Latest news with #passengerRail
New York Times
01-07-2025
- New York Times
Amtrak Will Revive Long-Stalled Gulf Coast Route in August
Amtrak will begin passenger rail service between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., on Aug. 18, the railway operator announced on Tuesday, connecting the cities by train for the first time since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region two decades ago. The route, called the Mardi Gras Service, will offer two daily departures from each end with four intermediate stops along the Gulf Coast in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula, Miss. Tickets, which went on sale Tuesday, start at $15 each way for an adult riding end-to-end in coach. Amtrak estimates that the route, which takes about four hours to travel each way, will serve approximately 68,000 passengers per year. The Mardi Gras Service will allow passengers traveling from Alabama and Mississippi to connect to Amtrak's long-haul network via New Orleans, where routes like the City of New Orleans, the Sunset Limited and the Crescent serve destinations as distant as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Amtrak suspended service along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people and devastated the region's infrastructure in late August 2005. Before the storm, the Sunset Limited line traveled all the way from Los Angeles to Orlando, Fla. Since 2005, it has terminated in New Orleans. Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2025.
CTV News
26-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Alberta regional passenger rail planning continues
Alberta hosted a virtual information session Wednesday to discuss plans to have a rail network connecting Edmonton, Calgary, Banff, Lethbridge and more. A 'Master Rail Plan' that could chart out a regional passenger rail network across Alberta is months into its planning stage, but don't expect to be able to buy a ticket for more than a decade at minimum. The provincial government is currently hosting virtual information sessions about lofty ambitions that could see passenger trains running between Calgary to Edmonton, Banff, Lethbridge and more. 'The 15 year delivery plan will provide the framework for government to consider the different options towards the next steps in building passenger rail in Alberta,' Rob Lawson told a virtual session Tuesday night. Lawson is the acting assistant deputy minister involved in Alberta's passenger rail plan. Specific routes and potential costs are still unknown. Current sessions will consider actions governments can take decades down the road. 'It's not out of the realm of possibility that, even if government decided this fall that they wanted to invest in passenger rail and start implementing 30 year networks, and it might be 15 years before you're buying a ticket to ride on a train service,' said Chris Gentile, the director of passenger rail in Alberta. Former VIA Rail station, Calgary, June 25, 2025 The former VIA station in Calgary still exists near the Calgary Tower, though the platform is chained up and covered in graffiti. (Jordan Kanygin, CTV Calgary) Via Rail The last proper regional rail service for Calgary was VIA Rail, but the Calgary stop was cut in 1990 to save costs. VIA still operates routes in Alberta through Edmonton and Jasper. The former VIA station in Calgary still exists near the Calgary Tower, though the platform is chained up and covered in graffiti. 'VIA Rail terminated service in Calgary roughly around 1990. And a lot of the lessons learned still stand today. VIA Rail was very subsidized by the federal government, as it is today,' said David Cooper, a transit expert and mobility consultant. Any type of expanded regional rail in Alberta will need significant government involvement, Cooper adds, and current provincially-led exploration is a good first step. 'This is quite significant, actually,' Cooper said. 'When you look at how funding plays out with these big infrastructure projects across Canada, it's usually provincial governments and federal governments working together as the main funders of these overall projects. So having them involved in this makes it a lot more real.' In the virtual sessions about the outlook, provincial officials say high-speed trains are seriously being considered. 'I think a lot of people kind of get a bit pessimistic on high speed trains, but I think Alberta has reached the point where we have the population, we have the commuters, we have the amount of people who are ready and willing to pursue this a bit further,' said Justin Simaluk with the Rail for Alberta Society. Virtual sessions continue Wednesday and Thursday.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Two Cheyenne sites to be studied for potential new passenger rail station
CHEYENNE – As conversations of passenger rail service returning to Colorado's front range progress, Cheyenne continues to prepare for how it may be able to tack onto the north end of the proposed railway service. On Friday, members of the Cheyenne City Council heard a presentation from Quandel Consultants, which has partnered with the Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization in identifying a potential site for a new passenger rail service station in Cheyenne. Of six potential locations and plan that have been tossed into the mixer, only two remain. Randy Grauberger, a senior rail consultant for Quandel, broke those two down for the city's governing body Friday afternoon. Grauberger said he could see Cheyenne becoming a rail service hub, potentially. This is rooted in conversations of several different passenger rail projects across the country involving Cheyenne. This includes the proposed Front Range Passenger Rail service which, if realized, would connect Pueblo, Colorado, to Fort Collins, Colorado, via Denver on a BNSF Railway line. That same line runs north through Casper and Billings, Montana, via Cheyenne, which could be possibilities for passenger rail service if the project extends. Grauberger described two other projects on Union Pacific lines that could connect Salt Lake City to the Minneapolis area via Cheyenne and Rapid City, South Dakota, and another line down to Denver from Cheyenne via Greeley, Colorado, also from Salt Lake City. 'That puts Cheyenne as a hub, almost, for passenger rail service if you get Front Range Passenger Rail and then three different Amtrak routes also coming through, again, there's no certainty that those will occur, but they have been identified in a federal plan.' With momentum growing for these projects and significant federal funding available, Grauberger outlined two potential sites for Cheyenne to plant its roots back into passenger rail service, saying he recalls the last passenger rail car in Cheyenne dating back to around 30 years ago. Reed Avenue Rail Corridor In the heart of the city's West Edge revitalization efforts, Grauberger proposed two alternatives for the Reed Avenue Rail Corridor Site. One option, which he called the 'steam plant' alternative, would see a stretch of new rail constructed 30 feet to the west of the existing BNSF tracks running through the corridor north of 20th Street, penetrating through the historic steam plant. passenger rail station 2 Diagram A Grauberger said this alternative would require renovating the steam plant, which is not included in the estimated $26.7 million to $28.2 million price tag, based on the valuation of the U.S. dollar in 2023. Indicated by a brown rectangle in Diagram A, the single-level station itself would be north of the existing steam plant, indicated in light blue, and offer baggage handling, concessions, a waiting area and a covered canopy. The pink line denotes passenger access where cars or buses could drop passengers off at the station, and the yellow rectangle to the west would be a two-story parking structure. However, this plan poses the highest budget risk, Grauberger said, as it would involve an uncertain steam plant renovation and acquisition of seven parcels of land. He proposed an alternative that is slightly less expensive, does not involve a steam plant renovation and only requires the acquisition of three parcels of land. This alternative has a similar concept but instead of running through the steam plant, the rail car would load or unload passengers at the same station site and then park in a stub track to the west of the existing BNSF line if there were any oncoming freight traffic. Grauberger said there are typically only two or three freight trains per week utilizing this section of BNSF track. A stub track is a spur track or siding that dead-ends, meaning it will sit parallel to the line and pull back onto the main track when it is ready to service passengers. Diagram B indicates the stub track would line up near the east side of the steam plant and go south nearly to Lincolnway. Passenger rail station 3 Diagram B This alternative leaves the possibility for the steam plant to be renovated privately as part of the Reed Avenue beautification efforts. Grauberger said this alternative would cost an estimated $24.1 to $25.1 million, also using estimates based on the value of the U.S. dollar in 2023. 'A lot of the support was the fact that everybody's excited about Reed Avenue corridor, with or without a passenger station, but they felt that with the station that even just provides extra energy and excitement for a renovated Reed Avenue corridor and all the other exciting things that the city is anticipating,' he said. Old Happy Jack Road The second location is the more expensive of the two sites but also poses the lowest budget risk due to its location and the fact it would not require parcel acquisition as the city already owns the land. This would be a little further to the west at the intersection of Missile Drive and Old Happy Jack Road. Indicated in diagram C, the new platform is shown in the thin orange line parallel to the existing BNSF track. As in the other diagrams, the brown rectangle would be where the new station is, and the pink line would be for vehicle pick-up and drop-off access. passenger rail station site 1 Diagram C The thicker orange line would be an extension of Grant Avenue, connecting Old Happy Jack Road to Missile Drive, and the gray triangle to its east would be single-story parking. Grauberger said that while there is less development in this area, it would accommodate some of the development to its south as multiple hotels have opened in the area recently in the Old Hitching Post Urban Renewal Area. However, the land here is uneven and would require some earthwork and a two-story train station. As a result, the price tag for this site is estimated to cost $30.9 million in 2023 estimates. Similar to the other station option, it would also offer baggage handling, concessions, a waiting area and a covered canopy. Additionally, this location would require an elevator for accessibility to the second story. Next steps The timeline for this project is currently unclear. Grauberger said that if the Front Range Passenger Rail project is approved, it could be connected to Fort Collins by 2029. He estimated it could take an additional four years after that to get a connection to Cheyenne. In total, this project would require municipal and county collaboration as well as working with the Colorado state government and the federal government to finalize planning and secure funding sources. Quandel provided five recommendations to the Cheyenne City Council moving forward: * Site the station as close as practical to downtown Cheyenne; * Continue to study and develop Old Happy Jack Road and Reed Avenue Corridor sites; * Stay engaged with the Front Range Passenger Rail District and submit an application to enter the Cheyenne Extension into the FRA Corridor Identification and Development Program; * Continue to stay in communication and share information with BNSF, UP, and Amtrak; and * Stay engaged with FRA and Amtrak as the FRA moves any Long Distance Service Study recommendations forward.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Direct rail service between Shropshire and London supported by PM
Plans for a new passenger rail service running direct trains between north Wales, the West Midlands and London have received support from the prime minister. A new open-access rail operator, called the Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway (WSMR), has been formed, offering passengers in Wrexham, as well as Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Walsall and Coleshill, a direct link with the in the Commons, Shrewsbury's Labour MP Julia Buckley asked Sir Keir Starmer if he would support the provider's prime minister responded, saying he would be "delighted to make sure the MP and other interested MPs meet with the rail minister to put their case forward". Proposals for the new operation from WSMR could see five trains per day running in each direction from Monday to Saturday, with four services running in both directions on a will stop at Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Telford Central, Wolverhampton, Darlaston, Walsall, Coleshill Parkway, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes on the route between Wrexham General and London route would bypass Birmingham by utilising a railway line only used for freight services, with trains running directly from Wolverhampton and Walsall to Nuneaton for the first time, a WSMR spokesperson said.A formal application to open the service was submitted to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) on Thursday, they added.
