Tag Archives: Amtrak

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 …

NBC News reports: An Amtrak train derailed on Monday morning, blocking southbound lanes of a highway near Tacoma, Washington. Washington State Department of Transportation tweeted a picture of the derailment at 7:45 a.m. PST, showing what appeared to be a car on its side over a highway lane. “All SB lanes of I-5 blocked near Mounts Road in Pierce County …

The Associated Press reports: The state’s top prosecutor on Friday charged a speeding Amtrak engineer with causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter and other crimes in a deadly 2015 derailment that came after he accelerated to 106 mph on a 50 mph curve. Prosecutors said they were in talks with engineer Brandon Bostian’s attorney to have him surrender on the charges. …

Via Mediaite: Tuesday’s primaries in five Northeastern states was nicknamed “the Acela primary” by pundits, a reference to Amtrak’s Acela Express train that spans from D.C. to Boston. But local news anchors struggled to pronounce the high-speed rail service’s name. Bloomberg Politics created a humorous mash-up of all the anchors who tripped over the word (which is supposed to be …

Via NBC News: One of the conductors aboard the Amtrak train that derailed last week in Philadelphia has sued the rail carrier. Emilio Fonseca, of Kearny, New Jersey, filed the lawsuit Monday in Newark. It seeks unspecified damages. The complaint accuses Amtrak of “negligence and carelessness” in the May 12 derailment that killed eight people and injured more than 200. …

Via the New York Times: Amtrak trains began rolling on the busy Northeast Corridor early Monday, the first time in almost a week following a deadly crash in Philadelphia, and officials vowed to have safer trains and tracks while investigators worked to determine the cause of the derailment. Amtrak resumed service along the corridor with a 5:30 a.m. southbound train …

Via the Hill: An Amtrak train that crashed outside of Philadelphia this week may have been the target of an attack. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Friday that the FBI had been called in to investigate the possibility that the train was hit by a bullet or some other object. According to the NTSB, an assistant conductor …