Tabla de contenidos para June 2025 en Trains

THE UNION THAT REPRESENTS CONDUCTORS says it will ask the Federal Railroad Administration to deny CSX’s request to become the first to use Trip Optimizer’s Zero-to-Zero feature, which allows the cruise-control system to automatically start and stop trains. CSX sought FRA permission to use Zero-to-Zero in 2022. The FRA has yet to decide on the safety waiver request, partly due to the need to conduct a detailed study and partly due to the agency’s reluctance to approve technology-related waivers during the Biden administration. CSX has said the goals of using automatic start and stop are to save fuel and improve safety by reducing the potential for train pull-aparts. The SMART-TD union doesn’t buy that. It sees Zero-to-Zero as a gateway to autonomous operations. “While CSX claims the system will reduce fuel…

New York City’s Grand Central Terminal may be America’s best-known train station. Located in midtown Manhattan, it offers just about everything: a magnificent Beaux-Arts exterior, a huge interior concourse seen in hundreds of movies and television shows, stores, restaurants of all sorts, a tennis club, and access to New York’s subway system and all that the nation’s largest city has to offer. What it does not offer, however, are intercity and long-distance passenger trains. Since 1991, only commuter trains have operated in and out of Grand Central. GCT, as railroaders and many residents call it, had been home to New York Central’s and New Haven Railroad’s finest trains from the time the station opened in 1913. The 1968 merger of NYC and competitor Pennsylvania Railroad formed the new Penn Central,…

THE SARTIGAN RAILWAY IS PROUD of its Montreal Locomotive Works/Alco fleet, but the newest addition to the roster is unique. Alco purists might disregard CFS M636 No. 71, but Maxim Tardif, chief mechanical officer, sees the Caterpillar-powered MLW unit as the best of both worlds. “In 1986 Canadian Pacific was a little bit upset about … Alco’s prime mover,” Tardiff says, when asked how the rebuild came to be. Caterpillar offered to try to put together a solution, he says, “and Canadian Pacific was … happy with this locomotive.” Although CP found the Caterpillar engine to be much stronger and more reliable, the project wasn’t reproduced. CP continued to operate its big MLWs until 1993, but in the meantime, purchased 25 new cowl-bodied SD40-2Fs from General Motors Diesel in 1988…

AMTRAK CEO STEPHEN GARDNER ANNOUNCED he was resigning on March 19, with the Reuters news service reporting he was forced out by President Donald Trump’s administration. Facing pressures including a call from Trump advisor Elon Musk to privatize the service, Amtrak subsequently said it was looking at cost-saving measures including possible cuts to administrative positions. “I am stepping down as CEO to ensure that Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration,” Gardner said in a statement. “I am so proud of what the Amtrak team has accomplished to bring passenger rail service to more people and places across the country over these past 16 years, and I thank the Board for their trust and support.” Gardner had been CEO since January 2022. With Amtrak since 2009,…

We are walking — carefully — in a nearly 6-kilometer-long former railroad tunnel in the Swiss Alps, its floor an uneven layer of ballast following the removal of rail and ties. There are lights in the distance, but for the moment, flashlights are our only illumination. Paul Loser shines a light on the tunnel wall. Loser (pronounced Low-ser) is manager of the project that has replaced this 5.8-kilometer (3.6-mile) bore, the Albula Tunnel. He is about to illustrate why the Rhätische Bahn — in English, the Rhaetian Railway — built a new tunnel instead of rehabilitating this one. He pushes a finger between stones in the tunnel wall — and easily digs out the material between them. “There was mortar,” he says. “These days, you only have sand. All the…

Imagine seeing the sun rise over the East Coast as you sip coffee and watch skyscrapers give way to rolling countryside over a relaxing 16-hour journey from New York City to Savannah, Ga. — called The Hostess City of the South for its hospitality. This is the Palmetto experience, a longdistance train with a difference. Amtrak operates 14 long-distance routes, defined as those over 750 miles. While each route has its own characteristics and appeal, the Palmetto, train Nos. 89 and 90, stands alone. Running an 829-mile dawn-to-dusk sprint between New York City’s Penn Station and Savannah, the Palmetto is the only long-distance train to offer Coach and Business Class seats, but no dining car or sleeping accommodations. The Palmetto’s first run was on June 15, 1976, which was…

NEW JERSEY’S MERCI TRAIN BOXCAR has been found. The car, recovered from a Tennessee field in 1993, was now in the collection of Kansas City’s National World War I Museum and Memorial, according to the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey. The Museum donated the car to the URHS, which will return it to New Jersey for restoration and exhibit. “… [T]his is like finding buried treasure,” says Kevin Phalon, URHS executive director. “We would have never expected to see this car again, so we are incredibly grateful to the National World War I Museum and Memorial for saving it. We are honored to be entrusted with its restoration.” On Feb. 2, 1949, the S.S. Magellan docked at Pier H in Weehawken, N.J., with a gift to the United States…

AMTRAK REMOVED ITS HORIZON RAILCAR FLEET from service in March, citing concerns about corrosion, leading to numerous train cancellations and exacerbating an existing equipment crunch. In a March 26 statement, the company said it had “discovered corrosion in several Horizon railcars and, while working with the manufacturer, decided to remove the equipment from service after learning of additional areas of concern from intensive inspections of multiple cars.” A total of 70 cars — 61 coaches and nine food-service cars — were affected, impacting service on the Amtrak Cascades, Hiawatha, Borealis, and Downeaster routes. They are part of a fleet of 104 cars ordered from Bombardier — now part of Alstom — delivered in 1989-80. In response to subsequent questions from Trains, Amtrak said discovery of corrosion on one car led to…

ALMOST EXACTLY 160 YEARS AGO, the American Civil War wound down to a messy and anticlimactic end. By December 1864, it was apparent the Union had prevailed. It didn’t necessarily win, but at least southern secession had been thwarted. If noticed at all, the anniversary might be an occasion to recount the many roles railroading played in the war. The standard narrative is that railroad mobility was a crucial supporting factor in supplying and enabling northern armies, ensuring victory. I’d like to turn that wellworn interpretation on its head and ask a different question. What did the war do to, and for, railroad transportation? The changes were rapid, profound, lasting, and formed the real basis for a century of truly “modern” railroading. THE PIONEER PHASE We toss about the term “pioneer”…

It’s a lazy summer day in the small, quiet town of Scott, Quebec, Canada — the current headquarters of the Sartigan Railway. Residents are mowing their lawns and children are playing at the municipal park as company mechanic Maxim Tardif prepares Chemin de fer Sartigan No. 2044, a 1973 Montreal Locomotive Works M420W, to power an afternoon run to Saint-Lambert-de-Lauzon. A decade ago, the Sartigan owned a single locomotive, serving a lone customer that warranted only sporadic runs from Scott to Canadian National’s Joffre Yard in Charny. Today’s Sartigan couldn’t be more different, and the Tuesday afternoon run to Logibel in Saint-Lambert to reposition cars at the busy transload yard is just one example of the company’s rapid growth and expansion. The Quebec Central The rural Chaudière-Appalaches and Eastern Townships…

IN OCTOBER 1962, I was a New York Central Transportation trainee, and had the opportunity to ride No. 26, the 20th Century Limited, eastbound from Elkhart, Ind., to New York City. I boarded the Century two sleeping cars ahead of observation car Hickory Creek, and stowed my suitcase. I then headed back to “my” seat, facing rearward in the observation lounge. The waiter approached and I placed an order for a bourbon and water, while settling in to enjoy the trip. My drink arrived on the waiter’s tray, as the train slowed for the curve with an 80 mph speed restriction at Goshen, Ind., about 12 miles southeast of Elkhart. Just as my drink was placed on the rear table and I paid for it, the Hickory Creek hit a…