Amtrak News

Hurricane Ida Aftermath Delivers Deadly Lesson on Climate Change

As Ida’s deadly waters receded and emergency crews raced to return power and transportation services, stunned residents of New York, New Jersey and other parts of the Northeast faced up to their vulnerability to new-weather storms. By early Friday, the …

Transportation Dept. Announces Railroads, Transit Systems Meet Key Safety Deadline

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Transportation Department announced Tuesday that anti-derailment technology positive train control, or PTC, is in operation on all required railroad route miles ahead of a Dec. 31 deadline set by Congress. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has …

Vital But Vulnerable, Cleaners Hold the Line Against a Virus

NEW YORK — When hospitals need to prep a room for the next coronavirus test, when jetliners discharge their passengers at the gate, when suburbanites start to take sanitary precautions more seriously, the call goes out: Send in the cleaners. …

CSX Safety Lapses Blamed for 2018 Fatal Amtrak Collision in South Carolina

CSX Corp.’s lax approach to safety caused a fatal collision between a passenger train and one of the company’s parked freight trains last year, U.S. accident investigators concluded Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board cited what it called multiple layers …

Passenger Train Safety Upgrade Spurs Crash-Halting Tech Feud

Two companies battling for a share of more than $14 billion in mandated safety upgrades on U.S. railroads are set to collide in federal court to resolve a dispute over technology that prevents train accidents. Germany’s Siemens AG accuses U.S. …

President Backs Dec. 31 Deadline for Positive Train Control Safety Requirement

President Barack Obama plans to enforce a deadline for rail operators to install safety technology by the end of the year, despite warnings from railroads including Union Pacific Corp. and Amtrak that they can’t meet the mandate and would have …

Amtrak Service Could be Disrupted if Required Safety System Not Installed by Dec. 31

Amtrak passenger service that runs on tracks owned by freight rail companies may be curtailed unless Congress extends a Dec. 31 deadline to implement a safety system that was mandated seven years ago. December 2018 would be “more realistic” for …

Kin Sue Amtrak Over Rhode Island Woman’s Death After Fall

The family of a 91-year-old woman who died a week and a half after falling on a train station platform sued Amtrak on Wednesday, saying she was knocked to the ground by the force of a passing Acela Express train. …

Up to 18 Hurt in California Amtrak Collision

Authorities say 16 people were hurt when two passenger trains collided at the Amtrak station in Oakland, Calif., Thursday night. Oakland Fire Department battalion chief Emon Usher says one of the trains was stopped and unloading passengers when the second …

Suit in Fatal Nevada Amtrak Crash Says Door Locked

Another lawsuit filed against Amtrak in the fatal crash with a truck in Nevada this summer blames a locked door on the train for making the disaster worse. An Amtrak waitress and a cook filed the negligence suit in Washoe …