Tag Archives: rail travel

Gothamist reports: Under a soaring vaulted skylight and a massive Art Deco clock, Governor Andrew Cuomo formally unveiled the new Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station Wednesday with an official—and socially distanced—ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This is a work of art that we don’t build anymore. It’s too breathtaking and ambitious to ask, ‘Can we really do that?’ Many doubters said it …

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 …

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 …

The New York Post reports: The number of “supercommuters” in the country is on the rise — and more than 600,000 live in metropolitan New York. Unlike typical commuters, who take about 26 minutes to get to work, according to the Census Bureau, supercommuters spend 90 minutes or more each way on their daily trek. Between 2005 and 2016, the …

The Weather Channel reports: Winter Storm Toby will spread yet another swath of snow, not to mention wind and coastal flooding, into the East through Thursday, the fourth nor’easter in less than three weeks and potentially one of the heaviest snowstorms this late in the season along parts of the I-95 corridor. Winter storm warnings, where snowfall is expected to …

The Associated Press reports: More than 1.6 million homes and businesses are without power amid a winter storm stalled over the eastern U.S. From North Carolina to Maine and westward to Michigan, the storm has felled trees, downed power lines and blown down buildings under construction. The most outages are in Pennsylvania, where 376,000 homes and businesses had no power …

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 …

These incidents are becoming more regular. The Associated Press reports: A train has derailed in a tunnel in downtown Washington but officials say there are no injuries. The city’s Metro rail system said in a tweet that the derailment happened around 6:40 a.m. Monday. At just after 8:15 a.m. Metro tweeted that all passengers on the train had been evacuated …

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. …

The New York Daily News reports: Pandemonium erupted at Penn Station Friday after Amtrak police used a stun gun on an unruly man — sending scared riders scrambling for safety. The transit hub was unusually crowded at rush hour thanks to an NJ Transit train that stalled in a tunnel earlier, causing massive delays to kick off the holiday weekend. …

NBC New York reports: A LIRR train derailed in Brooklyn on Wednesday, with initial reports suggesting 20 people were being treated for injuries. The derailment happened at Atlantic Terminal. Pictures on social media showed the derailment took place on track 6, and that the train was tipped slightly at an angle. The platform also appeared to be smoky. As of …

NBC News reports: An NJ Transit train crashed into the station in Hoboken at the height of Thursday’s morning rush, leaving twisted piles of metal and bricks as concern grew over the possibility of mass casualties and dozens of injuries. Pictures on social media showed serious damage to the train station and extensive structural damage to the station. At least …

As you can see, the design echoes the original Penn, which was demolished to continuing lament over 50 years ago. Curbed New York reports: Brace yourselves, New Yorkers: a new Penn Station is officially coming—for real this time. Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled plans for the forthcoming Pennsylvania Station-Farley Complex, along with announcing the developers and builders who will collaborate …

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will have to find another way to work tomorrow. The feds say this has nothing to do with terrorism. NBC News reports: The entire D.C. Metrorail system will be shut down Wednesday for an emergency investigation, two sources tell News4. Metro officials are expected to announce at 4 p.m. Tuesday that they need to …

Via Bloomberg: Downtown Manhattan got a new architectural landmark on Thursday. Was it worth it? Well, that’s a more complicated story. Architect Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub opened with an afternoon ceremony to a trickle of commuters and a flood of controversy. (“Functionally vapid,” a “boondoggle” that “wows rather than elevates” have been some of the harsher critiques.) …