Railpace Hot News
Keep up to date on the latest railroad news from the northeastern United States and Canada, edited by Carl Perelman.
January 27, 2026
Keolis Awarded New Contract to Operate Virginia Railway Express
Keolis North America (Keolis) receives new contract to continue the strong partnership of operating and maintaining the commuter rail service for Virginia Railway Express (VRE). Following a competitive procurement process, this new contract affirms the agency’s confidence in Keolis’ long-standing record of safety, performance, and operational excellence, delivering safe and reliable transportation services across Central and Northern Virginia and the Washington, D.C. region.
January 27, 2026
New SEPTA Regional Rail Schedules, February 1
New Regional Rail schedules go into effect Sunday, February 1, 2026. SEPTA updates its Regional Rail schedules four times per year to improve reliability and adjust for capital projects and infrastructure improvements.
January 23, 2026
Norfolk Southern Advances Fleet Modernization with 40 new Locomotives
Norfolk Southern is taking a major step in its long-term strategy to enhance productivity, improve sustainability and modernize its fleet. The company has acquired 40 brand-new locomotives from rail technology leader, Wabtec, marking its first new locomotive purchase since 2022.
January 22, 2026
CPKC Investing US$800 Million in American Manufacturing with Tier 4 Locomotives
Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) this year is continuing the renewal of its locomotive fleet with the world’s two leading locomotive manufactures as part of an ongoing multi-year US$800 million investment in American industry.
January 21, 2026
AAR Reports Weekly Rail Traffic for the Week Ending January 17, 2026
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending January 17, 2026. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 505,385 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.1 percent compared with the same week last year.
January 21, 2026
Norfolk Southern Launches East Edge Double-Stack Service Connecting Chicago and New England
Norfolk Southern Corporation has launched East Edge, a newly cleared double–stack intermodal corridor connecting Chicago and New England. The service reduces transit times by up to 10 hours, adds substantial network capacity and replaces a slower, single–stack route with a modern, high–efficiency double-stack route into a major eastern market.
January 20, 2026
Florida Tri-Rail Orders Siemens Charger Locomotives:
Siemens Mobility Selected to Modernize Tri-Rail Fleet with Seven State-of-the-Art Charger Locomotives
January 20, 2026
Alstom to provide New Subway Train (NST) fleet for Toronto’s subway
Alstom will manufacture 70 state-of-the-art, six-car Metropolis metro trains for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)
January 19, 2026
STB Finds UP-NS Merger Application is Incomplete
The Surface Transportation Board announced a unanimous decision finding that the major merger application filed by Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS) (together, Applicants) with the Board on December 19, 2025, is incomplete because it does not contain certain information required by the Board’s regulations.
January 16, 2026
Portal North Bridge Enters Final Phase of Construction as Work Begins to Put First Track into Service
Beginning February 13, 2026, Amtrak will perform critical work to “cutover,” or transfer one track of rail service from the 115-year-old Portal Bridge in Kearny, NJ to the new Portal North Bridge over the Hackensack River. A major milestone in the Gateway Program, the work is essential to advancing long-term reliability and capacity improvements on the Northeast Corridor.
