Question: What happens eight or nine times a day, kills more than 250 people a year, and injures almost 850 more? . Answer: trains hitting cars or trucks at railroad...

In his wonderful book, Waiting on a Train, James McCommons interviews a former Union Pacific Railroad executive. When discussing problems Amtrak has running on time over tracks owned and controlled...

I have a hard time figuring out the people in Congress who have it in for Amtrak. What is it that drives them? Ideology? Spite? Ignorance? Stupidity? Maybe even all...

At the rate of about one-a-day, collisions occur between cars and trains somewhere across the U.S. There are two absolutes when it comes to these incidents: (1) every one if...

Someone once told me that the most frequently asked question on an Amtrak train is, “Why are we stopped?” That may or may not be true, but it does point...

Ask a hundred Amtrak passengers what’s the biggest problem with long-distance train travel and I’ll bet you a box of donuts that the most frequent answer will be that trains...

In my June 11th post, I wrote about the proposal to increase Amtrak service between Los Angeles and New Orleans from three days a week to a daily train in...

It’s been around a while, but I just came across this recently. It’s a startling bit of video that graphically demonstrates what can happen when a tornado intersects with a...

Earlier today, the web site for Houston television station KHOU reported a runaway train traveling through that city’s downtown area. Here’s their report: RUNAWAY TRAIN TRAVELS THROUGH DOWNTOWN HOUSTON HOUSTON...

Back in 2002, a Union Pacific coal train near Sharon Springs, Kansas, stopped when a journal bearing went bad causing the car near the middle of the train to derail....