Free Republic

One of the last sentences said by the 44-year-old man struck and killed by an Amtrak train in Longwood Friday was shouted to a friend as the two walked to a neighborhood pub: “Let’s race the train!” Alexander Javier, the 24-year-old friend, made it across the tracks. Todd Keller did not. The Longwood Police Department released details about Keller’s death Wednesday afternoon. According to the incident report, Keller and Javier had been drinking at Connolly’s Pub earlier in the night and had gone to Javier’s apartment for awhile before deciding to head back to the pub. The men were walking...

DENVER — The Regional Transportation District continues to deal with a widespread shortage of train and bus operators, and that resulted in a large number of canceled trips Monday. As of 6 a.m. Monday, RTD’s website was showing more than 50 canceled trips ... Beyond canceled trips, the shortage has resulted in many operators working six days a week. Officials have been weighing whether to reduce service in some areas to make up for the lack of drivers,

He has long been known as a model railway enthusiast — even if at times he didn’t want to talk about it. But now Sir Rod Stewart’s legendary layout — 26 years in the making — can be seen for the first time in all its finished glory. The rocker’s astonishingly detailed 124ft long x 23ft wide model depicting an American city and its industrial hinterland in the 1940s contains hundreds of buildings, from trackside switchman shanties to vast factories and skyscrapers. Called Grand Street And Three Rivers City, it also features a railway station crossed by numerous bridges at...

TriMet’s MAX Yellow Line first opened 15 years ago in May 2004. The Yellow Line’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) made a myriad of predictions for the year 2020, which makes now the perfect time to reflect on what officials promised and what taxpayers and transit riders have since received. Yellow Line History The Yellow Line originated in 1988 as a 21-mile project connecting Vancouver, Washington with Downtown Portland and Clackamas Town Center. This plan was scrapped after Clark County voters defeated a proposal to raise $236.5 million in 1995 and Oregon voters turned down a $475 million regional ballot...

The arrival of the Long Island Rail Road’s newest train has been quickly followed by commuter complaints, ranging from a lack of Wi-Fi, insufficient leg room at some seats, and the peculiar location of one of the trains’ most anticipated features — electrical outlets. “As soon as we saw it, we said that was not functional. You’re either going to have the people who are sitting in the windows using both of them, or someone wanting to stretch their wires from the outside across someone’s lap, which no one’s going to want,”

For the second time, a judge threw out all charges Tuesday against an Amtrak engineer for his role in a high-speed derailment in Philadelphia that killed 8 people, saying: "The law recognizes we're all human."

John Diepersloot squinted under a bright Central Valley sun, pointing to the damage to his fruit orchard that came with the California bullet train. He lost 70 acres of prime land. Rail contractors left mounds of rubble along his neat rows. Irrigation hoses are askew. A sophisticated canopy system for a kiwi field, supported by massive steel cables, was torn down. But what really irritates Diepersloot is the $250,000 that he paid out of his own pocket for relocating wells, removing trees, building a road and other expenses. “I am out a quarter-million bucks on infrastructure, and they haven’t paid...

Well, California Governor Gavin Newsom has abandoned plans to build a high-speed railroad between Los Angeles and San Francisco. After spending billions of dollars in funds, much of it from the Federal government, the Governor said that the project should be shelved. He cited that the project was too expensive. The face of American politics today. This is the slick and well-packaged oligarchy pick for California. Mr. California Governor Gavin Newsom. Look how plastic he appears. Why, he could be right out of one of those political villains from a 1980’s John Cusack movie. California Is Abandoning A Plan To...

Authorities building China's first high-speed train designed to be both operated and serviced by artificial intelligence say they intend to have the first line operational before the end of this year, reports huanqiu.com. Linking Beijing with the city of Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei Province, the new AI-guided trains are expected to run at speeds of 350 kilometers per hour, making them the fastest AI bullet trains in the world.A mechanic inspects a high-speed train during the Spring Festival travel rush, the "Chunyun," at a maintenance station in Kunming, Yunnan province, January 21, 2019. [File Photo:IC]Crews are currently in the process...

The Glory of Steam Trains

The California rail authority delivered a sharp rebuttal Monday to the Trump administration, saying its threat to cancel and rescind $3.5 billion in grants for the state bullet train project is “rash and unlawful.” In two letters to the Federal Railroad Administration, state officials say they have not breached the terms and conditions of the grants and are making progress in building what would be a transformative passenger rail system. The federal agency issued notice two weeks ago that it intended to terminate a $929-million grant issued in 2010 for the high-speed rail system and was exploring options to seek...

After more than five hours of deliberation Wednesday, a jury found a trash truck driver not guilty in a fatal 2018 train crash. Dana Naylor Jr., 31, initially was charged with involuntary manslaughter and maiming while under the influence after authorities said he drove a Time Disposal garbage truck onto train tracks on Jan. 31, 2018, and was struck by a chartered Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress. The collision killed Chris Foley and severely injured Dennis Eddy. Both men were passengers in the trash truck. The DUI maiming charge was dropped Wednesday morning after being rendered moot by...

Mohammed Said, the head of the Cairo Railroad hospital, said the death toll is expected to rise. The fire is said to have been triggered by a fuel tank explosion on a speeding train headed into the Ramsis station in downtown Cairo. Several witnesses said they saw fire coming out of the train's engine before it crashed. The fire is said to have been triggered by a fuel tank explosion on a speeding train headed into the Ramsis station in downtown Cairo. Several witnesses said they saw fire coming out of the train's engine before it crashed. Prime Minister Mostafa...

The train hit a tree that had fallen onto the tracks. It hasn’t moved more than 30 hours. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari told CNN that none of the 183 passengers and dozen crew members were injured, but that “conditions further deteriorated with numerous track blockages from snow and fallen trees.” “Due to worsening conditions, area road closures and no viable way to safely transport passengers or crews via alternate transportation, Train 11 stopped in Oakridge, Oregon,” The train had power and enough food on board — for which passengers will not be charged, Amtrak said on Twitter on Monday. But...

The $2.5 billion has already been spent — but California has failed to deliver the high-speed rail (on time, or at all) as promised. Therefore, the Trump administration argues, the state has to repay federal taxpayers. The Los Angeles Times quoted Stanford law professor David Freeman Engstrom, a Stanford law professor, describing Trump’s effort as a “nuclear option.” The practice of recovering money after a breach of contract, while common in the private sector, was virtually unheard of in government, he explained. “There is a reluctance to penalize misspending by local government agencies. … Almost never do those violations result...

**SNIP** Perhaps the biggest blow to the high-speed rail project came in 2010, when Republicans won control of the U.S. House of Representatives. They proceeded to block any further federal funding for high-speed rail, undermining the California project’s financial plan. Ironically, Gov. Newsom’s decision to pause high-speed rail comes just as Democrats have retaken the majority in the House, making possible a Green New Deal and billions in high-speed rail funding. California ought to show the country how to overcome these obstacles. If we believe climate change is real, then we are obligated to do something about it, and not...

It’s ostensibly India’s fastest train, but the fastest thing it has done so far is break down. It only took a day. Traveling from Varanasi to New Delhi, the newly debuted Vande Bharat Express had to stop about 120 miles from its destination, CNN reported, because an “external hit” hindered communication between the last four cars and the rest of the train. The first leg went smoothly for the train designed for maximum speeds of 100mph. Holding up to 1,128 passengers, the train’s speed shaves three hours off the usual 11-hour travel time for the 467-mile journey between the two...

<p>California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday in his “State of the State” address at the California State Capitol in Sacramento that he would abandon the state’s high-speed rail system because it was too expensive.</p> <p>The plan to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles by high-speed rail “would cost too much and, respectfully, would take too long,” he told legislators. He said the state would still build a portion of the system under construction in the rural Central Valley, denying that it would be a “train to nowhere.” He said the state would not send $3.5 billion back to the federal government to be spent by President Donald Trump.</p>

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday he's abandoning a plan to build a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a project with an estimated cost that has ballooned to $77 billion. "Let's be real," Newsom said in his first State of the State address. "The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long. There's been too little oversight and not enough transparency." The idea long championed by Newsom's predecessor, Jerry Brown, is years behind schedule. The latest estimate for completion is 2033.

PITTSBURGH -- For nearly a quarter of a century, Amtrak's Capitol Limited route has taken me from my beloved hometown to Washington, D.C. Sometimes for fun, almost always for work, the experience is never the same. And if you are a rail lover, it is always about the experience. There is only one train that leaves the Pittsburgh station every day, and that is at 5:20 a.m. (which means your alarm goes off at 3:30 a.m.). Thanks to sharing the line with freight, that almost always means a 20- to 90-minute departure delay. Then there's the nearly eight-hour trip, twice...