text
stringlengths
13
991
The New Geneva Bridge is a truss bridge that carries the Norfolk Southern Railway across the Monongahela River between Nicholson Township and Monongahela Township, Pennsylvania. The bridge was originally built to serve the Monongahela Railroad; it has long been part of a heavily traveled coal route. At the time of cons...
The Cincinnati Southern Bridge, originally the Cincinnati Southern Railroad Swinging Truss Bridge, is a vertical lift bridge that carries the Norfolk Southern Railway over the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Ludlow, Kentucky in the United States. The bridge is composed of four through truss spans: a main span o...
The Cincinnati Southern Railway Bridge was begun in 1875; construction was completed in December, 1877, and the bridge immediately opened to traffic. Its cost exclusive of right of way was $811,683. The truss bridge was the longest bridge of its type when it was completed.
It was extensively modernized in 1922, and it remains the busiest railroad bridge in the city of Cincinnati today. The modernization replaced a swing span with a vertical lift span that was designed to rise only 13 feet. That was all that was considered necessary for clearance during periods of high water. The span was...
The Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge (also known as the Northampton Lattice Truss Bridge) is a former crossing of Boston and Maine Railroad over the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts, connecting the towns of Northampton and Hadley, by the Norwottuck Rail Trail, which is currently used for bicycle and foot traffic.
The Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge is an eight-span steel lattice truss bridge. It crosses Elwell Island in the middle of the river, providing no access to the island in an attempt to keep the island otherwise untouched. Riding over the bridge shows eight spans, with two of them over Elwell Island. It was built by the R....
To survive the 1936 flood, railroad cars loaded with scrap metal were placed on the bridge to weigh it down.
The bridge was redesigned by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. of Watertown, rebuilt by MassHighway, and opened in 1992 to bicycle and foot traffic as part of the Norwottuck Rail Trail.
The CSX Bellwood Subdivision James River Bridge is a plate girder bridge that carries the Bellwood Subdivision over the James River in Richmond, Virginia. The bridge was built by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad between 1897 and 1900.
The bridge begins just south of the Main Street Station and constitutes the middle part of the Triple Crossing, going under the Rivanna Subdivision and over the Richmond District (Norfolk Southern) prior to crossing the James River.
The Meldrim trestle disaster occurred at Meldrim, Georgia, on June 28, 1959. Involved was a Seaboard Air Line mixed freight train that derailed over the Ogeechee River. Loaded LPG tank cars from the train plunged into the river below and ruptured. The resulting BLEVE and fire killed 23 people--including entire families...
The derailment was caused by the movement of rails on the trestle, as they were compressed by the moving train.
An ICC investigation faulted the railroad for not installing guard rails along the trestle, which might have helped to keep the derailed equipment on the trestle deck, minimizing the risk of a hazardous materials release.
The Texas Mexican Railway International Bridge is an international railway bridge across the Rio Grande and U.S.-Mexico border between Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, the only rail link between these cities. Owned and operated by Texas Mexican Railway (KCS) and Kansas City Southern de México, the single-tr...
On January 1, 2005, Kansas City Southern (KCS) took control of The Texas Mexican Railway Company and the U.S. portion of the International Bridge in Laredo, Texas. The railroad is a vital link in KCS's rail network, connecting The KCS and TFM, S.A. de C.V.
On the U.S. side the Bridge is located in the western termini of the Texas-Mexican Railway in Laredo, Texas. In Mexico it is located in the northern termini of the Kansas City Southern Railway in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.
When the Laredo International Railway Bridge 2 is completed the Texas-Mexican Railway International Bridge will be converted to either a northbound express lane for trailers and buses, or a railroad track for passenger trains.
The Union Railroad Port Perry Bridge it is a truss bridge that carries the Pennsylvania Union Railroad across the Monongahela River between North Braddock, Pennsylvania and Duquesne, Pennsylvania. Industrial pipelines also adorn the bridge, as natural gas is transported between the communities. Union Railroad is owned ...
The Peninsula Subdivision Trestle is a railroad trestle in Richmond, Virginia on the Peninsula Subdivision of CSX Transportation.
Starting in the north, the bridge begins to rise and cross East Marshall Street and East Broad Street (U.S. Route 250 and State Route 33). It then passes the Main Street Station. Then it crosses East Main Street (U.S. Routes 60 and 360), East Cary Street, South 17th Street, and Dock Street before connecting to the Riva...
The Anacostia Railroad Bridge is a vertical lift railroad bridge crossing the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., United States. The bridge is owned by CSX Transportation.
The Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road, a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, built the first railroad bridge on this site, which opened on July 2, 1872. Successor Penn Central Railroad rebuilt the bridge in 1972.
The bridge currently carries freight trains. It is near the point where the RF&P Subdivision becomes the Landover Subdivision, with a connection to the Alexandria Extension just to the east of the bridge. Originally the bridge supported three tracks. This was later reduced to two tracks, and then one track in 2006.
The lift span is occasionally raised for boat traffic. The lift is controlled by a CSX bridge tender located nearby at Benning Rail Yard.
On November 10, 2007, a unit train carrying coal derailed and caused the collapse of the northern span of the bridge.
CSX had briefly closed the bridge in 2006 after it found high levels of corrosion and made repairs, and after the 2007 accident it again closed the bridge. The southern span was reopened 24 hours after the accident.
The Rivanna Subdivision Trestle is a trestle in Richmond, Virginia at the end of the Rivanna Subdivision. The bridge is the upper level of Triple Crossing, and also crosses United States Routes 360. It parallels the James River, and actually "steps" into it at one section. The bridge connects to the Peninsula Subdivisi...
The Thebes Bridge is a five span cantilever truss bridge carrying the Union Pacific Railroad (previously carried the Missouri Pacific and Southern Pacific, in a joint operation) across the Mississippi River between Illmo, Missouri and Thebes, Illinois. It is owned by the Southern Illinois and Missouri Bridge Company, n...
The Southern Illinois and Missouri Bridge Company was incorporated in Illinois on December 28, 1900 to own the bridge and of connecting rail line. It was initially owned equally by the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad, Illinois Central Railroad, Missouri Pacific Railway, St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railw...
Following approval of the bridge plans in 1902, limited construction activities began that year. Following litigation over right of way that prevented certain work from proceeding from May 1902 to April 1903, construction continued with the concrete arch approach structures in 1903, and the bridge superstructure itself...
The designer of the bridge was Polish-American engineer Ralph Modjeski. Contractors included C. Macdonald & Co. of New York, J.S. Paterson Construction Company of Chicago, MacArthur Brothers of Chicago, and American Bridge Company of New York. The American Bridge Company in turn subcontracted the superstructure's erect...
The Missouri Pacific and SLIM&S merged in 1917, and in 1945 the C&EI sold its 1/5 share to the Missouri Pacific, giving the latter company, since merged into the UP, a majority interest.
The rail crossing of the Connecticut River (United States) at this location originates from the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad. The V&MRR was chartered in 1844 and completed an extension between Millers Falls, Massachusetts and Brattleboro, Vermont by 1850. Alvah Crocker, a paper and railroad magnate and U.S. Repre...
This rail bridge was used by Amtrak's Vermonter passenger service until December 2014.
The CSX A-Line Bridge is a double-track concrete bridge that carries the North End Subdivision of CSX Transportation over the James River in Richmond, Virginia. The bridge was built jointly by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad in 1919. Designed by John E. Greiner, this b...
The Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain Railway was a historic, railroad that operated in the southeastern United States.
The company was chartered in 1887 and started operations in 1889, running from Chattanooga, Tennessee to the Lookout Inn, a hotel at the summit of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.
The railroad was apparently not a financial success as it was abandoned in 1899. It was subsequently purchased by the Chattanooga Railway and Light Company and rebuilt for electric streetcar operation in 1913. Regular daily services ran on this line until 1920, when services were reduced to operating only on days that ...
This line should not be confused with the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, a heritage railroad that opened in 1895 nearby, and is still in operation.
The Black Hills and Fort Pierre Railroad (BH&FP) was a narrow gauge railroad in the Black Hills of the U.S. state of South Dakota. It was created by the Homestake Mining Company and initially ran from Lead to Calcite and Piedmont by way of Elk Creek. An alternate route was established to Piedmont and Calcite by way of ...
The line was originally intended to haul timber to the Homestake Mining Company in Lead. On June 15, 1881, the railroad company was incorporated under the name Black Hills Railroad Company. The name was changed to the Black Hills and Fort Pierre Railroad on July 10, 1882. On November 29, 1881, a mule team hauled the fi...
The Alaska-Alberta Railway Development Corporation (also known as A2A Rail) is an entity created to build, own, and operate a proposed railroad between Delta Junction, Alaska, and Fort McMurray, Alberta. The railroad will interchange with and operate on part of the Alaska Railroad, in order to access Southcentral Alask...
A rival enterprise, G7G Railway, estimated in 2020 the capital cost to be just under US$20 billion. They proposed shipping oil, via the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, from rail cars in Delta Junction to the coast.
The proposed A2A railway would connect to the Alaska Railroad at Delta Junction, Alaska, and run through the Yukon to Fort Nelson, British Columbia, and from there to a terminus at Fort McMurray, Alberta. The A2A Railway had also been negotiating with the Mat-Su Borough on an agreement to complete the Port Mackenzie Ra...
The Van Horne Institute studied the route in 2013. A survey of the proposed route by the development corporation began in July 2020.
On September 25, 2020, US President Donald Trump announced he would issue a presidential permit to the railway, which has an agreement with Alaska Railway to develop a joint operating plan for the rail connection to Canada.
Early field activities and detailed engineering design is expected to start by Q1 2021. Construction is expected to take three years.
10 refers to two streetcar lines in Los Angeles, California. They operated by the Los Angeles Railway for a combined period from 1932 to 1946.
The route started in 1932 as a combination of two former lines: the M on Arlington Avenue and the A Line Broadway segment. It ran from Vernon and Arlington in the south to Lincoln and Mission in Lincoln Heights. In 1939 the Broadway line was reassigned to the W and service was rerouted all the way to the Edgeware line ...
At the time of its closure, the route ran from Grand Avenue and 39th Street to the intersection of Vernon and Arlington Avenues, by way of Grand Avenue, Santa Barbara Avenue, Dalton Avenue, and Vernon Avenue. The service ended on November 30, 1942; the Edgeware Road Line continued to operate as a shuttle, designated nu...
A wholly new route was assigned the number 10 on June 21, 1943, running over Vernon, Dalton, and Santa Barabara and extending to Vermont and 39th at rush hours. This 10 ran until January 17, 1946.
The Coastal Classic is a passenger and semi-luxury train operated by the Alaska Railroad between the cities of Anchorage and Seward, Alaska. It is a seasonal train, only operating between the months of May and September. Despite its seasonality, the "Coastal Classic" was the Alaska Railroad's most popular route in 2019...
In 2020, summer services began in July in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The "Coastal Classic" makes the following station stops:
American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association
The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) is an association of North American short line and regional railroads. Founded in 1913, the ASLRRA has a range of members, include a variety of Class II and Class III railroads. The association comprises approximately 550 small businesses, all within th...
The Rail Passengers Association (RPA), formerly the National Association of Railroad Passengers, is the largest advocacy organization for rail passengers in the United States.
The organization was founded by Anthony Haswell on May 18, 1967, to lobby for the continuation of passenger trains in the United States.
RPA's small paid staff in Washington, D.C., spends most of its time educating members of Congress and their staffs about the value of passenger rail.
RPA publishes a newsletter eleven times a year detailing news in the passenger rail world. It often includes stories about related legislation in Congress, Traveler's Advisories, and Travel Tips, with a particular focus on Amtrak.
Members benefit from discounts on Amtrak, Via Rail, Alaska Railroad, Grand Canyon Railway, Nevada Northern Railway, and Brightline.
The governing body of RPA is the Council of Representatives, consisting of 112 members from fifty states plus the District of Columbia, apportioned by the number of RPA members in each state. Up to an additional ten "At-Large" Council Representatives may hold office at any one time.
RPA is divided into ten regional divisions, each headed by a Division Leader, who is also a Council Representative for one of the states included in his/her Division.
Council Representatives and Division Leaders report to a liaison on the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors includes one Chair, four Vice Chairs, one Secretary, one Treasurer, and eight Directors, for a total of fifteen members. The immediate past Chair and Treasurer hold non-voting, ex-officio, advisory roles o...
In addition to the elected leadership, the small paid staff in Washington, D.C. includes a President, Vice Presidents for Policy, Operations, and Resource Development, Directors for Policy Research and Customer Advisory Committee Services, two regional Field Coordinators (based in Massachusetts and Alabama), and an Off...
Jim Mathews, formerly Executive Editor of the Aviation Week Intelligence Network, has served as RPA President and CEO since August 2014.
The North Jersey Rail Commuter Association is a not for profit (501(c)(3)) railroad advocacy organization that was formed and incorporated in the United States in 1980. During its history, the organization and its members have been involved in the successful advocacy of a number of projects involving NJ Transit Rail Op...
NJRCA's mission is to advocate, in a non-partisan manner, rail projects that benefit New Jersey by educating public officials and the general public. This advocacy includes the preservation of existing rail infrastructure wherever possible; and the initiation, reactivation or augmentation of rail service wherever pract...
The first NJRCA president, Frederick H. Wertz, helped establish the organization in 1980, which was initially headquartered in Sparta, New Jersey. Since that time, the organization has helped advocate a number of rail projects in New Jersey, particularly northern New Jersey. Charles Walsh assumed the presidency of the ...
Since its creation in 1980, NJRCA has spearheaded the effort to preserve and reactivate the Lackawanna Cut-Off. In 1979, as a result of a consolidation of Conrail's east-west rail routes, freight service was discontinued on the Cut-Off. This occurred in the aftermath of Conrail's taking over the operation of the line f...
In 1985, Conrail announced that it had sold the right-of-way of the Cut-Off to two developers, Gerald Turco and Burton Goldmeier. Goldmeier had acquired the easternmost mile (1.6 km) of the Cut-Off, while Turco had acquired the remaining 26-mile (44 km) section of the line in New Jersey and approximately one-mile (1.6 ...
Starting in 1990, the New Jersey Department of Transportation initiated the use of eminent domain against Turco and Goldmeier, resulting in the State of New Jersey acquiring the right-of-way for a total of $21 million in 2001.
At present, NJRCA continues to work with public officials in advocacy for the reactivation of the Lackawanna Cut-Off, specifically, at this point, the extension of rail service to Andover, New Jersey. However, the group will continue to be involved in the advocacy for the extension of service along the entire length of...
Shortly thereafter, NJRCA helped establish the Netcong-Port Morris (N-PM) Site Committee. The N-PM Site Committee's main responsibility was to act as a liaison between the museum commission and the towns—Netcong, NJ and Roxbury Township, New Jersey—that would be home to the museum. In addition to representatives from N...
In October, 1998, the commission's chairman, Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, announced that the choice had been narrowed down to three sites in New Jersey: Phillipsburg, Plainfield and Netcong-Port Morris. By the time this announcement was made, it had become clear that the majority of members on the NJ State Railroad & Tran...
As such, Walsh, in conjunction with NJRCA and the N-PM Site Committee continued to advocate for the Netcong-Port Morris site and in the process gained the support of New Jersey State Senate leader Robert Littell, who at that time was the chairman of the New Jersey Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, and who str...
Since that time, there has been activity within Phillipsburg to attempt to build the museum there, although the originally envisioned site, which is privately owned, was never acquired by the state of New Jersey and has since been designated for other purposes. In Netcong, there has been little activity thus far, altho...
In addition to the Lackawanna Cut-Off project, NJRCA has advocated the Gateway Tunnel (formerly known as the ARC Tunnel), including the proposal for run-through tracks at Penn Station, New York, with a connection to Grand Central Station. NJRCA has also proposed weekend rail service be instituted along the entire lengt...
The High Speed Rail Alliance (HSRA) (until late 2019, named the Midwest High Speed Rail Association (MHSRA)) was founded in 1993 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The association is a non-profit, member-supported organization that primarily advocates for world-class 220-mph high-speed trains linking major cities and s...
The High Speed Rail Alliance's executive director, Richard Harnish, believes it is time for America to “catch up” with European and Asian countries in terms of using high-speed rail systems.
The HSRA views the Chicago-St. Louis link as the first of a regional 220-mph high-speed rail network that would link Chicago, St. Louis, the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh, putting more than 35 million people within a three-hour train ride of Chicago.
In a proposal to the U.S. Department of Transportation, SNCF, operator of the TGV high-speed rail network in France, estimated that a Midwestern 220-mph high-speed rail network would create 677,000 permanent jobs and 316,000 construction jobs. Automobile trips would be reduced by 4.3 billion vehicle miles each year, sa...
The High Speed Rail Alliance has been a vocal critic of libertarian and conservative activists who view HSRA as distorting the record and facts on high-speed rail. In July 2009, it released a document responding to statements by the Cato Institute and the Reason Foundation about high-speed rail.
Railroader of the Year is an annual award presented to a North American railroad industry worker by trade journal "Railway Age". The award was first presented in 1964 by trade journal "Modern Railroads" and has continued through the magazine acquisition in 1992 to the present.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Interstate Commerce Commission when the ICC was abolished. Other ICC regulatory f...
The STB has broad economic regulatory oversight of railroads, including rates, service, the construction, acquisition, and abandonment of rail lines, carrier mergers, and interchange of traffic among carriers. The STB also has oversight of pipeline carriers, intercity bus carriers, moving van companies, trucking compan...
The Board provides a forum for the resolution of surface-transportation disputes and other matters within its jurisdiction. It has the authority to limit or remove regulatory requirements where appropriate.
The Board is composed of five members nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for five-year terms. The Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act expanded the Board from three to five members in 2015.
The Board's chairman is designated by the President from among the members. As its chief executive, the chairman coordinates and organizes the agency's work and acts as its representative in legislative matters and in relations with other governmental bodies. Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III was nominated to the Surface ...
The vice chairman represents the Board and assumes the chairman's duties as appropriate. Additionally, the vice chairman oversees matters involving the admission, discipline, and disbarment of non-attorney Board practitioners. Deb Miller was sworn in on April 28, 2014, as a Member of the Board for a term of office expi...
Ann D. Begeman was sworn in May 2, 2011, as a member of the Board. She currently serves as chairperson.
Martin J. Oberman was confirmed to the Board on January 3, 2019, by a voice vote in the United States Senate.
Patrick Fuchs was confirmed to the Board on January 2, 2019, by a voice vote in the United States Senate. He currently serves as vice-chairperson.
Assisting the Board in carrying out its responsibilities is a staff of 150 with experience in economics, law, accounting, transportation analysis, finance and administration.
Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and Compliance.
The Office of Public Assistance, Governmental Affairs, and Compliance serves as the agency's principal point of contact with Congress, state and local governments, the media, industry stakeholders and the general public. This office includes the Rail Customer and Public Assistance Program, where Board staff solves prob...
The Office of Economics analyzes rate cases, conducts economic and financial analyses of the railroad industry, and audits Class I railroads.
Office of Economics, Environmental Analysis and Administration.
The Office of Economics, Environmental Analysis and Administration is responsible for undertaking environmental reviews of proposed STB actions in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental laws and making environmental recommendations to the STB.
The Office of the Managing Director handles administrative matters such as personnel, budget and information technology.