billion from a roughly $2 trillion …

The Washington Post reports: Amtrak is ending daily service to hundreds of stations outside the Northeast, and you can blame the coronavirus pandemic, the railroad said this week. Starting Oct. 1, most Amtrak long-distance trains will operate three times a week instead of daily, the company said in a memo to employees. The carrier is also planning to enter fiscal …

NPR reports: Amtrak is the latest transportation provider to require all passengers to wear facial coverings or masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, beginning Monday. The intercity passenger rail agency joins most of the nation’s passenger airlines and many public transit systems in requiring coverings or face masks on passengers. Customers will have to “wear a facial …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Former Silicon Valley star T.J. Miller has been charged with calling in a false bomb threat from an Amtrak train, federal authorities say. Miller was arrested Monday night at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York. Miller appeared today before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven and was released on a $100,000 bond. The charge …

NBC News reports: An Amtrak train traveling from New York to Miami collided with a CSX freight train in South Carolina early Sunday morning, causing the lead engine and some passenger cars to derail. The local sheriff’s office confirmed there were at least two people killed and 70 injured among the 139 passengers and 8 crew. The National Transportation Safety …

The Associated Press reports: Benny Layne, on whose property the truck landed, said the crossing arms had been known to malfunction, sometimes coming down even though no train was approaching. Sometimes, he said, they stayed down for hours. He said motorists would get out of their cars to help guide other motorists around the malfunctioning arms so they could cross …

The Omaha World-Herald reports: A Missouri man with connections to white supremacists has been charged with terrorism after authorities said he brought a cross-country Amtrak train to a halt last fall in rural Nebraska. Taylor M. Wilson of suburban St. Louis intended to hurt passengers, authorities said. The 26-year-old has been charged in federal court in Lincoln with terrorism attacks …

According to bisexual scamvangelist and food slop bucket kingpin Jim Bakker, last month’s fatal Amtrak derailment in Washington state was a warning from God about…. something! Kyle Mantyla reports at Right Wing Watch: Noting that the train was on its maiden voyage on a new stretch of track, Bakker likened the derailment to the sinking of the Titanic, which apparently …

Crain’s New York reports: President Donald Trump dropped his own New Year’s ball—in the form of a wrecking ball—with a late Friday afternoon announcement that effectively wipes out plans for perhaps the nation’s most crucial infrastructure project. The president officially scrapped his predecessor’s proposal to have the federal government underwrite half the cost of a multi-billion-dollar Amtrak tunnel connecting New …

The Associated Press reports: Monday’s deadly Amtrak train derailment appears to have been caused by an object on the railway, according to a government official briefed on the crash. A preliminary investigation suggests maintenance problems are unlikely to blame because the incident took place on brand-new tracks, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. At least six …

The Week reports: President Trump tweeted that a devastating train crash in Washington state on Monday illustrates why his infrastructure plan “must be approved quickly.” A timeline for Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure overhaul — one of his major campaign promises — has been unclear, although it remains a possible next step in early 2018 after the GOP votes on a …