March 23 at 6:36 a.m.
Filed under:
Transportation
By Associated Press
Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin greet workers at the Amtrak Rail Yard. (Michael Tercha/Tribune)
The next phase of construction on a high-speed rail route between Chicago and St. Louis will begin next month, a high-stakes transportation project similar to those that other states have rebuffed, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced Tuesday.
“Illinois has always been a strong railroad state and we always will be,“ Quinn said at an Amtrak rail yard near downtown Chicago. Get the full story »
Nov. 11, 2010 at 10:09 a.m.
Filed under:
Policy,
Politics,
Transportation
By Associated Press
Gov. Pat Quinn says a Wisconsin trainmaker is welcome to move its jobs to Illinois.
Quinn is inviting Talgo Inc. to come to the state after Wisconsin’s newly elected Republican governor said he wanted to give back federal money for a proposed high-speed rail project or use it for something else.
Nov. 9, 2010 at 2:46 p.m.
Filed under:
Policy,
Politics,
Transportation,
Updated
By Associated Press
Wisconsin governor-elect Scott Walker speaks to reporters Nov. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
High-speed rail projects in Wisconsin and Ohio appear close to derailment, with Wisconsin’s outgoing governor saying Monday he’ll leave the future of his state’s project to his Republican successor, who has vowed to kill it, and Ohio’s incoming governor saying again he plans scrap his state’s project.
Jim Doyle, Wisconsin’s outgoing Democratic governor, told The Associated Press that although he thinks a high-speed rail line to connect Milwaukee with Madison is a good idea, he feels obligated to leave the project’s future up to Republican Gov.-elect Scott Walker.
Minutes after Doyle made his comments, Walker said he remains opposed to the $810 million project. Get the full story »
Nov. 4, 2010 at 9:54 a.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
Manufacturing,
Transportation
By Reuters
FreightCar America Inc. posted a much wider-than-expected quarterly loss, hurt by challenging market conditions and low demand for coal-carrying railcars, and said it expects tough competition to continue to hurt pricing. Get the full story »
Oct. 29, 2010 at 12:33 p.m.
Filed under:
Manufacturing,
Transportation,
Travel
By Reuters
A Caterpillar worker ties down a machine part to a flatbed rail car with steel banding. (David Klobucar/Chicago Tribune)
Caterpillar Inc., a U.S. heavy equipment maker that has been moving aggressively into the rail business, will announce plans on Friday to open a railcar facility in Indiana, the (Muncie) Star Press newspaper reported on Friday.
Citing unnamed sources, the paper said Caterpillar’s Progress Rail unit would take over a huge vacant factory in Muncie that has doors in the rear that allow trains to enter and exit.
The report did not say whether the plant would be used to service locomotives and other railroad rolling stock or to manufacture new equipment. It said the facility, in east-central Indiana, would eventually employ 650 workers. Get the full story »
Oct. 11, 2010 at 12:50 p.m.
Filed under:
Transportation,
Travel
By Reuters
Stepped up business travel in the Northeast helped Amtrak boost ridership by nearly 6 percent to a record 28.7 million passengers in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the railroad said Monday.
Amtrak, the only long-haul passenger rail service in the United States, also said year-over-year ticket revenue rose by 9 percent to a record $1.7 billion for the period that began last Oct. 1. Get the full story »
Aug. 2, 2010 at 1:40 p.m.
Filed under:
Chicago executives,
Transportation
By Julie Wernau
The president of Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad will retire in October after five years on the job, the company announced Thursday. Henry Lampe, president and CEO will be replaced by Andrew Fox, managing director of Pacific Harbor Line and a former president at that company. Get the full story »
