Category: Amtrak/Commuter

Home>News>Transportation>Amtrak/Commuter

PTC extension introduced by committee

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation introduced a positive train control (PTC) extension bill. The bill seeks to extend the statutory deadline for PTC implementation by five years to Dec. 31, 2020, as well as provide another optional two-year e [...]

Emergency RSAC meeting announced

The Federal Railroad Administration announced Aug. 8 that it would hold an emergency meeting of the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) Aug. 29. The meeting will focus on the July 6 train derailment in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. Preliminary findings from the derailment and s [...]

Va. agrees to pay more for Amtrak’s rail service

Responding to a federal mandate and acting on transportation legislation passed this year by the General Assembly, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Tuesday that Virginia will assume more financial responsibility for Amtrak regional service in the state. The agreement had to be in [...]

TSA expands to railroad stations

WASHINGTON – As hundreds of commuters emerged from Amtrak and commuter trains at Union Station on a recent morning, an armed squad of men and women dressed in bulletproof vests made their way through the crowds. The squad was not with the D.C. Police Department or Amtrak’s po [...]

Transportation bill’s demise points to 2014 stalemate

The collapse of U.S. transportation funding bills in both houses of Congress points to a broader stalemate over fiscal 2014 spending and threatens to extend across-the-board budget cuts into next year. Senate Republicans yesterday blocked a $54 billion measure funding highway [...]

Driver of Spanish train was talking on phone

The driver of a Spanish train that derailed and killed 79 people was talking on the phone when the train flew off a tight curve, court documents show. In the moments before the derailment, Garzon received a call on his work phone from Spain’s national train company Renf [...]

Spain train derailment kills 78

At least 78 people have been killed in the passenger train derailment in northwestern Spain on July 24. More than 140 were hurt, 36 seriously, after all eight carriages of the Madrid to Ferrol train came off the tracks near Santiago de Compostela. Read the complete story at B [...]