U.S.: Note to Amtrak, FRA – Chicago is NOT the center of the passenger train world; start thinking about new night trains

By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; August 16, 2023 Note to those conducting the FRA Long Distance Study…

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U.S.: Amtrak will have competition on both existing and new routes as Congress has mandated

By James E. Coston, Executive Chairman, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; March 8, 2023 Congress has spoken, and given specific instructions…

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U.S.: Looking at Amtrak, Brightline, Caltrain, West Central Wisconsin and Montana’s Big Sky Rail at the end of the year

By James E. Coston, Executive Chairman, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; December 20, 2022 CHICAGO – Those of us with just…

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U.S., The big railroad Amtrak forgot: The Chicago and North Western System was a huge granger railroad and operated lots and lots of passenger trains

By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; November 23, 2022 The Chicago and North Western System was a major…

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U.S., Amtrak stations: Railroads built temples to themselves; some good, some very good, some still used by Amtrak

By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; November 4, 2022 Many modern day cities base their civic pride on…

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U.S.: Stephen Gardner’s Amtrak Empire Builder in past better days competed spiritedly with the North Coast Limited, Mainstreeter, Olympian Hiawatha and Western Star

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on this platform on March 15, 2021. It has been updated and photographs and…

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U.S., What If – Another View: Thinking about the future of the Midwest through Chicago and Louisville

(Editor’s Note ― In another What If look at the future, William Lindley of Shelbyville, Kentucky shares his thoughts about…

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U.S., Pre-Amtrak Pennsylvania Railroad: Will There Be Another Broadway Limited?

Holiday Season Rewind: We are featuring reader favorite articles which previously appeared in this space earlier this year. This article…

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U.S., Amtrak’s 50th Anniversary; Where Were You On May 1, 1971?

Holiday Season Rewind: During this holiday season we are occasionally featuring past articles from earlier this year which were reader…

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U.S., St. Louis And Kansas City History: Huge, Beautiful Union Stations, But Today Amtrak Offers Just A Shadow Of Past Service

By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; April 19, 2021 We all have become conditioned to think that Chicago…

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U.S., Terminal Stations History: California Zephyr, City of San Francisco and San Francisco Chief

By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; March 19, 2021 Enjoying the history of the California Zephyr, City of…

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U.S., Amtrak History: Routes That Have Come and Gone, Part Eight

By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; March 11, 2021 Amtrak is 50 years old this May. That’s a…

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U.S., Illinois Central to Amtrak History: Riding on The City of New Orleans and The Panama Limited

By J. Bruce Richardson, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; March 10, 2021 The famed-in-song-and elsewhere The City of New Orleans is…

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U.S., Amtrak’s Empire Builder: A Multi-Tasking Mobility Machine That Baffles The Experts (Including Amtrak)

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on this website in 2018. By F.K. Plous, Corridor Rail Development Corporation; February 26,…

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U.S., Illinois: Amtrak advances plan for a Chicago Union Station food hall

By David Roeder, Chicago Sun-Times; December 10, 2019 Amtrak, owner of Chicago’s Union Station, has hired real estate firm Cushman…

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U.S., Illinois: Amtrak honored for Chicago Union Station restoration project

From Progressive Railroading Magazine; December 11, 2019 Amtrak‘s $22 million project to restore the Great Hall at Chicago Union Station…

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Illinois Congressman Dan Lipinski calls for Metra to take over Chicago Union Station from Amtrak after ‘disastrous’ service outage, falling concrete

By Mary Wisniewski, Chicago Tribune; November 13, 2019 After a “disastrous” service outage that delayed tens of thousands of passengers…

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Why Illinois is running an extra helping of Amtrak Thanksgiving trains this year, but Michigan isn’t

By Igor Studenkov, Streetsblog Chicago; November 11, 2019 Thanksgiving week is usually Amtrak’s busiest in terms of ridership, so the…

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It took me 96 hours to ride an Amtrak train from coast to coast. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

By Graham Rapier, Business Insider; October 16, 2019 Over 96 hours, I saw more of the US than I had…

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Amtrak Prepares for Increased Thanksgiving Travel

A press release from Amtrak; October 11, 2019: WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — In anticipation of the busiest travel…

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Chicago: Boost Metra’s clout and funding, CEO asks Congress

By Marni Pyke, Chicago Daily Herald; September 24, 2019 Metra’s 280,000 daily riders deserve to be on an equal footing…

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Chicago Union Station parking garage closing

By Mary Wisniewski, Chicago Tribune; September 20, 2019 If you regularly leave your car at the Union Station Self Park…

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Amtrak moving forward with Chicago Union Station food hall, new Clinton Street entrance

By Jay Koziarz, Curbed Chicago; August 7, 2019 Amtrak’s ongoing redevelopment of Chicago’s Union Station is turning its attention toward…

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Chicago: Time for Amtrak and Metra to bury the hatchet

By Greg Hinz, Crain’s Chicago Business; July 26, 2019 On warm summer days like we’ve had lately, the biggest hassle…

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Amtrak battles Metra over rent at Chicago Union Station

By David Roeder, Chicago Sun-Times; July 24, 2019 Call it a landlord-tenant dispute that’s gone slightly off the rails. It’s…

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