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Has Amtrak's NEC plan slowed to 160 mph?

Has Amtrak abandoned its vision of 220-mile-per-hour bullet trains speeding up and down the Northeast Corridor? The railroad recently issued draft specifications for new trains to replace its existing Acelas that call for 160 m.p.h. trains, not the 220 mph versions Amtrak sai [...]

NTSB team departs Metro-North crash site

WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board’s go-team will leave New York City this week after completing the necessary on-scene investigative work into the cause of the derailment of a Metro-North passenger train on Dec. 1. The NTSB will continue to gather fa [...]

OSHA fines First Student for driving with bald tires

JUNCTION CITY, OREGON — A bus used to drive Junction City School District students to and from school operated with front tires so worn that the cords underneath the tire tread were visible, state workplace safety regulators have found. The bus company, First Student In [...]

A 220-mph NEC? A contrarian weighs in

In competitive markets, vision and strategy are tested daily as consumers vote with their wallets, investors choose among opportunities, and competitors react – all creating greater efficiency. Conventional wisdom in passenger rail today is high speed trains. Amtrak, for exam [...]

Senators: Put cameras on train tracks, engineers

NEW YORK (AP) – A week after four people died in a New York commuter train derailment, two federal lawmakers proposed Sunday that trains nationwide be outfitted with cameras pointed at engineers and at the tracks. “I know you’re going to hear from Metro-Nort [...]

My goal is to keep the membership aware, informed

(John Previsich’s column below was reprinted from the November 2013 SMART Transportation Division News. See page 4.) In this communication, my first to you as president of this great organization, I will begin by saying that I am honored by the opportunity to serve in t [...]

Amtrak's Boardman named Railroader of the Year

Joseph H. Boardman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amtrak, has been named 2014 Railroader of the Year by railroad industry trade journal Railway Age. “Joe Boardman, who came to Amtrak after his tenure as Federal Railroad Administrator, has been chief executive for t [...]

U.S. Rep. Maloney Proposes PTC Funding Bill

U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) has proposed the Commuter Rail Passenger Safety Act to help commuter railroads, such as MTA Metro-North Railroad, fund and implement positive train control (PTC) systems. Maloney announced he would introduce the legislation earlier this [...]