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Amtrak offers new Pacific NW service

SEATTLE – Amtrak added new mid-day service between Seattle and Portland this week representing the most intercity passenger rail service in the Pacific Northwest since 1959.

Also this week, European-style Talgo trains began offering service to Salem, Albany and Eugene for the first time in regularly scheduled service.

Recent regulatory approval to utilize the Talgo’s unique tilting system will decrease travel time between Seattle and Portland by as much as 25 minutes to 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Amtrak ridership in the Northwest continues to increase, including a 31% gain in the 1^st quarter.

Union Pacific to sell Overnite for half its purchase price

DALLAS – In an effort to pay off its debt, the board of directors of the Union Pacific voted to sell 100% of its Overnite Transportation Co for less than half of what the railroad paid for it originally.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Overnite could sell for about $700 million, less than half of its $1.6 billion purchase price in 1986. UP said that Overnite didn’t mesh with the railroad as expected. The public offering is expected to take place in the third quarter of the year.

UP is in the midst of the worst railroad service crisis in American history. It has lost $214 million in the last two quarters and is being sued for millions by several of its major customers for losses caused by the crisis.

Canadian Pacific halts service on Alberta rail line

CALGARY – Canadian Pacific Railway has stopped service on the 22-mile rail line between Fort Macleod and a point just south of Claresholm. Attempts by the railroad to find a buyer were unsuccessful.

Bears feast of spoils of train derailment

YOHO NATIONAL PARK, BC – No its not Yogi Bear, but the black bears waking up from hibernation here are lining up to feast on the leftovers of a train derailment.

In December, 49 railcars spilled 50,000 tones of grain along Canadian Pacific track and 98 tons was left on the ground to rot. Bears in the region are visiting the area, located 215 kilometers from Calgary to eat the tasty treat. No picnic baskets have been reported missing.

CP and Parks Canada officials have erected a 7-foot fence around the area to keep other bears away and are continuing to clean the site.

Satellite failure blanks out UP pagers

DALLAS – The big satellite failure that has disrupted millions of pagers and other telecommunications also silenced most of Union Pacific’s pagers.

Of the 7,000 pagers UP supervisors and others carry, 6,300 of them became inoperable. Also knocked out was UP’s internal TV network. UP said it might take two to three weeks to re-aim its 130 satellite dishes.

More chaos on Russian railroads over coal miner issues

MOSCOW – In addition to cutting both main railways routes across Siberia, a total of 296 passenger trains have been delayed because of blockades by striking coal miners in Russia.

In some areas, passenger trains have come to a virtual halt.

All operations on one of Russia’s major transport routes, the North Caucasian Railroad, have been brought to a halt.