Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
Trains are as American as apple pie and baseball, which, let's face it, have struggled in popularity since the advent of Breyer's ice cream and ACC basketball. Think Petticoat Junction. Think that old lonesome whistle. Think John Henry, steel-driving man. And don't forget "If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone," and Boxcar Willie, hoboes, Saturday morning "Soul Train," "Throw Mama from the Train," "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles," "I been working on the railroad" and, of course, Johnny Cash's "I hear that train a' coming." When I was a little starry-eyed girl, my friend...
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
STATESVILLE, NC (WBTV) - A man who was with about a dozen people who were looking for a legendary "ghost train" in Iredell County was hit by a locomotive and killed early Friday morning. The incident happened on a train trestle at 2:45 a.m. near the 900 block of Buffalo Shoals Road. Robin Chapman, a spokesperson for Norfolk-Southern Railroad, said the eastbound train consisted of three locomotives and no freight cars. The train was rounding a curve and approaching a trestle over Boston Creek just prior to Buffalo Shoals Road when it struck a man on the trestle, Chapman said.
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
WASHINGTON - Even as frustrated Amtrak and commuter rail passengers wondered for hours where their delayed trains were, the rail company chose to return media phone calls, rather than update its Twitter or website about the massive power failure that stopped trains in its busy Northeast Corridor. "We apologize if anyone felt inconvenienced. We responded as quickly as we could," Amtrak spokesperson Karina Romero told WTOP. "We were returning media calls as quickly as we could," says Romero. "Unfortunately when this happens during a rush hour, the number of phone calls can be overwhelming."
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Gov. Chet Culver has announced the Iowa and Illinois Departments of Transportation have submitted a joint application for funding to help pay for new and enhanced high speed passenger rail between Chicago and Iowa City. The application is to the Federal Railroad Administration's High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail program. The project would incorporate sustainable development principles in the construction and operation of the line. That could include running the train using biofuels, using recycled materials in construction, using locally grown foods and environmentally friendly packaging in food service, and encouraging pedestrian-friendly development around rail stations. Culver says...
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
NOTE The following text is a quote: August 06, 2010 ICE removes man after investigating a terroristic threat on Metro in January Convicted murder who escaped from jail abroad returned to Panamanian law enforcement WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Panama man convicted of murder in his native country was returned Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Juan Alberto Barrera-Candelaria, 36, illegally entered the United States in 2008 after he escaped from a Panama detention center where he was being held to serve a more than 13 year sentence for murder. In January 2010, ICE special agents assigned to the FBI's...
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
While the route of the Downeaster is 116 miles, it is considered a commuter train and was subsidized by the Federal Transit Administration, so it is in the National Transit Database. Amtrak timetables indicate the train makes five round trips each day (which means two train sets each make 2-1/2 round trips). The 2008 transit database reports that it carries an average of 492 passengers each weekday, and slightly more on Saturdays and Sundays. That means the average train carries about 50 people. Since not everyone goes the whole distance, the average number of people on board at any given...
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
A new luxury train service with ties to Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz has stopped operating before taking its first trip. American Railway Explorer ... "operations have ceased," and it told contractors refurbishing its vintage rail cars to stop.
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
Jeweller credits his ‘agile’ fingers for being able to tie knots in arteriesA man with no medical training managed to save a young woman's life when both her legs were severed by a train and he tied the protruding arteries of her legs into knots. The woman was reportedly hoping to spend Sunday night under the stars with her boyfriend as they jumped onto a slow-moving freight train near Jonquiere, northeast of Quebec City. According to authorities, the 20-year-old woman lost her footing and fell under the wheels.
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
CHICAGO -- Officials say passengers boarding Amtrak trains at Chicago's Union Station will now face random screening of their carry-on bags. Officials say the new policy goes into effect Thursday. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Wednesday the new security measure, which will involve Amtrak police swabbing carry-on items to detect explosives, is not in response to any new threat. Magliari said it represents an expansion of precautions that have been implemented on Amtrak lines in other parts of the nation. He said the screenings will be conducted periodically, and passengers will be randomly selected. If passengers decline to participate in...
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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Posted by admin! / Under Train Surfing
ABOARD THE HEARTLAND FLYER — Amtrak and transportation officials from Oklahoma and Texas have started a yearlong test to see whether beef-based biodiesel can efficiently run The Heartland Flyer passenger train between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. Texas cattle are supplying 20 percent of the fuel for the 3,200-horsepower engine, the rest is regular No. 2 diesel.
Published on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 10:54:52 AM
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