Peaking Out From Beneath an Old Bridge

Amtrak’s northbound City of New Orleans is arriving in the station at Mattoon, Illinois, on May 29, 1997.

The track was still owned by the Illinois Central then and the standard practice was for Amtrak trains to serve the station on what used to be the southbound main. The former northbound main shown at left was now a siding.

Operating practices have since changed so that Amtrak uses the siding in Mattoon because it is closer to the station.

The bridge that train is passing beneath carries Broadway Avenue and was opened in 1916. It was replaced in 2002 by a modern structure.

Track Work to Affect Pacific Surfliner Service

Track work being performed by North County Transit District will affect Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner service between Jan. 11 and Feb. 2, 2020

On Jan. 10 and 31, Train 590 will be canceled and passengers directed to make reservations aboard other Amtrak trains.

Bus service will be provided from Los Angeles to San Diego, making stops at Oceanside, Solana Beach, Old Town San Diego and San Diego Downtown. No alternate transportation will be provided to Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine and San Juan Capistrano.

On Jan. 11-12 and February 1-2, Trains 562, 578, 583, 1565, 1566, 1569, 1572, 1573, 1590 and 1591 will be canceled and passengers directed to make reservations aboard other Amtrak trains.

Train 782 will terminate at Los Angeles. No alternate transportation will be provided between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Train 796 will terminate at Los Angeles and bus service will be provided for all missed stops.

Trains 580, 768, 774, 792, 1564 and 1584 will operate normally to Irvine, where bus service will be provided from Irvine to San Diego.

Express buses will run from Irvine to San Juan Capistrano, Oceanside, Solana Beach, Old Town San Diego and downtown San Diego only.

Trains 579, 593, 595, 763, 777, 785, 1761 and 1767 will originate in Irvine with bus service being provided from San Diego to Irvine to connect with the trains listed above, with the exception of Train 1761.

Buses will depart downtown San Diego, Solana Beach, Oceanside and San Juan Capistrano earlier than the train schedule to allow time to connect with trains in Irvine.

Buses will not pick up at Old Town San Diego. Passengers can take the trolley to downtown San Diego to board buses to Irvine.

Bus service will not be provided to connect with Train 1761. Metrolink will honor Amtrak tickets between San Juan Capistrano and Los Angeles.

There will be no checked baggage or express service south of Santa Ana on the dates shown above. Alternate bus service will not serve San Clemente Pier.

Track Work to Affect Downeasters at Woburn

Amtrak said weekend track work being performed on Jan. 4-5, 11-12 and 18-19, 2020, will disrupt operations of Downeaster trains at Woburn, Massachusetts.

During the construction, which is being performed by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, some Downeaster trains will not stop at Woburn on Saturdays and Sundays.

Southbound trains 690, 692, 694, 696 and 698 and northbound trains 691, 693, 695, 697 and 699/1689 will detour between Boston North Station and Haverhill, Massachusetts, and will not stop at Woburn.

Alternate transportation will not be provided to or from Woburn during the service disruptions.

New York State to Take Another Stab at High-Speed Rail

New York State will try another tactic toward implement a high-speed rail service on the Empire Corridor used by Amtrak.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will appoint a panel of engineers to review past high-speed rail plans and recommend a new plan for how to build high-speed rail New York-Albany-Buffalo route.

A statement released by the governor’s office said most of the state’s population lives near the Empire Corridor and the average speed of passenger trains on the route is 51 mph.

Various administrations have sought without success over the past two decades to implement high-speed rail service plans but have been stymied by, among other things, high cost.

Previous proposals have also indicated that it would take decades to create a high-speed line to Buffalo.

Cuomo’s statement said the news panel will “reexamine and rethink strategies to bring high speed rail to New York.”

The Empire Corridor hosts Amtrak trains between New York and Niagara Falls, New York, but also sees the Chicago-New York/Boston Lake Shore Limited and the New York-Toronto Maple Leaf.

North Carolina Eyes Buying Portion of CSX S Line

An expansive intercity rail passenger plan recently announced by Virginia may benefit passenger rail in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is considering purchasing an unused railroad right of way between the Virginia border and Ridgeway, North Carolina.

The right of way would be used for a passenger high-speed rail route between Washington and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Now owned by CSX, the tracks in the former S-Line route were removed in the 1980s after CSX began favoring a parallel A-Line route via Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Virginia plans to purchase the S-Line route when its borders south of Richmond.

Jason Orthner, NCDOT’s rail director, said the state has yet to determine how much it would cost to buy the S Line.

The remainder of the S Line between Ridgeway and Raleigh is in place but lightly used by CSX.

Amtrak trains, including the Carolinian, Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Auto Train, and Palmetto use the CSX A Line between Richmond and Selma, North Caroliona with the Carolinian and Silver Star operating via Raleigh.

Still in the Rainbow Era at Joliet

Gulf, Mobile & Ohio motive power is still in place on April 14, 1973, as the southbound Abraham Lincoln calls at Joliet, Illinois.

Pulling Amtrak Train No. 303 are GM&O E7A Nos. 101 and 103A, both of which were built by EMD in the middle 1940s.

The train originated in Milwaukee at 3:20 p.m. and is due into St. Louis Union Station at 10:35 p.m.

Note the mixture of equipment in Amtrak colors and the colors of their original owners.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Cardinal Passengers Ride Bus After Train-Truck Crash

Passengers aboard Amtrak’s westbound Cardinal on Monday finished their journey by bus after the train’s route was blocked in Lafayette, Indiana, by a grade crossing collision.

Lafayette police said a semi struck a southbound 133-car CSX train at the Wabash Avenue crossing before 5:30 a.m.

The crossing remained closed for 13 and a half hours as workers cleaned up spilled grain and diesel fuel.

The driver of the truck suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene. Police said they do not believe that drugs or alcohol were a contributing factor to the collision.

The driver told police he was unable to stop his truck in time to avoid the collision. He was headed northbound on Wabash Avenue at the time.

Amtrak Train No. 51 was terminated at the station in Crawfordsville, Indiana, located 27 miles south of Lafayette.

Passengers were loaded aboard four buses with three operating non-stop to Chicago and one bus making all local stops.

No. 51 was running 26 minutes late when it reached Crawfordsville. The Cardinal is scheduled to arrive in Crawfordsville at 6:48 a.m. and at Lafayette at 7:36 a.m.

FRA Extends Deadline for Passenger Rail Grants

The deadline for a passenger rail grant program overseen by the Federal Railroad Administration has been extended to Feb. 5, 2020.

FRA had $24 million in Restoration and Enhancement Grants for “initiating, restoring, or enhancing intercity passenger rail service.”

The money was authorized by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.

The deadline had been Jan. 5, 2020, but was extended by a month after another $1.92 million was authorized by Congress for fiscal year 2020.

That brings the total amount of available grant money for the program to $26.3 million.

Funding in the program can be used for staffing, fuel, electricity, station expenses, rolling stock lease payments, routine planned maintenance, host railroad access costs, train yard operation and administrative costs.

Grants may be awarded to states (individually or collectively), cities and other government entities, Amtrak and other intercity passenger rail companies.

By law the FRA must give priority by application type, including those supporting projects that “foster economic development, expand transportation options in under served communities, and restore former Amtrak routes.”

Mechanical Breakdown Delays Canadian by a Day

There is late and there is really late. So how about really, really late?

Passengers aboard VIA Rail Canada’s westbound Canadian experienced the latter on Monday when their train arrived in Vancouver more than a day after it was supposed to arrive.

VIA No. 1 departed Toronto on Dec. 18 but became stranded near Capreol, Ontario, due to mechanical issues with the train’s locomotives.

Trains magazine reported that the only suitable replacement motive power was back in Toronto.

The 135 passengers were put on a bus and taken to Sudbury to spend the night at a hotel.

In a statement, VIA said two overheated bearings caused the malfunction of the locomotives.

The eastbound Canadian that was to depart Vancouver for Toronto on Monday was instead moved back to a Tuesday departure (Dec. 24) to allow time to service the equipment.

At one point the westbound Canadian was operating 41 hours late but was able to cut that down to 32 hours by the time it left Jasper, Alberta, due to schedule padding.

Onboard VIA staff that had scheduled to board at Winnipeg were instead put aboard at Hornepayne, Ontario.

Track Work to Disrupt San Joaquins in January

Track work being performed by BNSF will result in service disruptions to some San Joaquin Service between Jan. 10 and 11, and 17 and 18.

On Jan. 18 and 17, Train 704 will terminate at Wasco with Thruway Bus 5804 originating in Wasco and providing alternate transportation between Wasco and Bakersfield. Train 718 will also terminate at Wasco with Thruway Bus 5818 originating in Wasco and providing alternate transportation between Wasco and Bakersfield.

On Jan. 11 and 18 Train 711 will originate at Wasco. Thruway Bus 5811 will operate through to Wasco, providing alternate transportation between Bakersfield and Wasco.

Bus 5811 will depart all station stops from San Diego to Bakersfield 15 minutes earlier than normally scheduled.