Amtrak

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Amtrak Aims to Double Riders With These Improvements

Major changes underway after influx of funding from infrastructure bill

(Newser) - Amtrak made the lofty goal to double its ridership in under 20 years, and the railroad company is using an infusion of cash ( some $22 billion ) from the 2021 infrastructure bill to help make it happen. The Wall Street Journal reports that improving some of Amtrak's...

Amtrak Train With 198 Passengers Derailed

15 were hospitalized, most with minor injuries, after train hit water truck near LA

(Newser) - Three cars of an Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Seattle derailed Wednesday morning after it struck a water truck on the tracks, authorities say. Amtrak says 198 passengers and 13 crew were on the train when it hit the irrigation truck in Moorpark, around 50 miles northwest of...

Amtrak to Passengers: 'We Are Not Holding You Hostage'

Train conductor actually had to say that after nightmare trip that stretched to 37 hours

(Newser) - A train conductor had to tell some 500 passengers aboard a stranded Amtrak train that they weren't being held hostage as what should have been a 17-hour trip stretched beyond 29 hours. Some passengers began calling police in frustration given what Insider describes as a "nightmare" trip, which...

5-Hour Amtrak Trip to Chicago Turns Into Lengthy Nightmare

For a while there were no flushable toilets

(Newser) - Tales of stuck passengers make the news fairly frequently—though they're usually sitting on runways, not tracks. Hundreds of passengers ended up stuck on an Amtrak train that had set out on a 5.5-hour journey from Pontiac, Michigan, to Chicago on Friday. The Detroit News reports it ended...

Amtrak Prepares for a Shutdown
Amtrak Prepares
for a Shutdown
Sep 12, 2022 6:50 PM CDT

Amtrak Prepares for a Shutdown

Carrier cancels a few routes to ensure passengers aren't stranded

(Newser) - Amtrak warned Monday that a strike could soon disrupt commutes, as well as cross-country trips, and announced it was suspending some long-distance routes starting Tuesday. Negotiators are in a cooling-off period now that is scheduled to end Thursday night; as of Friday, workers could walk off the job, or the...

Locals Say Everyone Knew Amtrak Crash Site Was Unsafe

Missouri farmer posted video saying that very thing on June 11

(Newser) - A fourth person has died due to injuries suffered when an Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago struck a dump truck and derailed Monday afternoon in a remote area of Missouri, reports the AP . They are the third passenger to die; the driver of the dump truck was...

Train Derails After Hitting Dump Truck, Killing 3

Dozens are injured, Missouri officials say

(Newser) - A passenger train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago struck a dump truck and derailed Monday in a remote area of Missouri, killing three people and injuring dozens more. Two of the people who died were on the Amtrak train, and one was in the truck, Highway Patrol spokesman Cpl....

Engineer Acquitted in Fatal Amtrak Crash

Train derailed after hitting curve at 106mph

(Newser) - An Amtrak engineer was cleared Friday of charges related to a deadly, high-speed derailment that left eight people dead and hundreds injured in Philadelphia in 2015. The jury acquitted 38-year-old engineer Brandon Bostian of causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless endangerment after a little more than an hour of...

After Holocaust Remembrance, Swastikas

Nazi symbols appear on Union Station, near US Capitol

(Newser) - Swastikas were found to have defaced the exterior of Washington's Union Station on Friday, less than a mile from the nation's Capitol. "Sickening. Yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day," Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez tweeted . President Biden had used the occasion to caution against a "resurgence of...

Amtrak Train Stuck for More Than a Day in Virginia Storm

Downed trees force more than 200 to hunker down

(Newser) - Stranded drivers on Interstate-95 in Virginia aren't the only travelers having a nightmare experience. An Amtrak train with more than 200 people aboard has been stuck in Virginia's stormy weather for more than a day. The train left New Orleans on Sunday but got stuck north of Lynchburg,...

Prosecutors: Amtrak Engineer Ran 7-Year Chain Saw Scheme

Agents say Jose Rodriguez obtained the equipment for work purposes, sold it

(Newser) - A New Jersey man who worked for Amtrak for nearly 15 years now faces up to 20 years in prison for what he admitted doing on the job. Federal officials say Jose Rodriguez of Brick, NJ, obtained equipment under the guise of needing it for projects he was doing as...

Drugs Found Before DEA Agent Was Killed on Train

Gunman also was killed in the gunfire, Tucson police say

(Newser) - Update: In advance of the deadly shooting Monday on an Amtrak train in Arizona, DEA agents searched bags associated with one passenger and found 2.39 kilograms of marijuana, 50 packages of marijuana edibles and "other marijuana and cannabis products," per the court documents. CNN reports they allegedly...

Couple Celebrating 50th Anniversary Killed in Derailment

Cause of Amtrak derailment Saturday in Montana still not clear

(Newser) - Two of the victims of Saturday's Amtrak train derailment were a Georgia couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Don and Marjorie Varnadoe, 74 and 72, spent months dreaming of the cross-country trip, and just Friday, Don "had called the office and said how excited they were" and that...

At Least 3 Dead, 50 Injured in Amtrak Derailment

Accident happened in Montana

(Newser) - At least three people were killed Saturday afternoon when an Amtrak train that runs between Seattle and Chicago derailed in north-central Montana, an official with the Liberty County Sheriff's Office said. Dispatcher Starr Tyler told the AP that three people died in the derailment. Amtrak said in a statement...

Feds Clear Path for New Northeast Tunnel

It will replace the existing Hudson River tunnel connecting NY and NJ

(Newser) - A planned $11 billion rail tunnel key to train travel up and down the northeastern US received a boost Friday with long sought federal environmental approval. The decision by the Department of Transportation means the project to build a new Hudson River tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey can...

Joe Biden's Amtrak Ride to DC Is Out

Plans change amid security concerns for inauguration

(Newser) - President-elect Joe Biden will no longer be taking an Amtrak train to Washington for his inauguration because of security concerns, a person briefed on the decision told the AP on Wednesday. The president-elect’s decision reflects growing worries over potential threats in the Capitol and across the US in the...

Report: Biden's Arrival in DC May Be Unusual

Sources say he's considering riding in on Amtrak

(Newser) - Sources tell Axios that Joe Biden may not be arriving in Washington, DC, for the inauguration in the typical way. The president-elect is considering a method more appropriate for him—coming to town on the same Amtrak train the Delaware native used to take during his days as a senator....

Pandemic Causes Major Service Cuts for Amtrak

Daily service to hundreds of stations will be terminated

(Newser) - With ridership way down amid the coronavirus pandemic, Amtrak announced this week it will be cutting daily service to hundreds of stations starting Oct. 1. It's the stations outside the Northeast that will be affected, the Washington Post reports; Amtrak is reducing most of its long-distance trains to thrice-weekly...

Amtrak Withdraws 'Outrageous' $25K Fee for Wheelchair Users

Access Living employees can now ride for $16 each, as normal

(Newser) - Amtrak has backtracked after telling two wheelchair users they needed to pay $25,000 for a two-hour train ride that normally costs $16 per ticket. NPR first reported on the fee applied to employees of Access Living, a disability service and advocacy center, who hoped to travel from Chicago to...

They Were Driving to a Camping Trip. Then the Train Came

Florida woman, 2 young grandsons killed on tracks that had no gates or signals

(Newser) - A Florida woman and her two grandsons were killed by a passing Amtrak train on Saturday afternoon as she drove the Cub Scouts to an overnight camping trip near West Palm Beach, per the AP . The train carrying some 200 passengers collided with the family’s Subaru Outback at the...

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