This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. One of the iconic sensory experiences of riding a train is actually the sound of ingenuity. As steel railroad tracks heat up, they grow: 1,800 feet of rail expands by more than an inch for every 10 degrees Fahrenheit of temperature increase. So […]
This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region. On February 3, 2023, a freight train owned by Norfolk Southern carrying thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals derailed in the town of East Palestine, […]
NASA thinks the ‘Flexible Levitation on a Track’ (FLOAT) idea has potential, and wants to see more.
Construction for the $132 million endeavor finally completed earlier this year, with official service starting on August 4.
California authorities will begin accepting electric train manufacturers’ Request for Qualifications proposals (RFQs) by the end of the year, the latest stage of the state’s long-gestating, high-speed rail line. Although voters approved initial funding back in 2008, the decades’ long project has since encountered repeated setbacks and financial issues. Construction sites finally began making headway […]
A new high-speed railway system inspired by Japanese bullet trains could someday carry commuters between Houston and Dallas in under 90 minutes. Announced on Wednesday, the partnership between Amtrak and a company called Texas Central aims to connect the two cities by train, spanning roughly 240 miles at speeds upwards of 205 mph. According to […]
Germany’s state-owned, $85 million hydrogen fuel-cell powered train system is shuttering almost exactly one year after its first public debute in August 2022. This doesn’t mean that the railways are reverting back to pollutant-spewing diesel engines, however. According to the country’s Ministry for Economic Affairs, Transport, Building and Digitisation, the lines will transition to electric […]
The compound can be used in explosives, but officials believe the disappearance is an accident and not malicious.
The train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio contained vinyl chloride and various other chemicals.
On February 3, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, highlighting issues facing America’s railways.
