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  • Spain Train Bombings Fast Facts | CNN

    Spain Train Bombings Fast Facts | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the March 2004 bombings of commuter trains in Spain, which killed 193 people and injured more than 1,800. The bombings are the deadliest terrorist attack in Spain’s history.

    On March 11, 2004, 10 bombs in backpacks and other small bags exploded on four commuter trains. One bomb did not explode and was defused. The police did controlled explosions of three other bombs.

    ETA, a Basque group labeled a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, and al Qaeda were the original suspects cited by the Spanish government.

    Through anonymous phone calls to Basque media outlets, ETA vehemently denied involvement.

    Islamic militants who were based in Spain but inspired by al Qaeda were designated later as the prime suspects.

    March 11, 2004 – Coordinated attacks including 10 bombs on four commuter trains at three different stations kill 191 people and wound more than 1,800.

    March 13, 2004 – An al Qaeda claim of responsibility is made via video tape by a man speaking in Arabic with a Moroccan accent.

    March 13, 2004 – Five people are arrested in connection to the case 60 hours after the bombings. Three of those arrested are Moroccans, and two are Indian. Prepaid phone cards and a cell phone from backpacks found at the bombing site link the five to the investigation.

    March 14, 2004 – The Spanish Interior Ministry releases the names of five people detained in connection with the attacks. The men are identified as Jamal Zougam, Mohamed Bekkali, Mohamed Cahoui, Vinay Kohly and Sureh Komar.

    March 18, 2004 – Spanish authorities arrest four North Africans in connection with the bombings. The radio report says three were arrested in the Madrid suburb of Alcala de Henares and the other North African was arrested in northern Spain. They are: Abderrahim Zbakh, Farid Oulad Ali and Mohamed El Hadi Chedadi, whose brother, Said Chedadi, was indicted last September by a Spanish judge for links to al Qaeda.
    – The fourth suspect is not identified but is described as being of Arab descent.
    – The fifth suspect is a Spanish citizen who goes by the name of Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras. He is arrested in northern Spain.

    March 19, 2004 – Spain’s National Court charges five suspects in connection with the bombings and remands them into custody after an all-night court session. The Court also releases Ali Amrous, an Algerian man held in connection with the Madrid terror attacks and suspected of being an al Qaeda member.

    March 22, 2004 – Spanish state radio reports four new arrests in the Madrid bombings.

    March 24, 2004 – A Spanish judge charges two more suspects, Naima Oulad and Rafa Zouhier, in the train bombings, bringing the total number of people charged in the attacks to 11.

    March 25, 2004 – A Spanish judge charges a Moroccan man, Faisal Alluch, with collaborating with a terrorist group in connection with the train bombings, boosting the number to 12 suspects who have been charged in the case.

    March 30, 2004 – Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes names a Moroccan terrorist group, Moroccan Islamist Combat Group (GICM), as the principal focus in the investigation.

    March 30, 2004 – Moroccan Fouad El Morabit, who had been released without charges, is rearrested. Court sources also confirm the latest arrest in the case, a man identified as Otman el Gnaout.

    March 30, 2004 – Basel Ghayoun, a Syrian man, is charged in the bombings. Hamid Ahmidan of Morocco is charged with collaborating with a terrorist group and a count of drug possession. Three other men are released.

    March 31, 2004 – A Spanish National Court judge issues international arrest warrants for six more suspects as the investigation focuses on the GICM. The Interior Ministry says five of the men sought are Moroccans. They include two brothers and a man who is related to other Moroccans previously arrested. The sixth man sought is Tunisian.

    March 31, 2004 – Arraignments begin for two men, Antonio Toro Castro of Spain and Mustafa Ahmidam from Morocco.

    April 2, 2004 – A bomb found under high-speed rail tracks between Madrid and Seville appears to be made of the same explosives used in the March 11 attacks.

    April 2, 2004 – A Spanish judge releases without charges two Syrian men who had been detained in connection with the March 11 Madrid train bombings. He also frees a Moroccan man but orders him to report daily to police until further notice.

    April 3, 2004 – Seven suspected terrorists kill themselves and a policeman when they set off an explosion in a suburb of Madrid as police attempt to enter a building. The suspects are presumed to be involved in the train bombings. Fingerprints at the scene later result in more arrests, including Saswan Sabagh.

    April 3, 2004 – Spanish authorities arrest two more people but the identities of the two are not released.

    April 7, 2004 – A National Court judge charges two more Moroccan suspects, Abdelilah El Fuad and Rachid Adli, in the March 11 Madrid train bombings.

    April 12, 2004 – Spanish police arrest three more suspects. One of the three was identified as Morabit, who has now been detained three times. The other two are not identified.

    May 6, 2004 – Brandon Mayfield, an American attorney, is taken into custody by the FBI in connection with the attacks. His fingerprints were found on a bag containing detonators of the kind used in the attacks, in close proximity to the blast site. The Spanish Interior Ministry spokesman said the plastic bag was found inside a stolen van left near the Alcala train station, from which the three bombed trains departed. US sources are calling him a material witness, not formally charging him with a crime as of yet, and state that he is a follower of Islam.

    November 2004 – Spanish lawmakers launch an inquiry into the train bombings.

    January 2005 – Spain’s interior minister says Spanish officials have made 66 arrests in the train bombing investigation.

    April 11, 2006 – Twenty-nine people are indicted in a Spanish court in connection with the bombings. Five men are charged with planning and carrying out the plot, and a sixth is named as a “necessary collaborator.” The rest are charged with supporting roles.

    February 15, 2007 – Start date of trial for 29 defendants. Seven defendants are considered prime suspects, and they each could face sentences of about 38,000 years in prison for mass murder, if convicted.

    March 11, 2007 – For the third anniversary of the bombing, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia dedicate a memorial for the victims at the Atocha station. It is a glass cylinder which opens into a meditation chamber.

    June 4, 2007 – One of the 29 defendants in the Madrid train bombings trial, Brahim Moussaten, has been cleared of all charges and is now a free man, a court spokeswoman tells CNN.

    October 31, 2007 – Verdicts are read for the remaining 28 defendants. Three men are found guilty of the most serious charges and sentenced to thousands of years in prison. However, under Spanish law, they will serve only 40 years. Eighteen defendants are found guilty of lesser charges. Seven defendants are acquitted, including alleged mastermind Rabei Osman.

    July 17, 2008 – Four defendants, Basel Ghalyoun, Mouhannad Almallah Dabas, Abdelilah el-Fadual al-Akil and Raúl González, have their convictions overturned. The acquittal of Osman is also upheld.

    December 18, 2008 – A criminal court in Morocco convicts Abdelilah Ahriz of belonging to a terrorist group involved in the train bombings and sentences him to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors originally requested that Ahriz be given a life sentence, saying DNA sampling proved his involvement in preparing the train bombings.

    May 12, 2009 – Ten of the 14 suspected Islamic militants accused of assisting the three suspects are acquitted by Spain’s anti-terrorism court. The ruling gives the remaining four sentences between two and nine years for falsifying documents or being part of a terrorist group.

    January 13, 2010 – A Spanish court convicts five men accused of Islamic terrorist activities, including aiding fugitives from the Madrid train bombings of 2004 and planning other attacks. Their sentences, on charges of collaborating or belonging to an Islamic terrorist group, range from five to nine years in prison.

    February 2011 – Spain’s Supreme Court overturns the lower court’s conviction of the five men convicted in January 2010 for Islamic terrorist activities that included aiding fugitives from the Madrid train bombings and planning other attacks.

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  • This train route is being revived after over 100 years | CNN

    This train route is being revived after over 100 years | CNN

    Editor’s Note: Sign up to CNN Travel’s Unlocking Italy newsletter for insider intel on Italy’s best loved destinations and lesser-known regions to plan your ultimate trip. Plus, we’ll get you in the mood before you go with movie suggestions, reading lists and recipes from Stanley Tucci.



    CNN
     — 

    Taking a long-distance train journey often feels like going back in time. Now, a new route opening up fast, direct access between two European countries will spin passengers back more than a century to the times of the Habsburg empire.

    A new high-speed route between Italy and Slovenia is now on the cards, thanks to a newly signed agreement between state operators Trenitalia and SŽ Passenger Transport, or Slovenian Railways.

    A Frecciarossa train will run eastwards from Milan to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, in seven hours. It’ll pass through storied Italian cities Venice and Trieste, as well as making stops for some of Slovenia’s noted nature attractions, including Postojna Caves and Skocjan Caves, as well as Lipica, where the famous Lipizzaner horses have been bred since 1580.

    Today, the horses with their “dancing” feet are best known for the displays at Vienna’s Spanish Riding School – which makes sense, since this part of the world, on the modern Slovenia-Italy border, used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire (or the Habsburg empire, before 1867).

    In fact the train itself should have a feeling of winding back the centuries to that earlier period. It is thought that this is the first train from Milan to Ljubljana since the empire was dissolved in 1918.

    It’s also picking up the route of a night train from Budapest to Venice, which passed through Ljubljana, but finished in 2011.

    Since 2018, there has been a regional train from Trieste to Ljubljana, but train staff of the two operators switch at the border at Villa Opicina station.

    Although a Trenitalia representative told CNN that there is no set date for the launch, Slovenian Railways have told media that they want to start “as soon as possible” – which could mean from April. It’s expected that there will be one service per day initially, eventually expanding to two.

    April will also see the launch of a Rijeka-Trieste (Villa Opicina) route from Croatian Railways.

    It'll arrive in Ljubljana after seven hours.

    Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) trains are capable of reaching speeds of 300 kph (284 mph) on the Italian network, although it’s unlikely they’ll go that fast on this route, at least at first, since east of Venice speeds tend to slow down.

    In March 2023, the Italian government pledged 1.8 billion euros (nearly $2 billion) to upgrade the Venice-Trieste line to fully high-speed. The Slovenian lines will now be tested to see if they can also be upgraded.

    “It was about time that a serious rail connection was restored between Trieste and Ljubljana – It sounds like a joke, but it is often the case in the region that the railway connections were better a century ago than they are today,” says journalist Giovanni Vale, founder of the Extinguished Countries project, which publishes guidebooks to countries that no longer exist, and is currently working on one to the Habsburg Empire.

    “Trieste and Ljubljana were first connected by train in 1857, when both cities were part of the Habsburg Empire. The South Railway Company (Südbahn-Gesellschaft), which ran from Vienna to Trieste via Ljubljana, was one of the flagships of the Empire’s infrastructure. Trieste was at that time one of the most important ports in the world and its connection to Vienna was very important for the Empire.

    “With the end of the First World War, Trieste became a city in the far northeast of Italy, in an almost peripheral position and rail connections to the east with Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade or Budapest were often lacking.

    “Let’s hope that this is the beginning of a new season for rail connections between Trieste and the Balkans.”

    Italy's high-speed Frecciarossa trains can reach speeds of nearly 200 mph.

    The agreement follows Trenitalia’s similar initiatives with its Eurocity and Euronight trains, which connect Italy with Switzerland, Germany and Austria with direct trains. It’ll be a Eurocity route, operated by a Frecciarossa.

    Trenitalia has also signed a preliminary agreement with Deutsche Bahn to bring the Frecciarossa into service on Italy-Germany routes before the end of 2026. A Milan-Munich route is on the cards, with extensions from there to other German destinations.

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  • 2023 In Review Fast Facts | CNN

    2023 In Review Fast Facts | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look back at the events of 2023.

    January 3 – Republican Kevin McCarthy fails to secure enough votes to be elected Speaker of the House in three rounds of voting. On January 7, McCarthy is elected House speaker after multiple days of negotiations and 15 rounds of voting. That same day, the newly elected 118th Congress is officially sworn in.

    January 7 – Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, is pulled over for reckless driving. He is hospitalized following the arrest and dies three days later from injuries sustained during the traffic stop. Five officers from the Memphis Police Department are fired. On January 26, a grand jury indicts the five officers. They are each charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. On September 12, the five officers are indicted by a federal grand jury on several charges including deprivation of rights.

    January 9 – The White House counsel’s office confirms that several classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were discovered last fall in an office at the Penn Biden Center. On January 12, the White House counsel’s office confirms a small number of additional classified documents were located in President Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home.

    January 13 – The Trump Organization is fined $1.6 million – the maximum possible penalty – by a New York judge for running a decade-long tax fraud scheme.

    January 21 – Eleven people are killed in a mass shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, as the city’s Asian American community was celebrating Lunar New Year. The 72-year-old gunman is found dead the following day from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

    January 24 – CNN reports that a lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence’s Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI.

    January 25 – Facebook-parent company Meta announces it will restore former President Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks, just over two years after suspending him in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack.

    February 1 – Tom Brady announces his retirement after 23 seasons in the NFL.

    February 2 – Defense officials announce the United States is tracking a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon over the continental United States. On February 4, a US military fighter jet shoots down the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean. On June 29, the Pentagon reveals the balloon did not collect intelligence while flying over the country.

    February 3 – A Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derails in East Palestine, Ohio. An evacuation order is issued for the area within a mile radius of the train crash. The order is lifted on February 8. After returning to their homes, some residents report they have developed a rash and nausea.

    February 7 – Lebron James breaks the NBA’s all-time scoring record, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

    February 15 – Payton Gendron, 19, who killed 10 people in a racist mass shooting at a grocery store in a predominantly Black area of Buffalo last May, is sentenced to life in prison.

    February 18 – In a statement, the Carter Center says that former President Jimmy Carter will begin receiving hospice care at his home in Georgia.

    February 20 – President Biden makes a surprise trip to Kyiv for the first time since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago.

    February 23 – Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly is sentenced to 20 years in prison in a Chicago federal courtroom on charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor. Kelly is already serving a 30-year prison term for his 2021 conviction on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a New York federal court. Nineteen years of the 20-year prison sentence will be served at the same time as his other sentence. One year will be served after that sentence is complete.

    February 23 – Harvey Weinstein, who is already serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York, is sentenced in Los Angeles to an additional 16 years in prison for charges of rape and sexual assault.

    March 2 – SpaceX and NASA launch a fresh crew of astronauts on a mission to the International Space Station, kicking off a roughly six-month stay in space. The mission — which is carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates — took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    March 2 – The jury in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh finds him guilty of murdering his wife and son. Murdaugh, the 54-year-old scion of a prominent and powerful family of local lawyers and solicitors, is also found guilty of two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021.

    March 3 – Four US citizens from South Carolina are kidnapped by gunmen in Matamoros, Mexico, in a case of mistaken identity. On March 7, two of the four Americans, Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, are found dead and the other two, Latavia McGee and Eric Williams, are found alive. The cartel believed responsible for the armed kidnapping issues an apology letter and hands over five men to local authorities.

    March 10 – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announces that Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by California regulators. This is the second largest bank failure in US history, only to Washington Mutual’s collapse in 2008. SVB Financial Group, the former parent company of SVB, files for bankruptcy on March 17.

    March 27 – A 28-year-old Nashville resident shoots and kills three children and three adults at the Covenant School in Nashville. The shooter is fatally shot by responding officers.

    March 29 – Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is detained by Russian authorities and accused of spying. On April 7, he is formally charged with espionage.

    March 30 – A grand jury in New York votes to indict Trump, the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges. On April 4, Trump surrenders and is placed under arrest before pleading not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege that Trump sought to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election through a hush money scheme with payments made to women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump. He has denied the affairs.

    April 6 – Two Democratic members of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, are expelled while a third member, Rep. Gloria Johnson, is spared in an ousting by Republican lawmakers that was decried by the trio as oppressive, vindictive and racially motivated. This comes after Jones, Pearson and Johnson staged a demonstration on the House floor calling for gun reform following the shooting at the Covenant School. On April 10, Rep. Jones is sworn back in following a unanimous vote by the Nashville Metropolitan Council to reappoint him as an interim representative. On April 12, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners vote to confirm the reappointment of Rep. Pearson.

    April 6-13 – ProPublica reports that Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, have gone on several luxury trips involving travel subsidized by and stays at properties owned by Harlan Crow, a GOP megadonor. The hospitality was not disclosed on Thomas’ public financial filings with the Supreme Court. The following week ProPublica reports Thomas failed to disclose a 2014 real estate deal he made with Crow. On financial disclosure forms released on August 31, Thomas discloses the luxury trips and “inadvertently omitted” information including the real estate deal.

    April 7 – A federal judge in Texas issues a ruling on medication abortion drug mifepristone, saying he will suspend the US Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of it but paused his ruling for seven days so the federal government can appeal. But in a dramatic turn of events, a federal judge in Washington state says in a new ruling shortly after that the FDA must keep medication abortion drugs available in more than a dozen Democratic-led states.

    April 13 – 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard is arrested by the FBI in connection with the leaking of classified documents that have been posted online.

    April 18 – Fox News reaches a last-second settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, paying more than $787 million to end a two-year legal battle that publicly shredded the network’s credibility. Fox News’ $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems is the largest publicly known defamation settlement in US history involving a media company.

    April 25 – President Biden formally announces his bid for reelection.

    May 2 – More than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) go on strike for the first time since 2007. On September 26, the WGA announces its leaders have unanimously voted to authorize its members to return to work following the tentative agreement reached on September 24 between union negotiators and Hollywood’s studios and streaming services, effectively ending the months-long strike.

    May 9 – A Manhattan federal jury finds Trump sexually abused former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the spring of 1996 and awards her $5 million for battery and defamation.

    June 8 – Trump is indicted on a total of 37 counts in the special counsel’s classified documents probe. In a superseding indictment filed on July 27, Trump is charged with one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts, bringing the total to 40 counts.

    June 16 – Robert Bowers, the gunman who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, is convicted by a federal jury on all 63 charges against him. He is sentenced to death on August 2.

    June 18 – A civilian submersible disappears with five people aboard while voyaging to the wreckage of the Titanic. On June 22, following a massive search for the submersible, US authorities announce the vessel suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all five people aboard.

    June 20 – ProPublica reports that Justice Samuel Alito did not disclose a luxury 2008 trip he took in which a hedge fund billionaire flew him on a private jet, even though the businessman would later repeatedly ask the Supreme Court to intervene on his behalf. In a highly unusual move, Alito preemptively disputed the nature of the report before it was published, authoring an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which he acknowledged knowing billionaire Paul Singer but downplaying their relationship.

    June 29 – The Supreme Court says colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis for granting admission, a landmark decision overturning long-standing precedent.

    July 13 – The FDA approves Opill to be available over-the-counter, the first nonprescription birth control pill in the United States.

    July 14 – SAG-AFTRA, a union representing about 160,000 Hollywood actors, goes on strike after talks with major studios and streaming services fail. It is the first time its members have stopped work on movie and television productions since 1980. On November 8, SAG-AFTRA and the studios reach a tentative agreement, officially ending the strike.

    July 14 – Rex Heuermann, a New York architect, is charged with six counts of murder in connection with the deaths of three of the four women known as the “Gilgo Four.”

    August 1 – Trump is indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, in the 2020 election probe. Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.

    August 8 – Over 100 people are killed and hundreds of others unaccounted for after wildfires engulf parts of Maui. Nearly 3,000 homes and businesses are destroyed or damaged.

    August 14 – Trump and 18 others are indicted by an Atlanta-based grand jury on state charges stemming from their efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. Trump now faces a total of 91 charges in four criminal cases, in four different jurisdictions — two federal and two state cases. On August 24, Trump surrenders at the Fulton County jail where he is processed and released on bond.

    August 23 – Eight Republican presidential candidates face off in the first primary debate of the 2024 campaign in Milwaukee.

    September 12 – House Speaker McCarthy announces he is calling on his committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden, even as they have yet to prove allegations he directly profited off his son’s foreign business deals.

    September 14 – Hunter Biden is indicted by special counsel David Weiss in connection with a gun he purchased in 2018, the first time in US history the Justice Department has charged the child of a sitting president. The three charges include making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.

    September 22 – New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez is charged with corruption-related offenses for the second time in 10 years. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence, according to the newly unsealed federal indictment.

    September 28 – Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving female US senator in history, dies at the age of 90. On October 1, California Governor Gavin Newsom announces he will appoint Emily’s List president Laphonza Butler to replace her. Butler will become the first out Black lesbian to join Congress. She will also be the sole Black female senator serving in Congress and only the third in US history.

    September 29 – Las Vegas police confirm Duane Keith Davis, aka “Keffe D,” was arrested for the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.

    October 3 – McCarthy is removed as House speaker following a 216-210 vote, with eight Republicans voting to remove McCarthy from the post.

    October 25 – After three weeks without a speaker, the House votes to elect Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

    October 25 – Robert Card, a US Army reservist, kills 18 people and injures 13 others in a shooting rampage in Lewiston, Maine. On October 27, after a two-day manhunt, he is found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.

    November 13 – The Supreme Court announces a code of conduct in an attempt to bolster the public’s confidence in the court after months of news stories alleging that some of the justices have been skirting ethics regulations.

    November 19 – Former first lady Rosalynn Carter passes away at the age of 96.

    January 8 – Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro storm the country’s congressional building, Supreme Court and presidential palace. The breaches come about a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff election on October 30.

    January 15 – At least 68 people are killed when an aircraft goes down near the city of Pokhara in central Nepal. This is the country’s deadliest plane crash in more than 30 years.

    January 19 – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden announces she will not seek reelection in October.

    January 24 – President Volodymyr Zelensky fires a slew of senior Ukrainian officials amid a growing corruption scandal linked to the procurement of war-time supplies.

    February 6 – More than 15,000 people are killed and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Turkey and Syria.

    February 28 – At least 57 people are killed after two trains collide in Greece.

    March 1 – Bola Ahmed Tinubu is declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election.

    March 10 – Xi Jinping is reappointed as president for another five years by China’s legislature in a ceremonial vote in Beijing, a highly choreographed exercise in political theater meant to demonstrate legitimacy and unity of the ruling elite.

    March 16 – The French government forces through controversial plans to raise the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64.

    April 4 – Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO.

    April 15 – Following months of tensions in Sudan between a paramilitary group and the country’s army, violence erupts.

    May 3 – A 13-year-old boy opens fire on his classmates at a school in Belgrade, Serbia, killing at least eight children along with a security guard. On May 4, a second mass shooting takes place when an attacker opens fire in the village of Dubona, about 37 miles southeast of Belgrade, killing eight people.

    May 5 – The World Health Organization announces Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency.

    May 6 – King Charles’ coronation takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.

    August 4 – Alexey Navalny is sentenced to 19 years in prison on extremism charges, Russian media reports. Navalny is already serving sentences totaling 11-and-a-half years in a maximum-security facility on fraud and other charges that he says were trumped up.

    September 8 – Over 2,000 people are dead and thousands are injured after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hits Morocco.

    October 8 – Israel formally declares war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas after it carried out an unprecedented attack by air, sea and land on October 7.

    November 8 – The Vatican publishes new guidelines opening the door to Catholic baptism for transgender people and babies of same-sex couples.

    November 24 – The first group of hostages is released after Israel and Hamas agree to a temporary truce. Dozens more hostages are released in the following days. On December 1, the seven-day truce ends after negotiations reach an impasse and Israel accuses Hamas of violating the agreement by firing at Israel.

    Awards and Winners

    January 9 – The College Football Playoff National Championship game takes place at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The Georgia Bulldogs defeat Texas Christian University’s Horned Frogs 65-7 for their second national title in a row.

    January 10 – The 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards are presented live on NBC.

    January 16-29 – The 111th Australian Open takes place. Novak Djokovic defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets to win a 10th Australian Open title and a record-equaling 22nd grand slam. Belarusian-born Aryna Sabalenka defeats Elena Rybakina in three sets, becoming the first player competing under a neutral flag to secure a grand slam.

    February 5 – The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony takes place in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena.

    February 12 – Super Bowl LVII takes place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35. This is the first Super Bowl to feature two Black starting quarterbacks.

    February 19 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins the 65th Annual Daytona 500 in double overtime. It is the longest Daytona 500 ever with a record of 212 laps raced.

    March 12 – The 95th Annual Academy Awards takes place, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting for the third time.

    March 14 – Ryan Redington wins his first Iditarod.

    April 2 – The Louisiana State University Tigers defeat the University of Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 in Dallas, to win the program’s first NCAA women’s basketball national championship.

    April 3 – The University of Connecticut Huskies win its fifth men’s basketball national title with a 76-59 victory over the San Diego State University Aztecs in Houston.

    April 6-9 – The 87th Masters tournament takes place. Jon Rahm wins, claiming his first green jacket and second career major at Augusta National.

    April 17 – The 127th Boston Marathon takes place. The winners are Evans Chebet of Kenya in the men’s division and Hellen Obiri of Kenya in the women’s division.

    May 6 – Mage, a 3-year-old chestnut colt, wins the 149th Kentucky Derby.

    May 8-9 – The 147th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show takes place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York. Buddy Holly, a petit basset griffon Vendéen, wins Best in Show.

    May 20 – National Treasure wins the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes.

    May 21 – Brooks Koepka wins the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill County Club in Rochester, New York. This is his third PGA Championship and fifth major title of his career.

    May 22-June 11 – The French Open takes place at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris. Novak Djokovic wins a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title, defeating Casper Ruud 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 7-5 in the men’s final. Iga Świątek wins her third French Open in four years with a 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory against the unseeded Karolína Muchová in the women’s final.

    May 28 – Josef Newgarden wins the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500.

    June 10 – Arcangelo wins the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes.

    June 11 – The 76th Tony Awards takes place.

    June 12 – The Denver Nuggets defeat the Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5, to win the series 4-1 and claim their first NBA title in franchise history.

    June 13 – The Vegas Golden Knights defeat the Florida Panthers in Game 5 to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

    June 18 – American golfer Wyndham Clark wins the 123rd US Open at The Los Angeles Country Club.

    July 1-23 – The 110th Tour de France takes place. Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard wins his second consecutive Tour de France title.

    July 3-16 – Wimbledon takes place in London. Carlos Alcaraz defeats Novak Djokovic 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 in the men’s final, to win his first Wimbledon title. Markéta Vondroušová defeats Ons Jabeur 6-4 6-4 in the women’s final, to win her first Wimbledon title and become the first unseeded woman in the Open Era to win the tournament.

    July 16-23 – Brian Harman wins the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, Wirral, England, for his first major title.

    July 20-August 20 – The Women’s World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand. Spain defeats England 1-0 to win its first Women’s World Cup.

    August 28-September 10 – The US Open Tennis Tournament takes place. Coco Gauff defeats Aryna Sabalenka, and Novak Djokovic defeats Daniil Medvedev.

    October 2-9 – The Nobel Prizes are announced. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

    November 1 – The Texas Rangers win the World Series for the first time in franchise history, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5.

    November 5 – The New York City Marathon takes place. Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola sets a course record and wins the men’s race. Kenya’s Hellen Obiri wins the women’s race.

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  • With China’s help, Indonesia is launching Southeast Asia’s first bullet train | CNN

    With China’s help, Indonesia is launching Southeast Asia’s first bullet train | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Indonesia is launching Southeast Asia’s first-ever bullet train on Sunday, a high-speed rail service line that will connect two of the country’s largest cities.

    Part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative and largely funded by Chinese state-owned firms, the $7.3 billion project opened to the public on Sunday, following a series of delays and setbacks.

    The train will travel between the capital Jakarta and Bandung in West Java, Indonesia’s second-largest city and a major arts and culture hub.

    The 86-mile (138-kilometer) high-speed rail line, officially named WHOOSH – which stands for “time saving, optimal operation, reliable system” in Indonesian – runs on electricity with no direct carbon emissions and travels at a speed of roughly 217 miles per hour – cutting travel time between Jakarta and Bandung from three hours to under less than an hour, officials say.

    Overseen by the joint state venture PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (PT KCIC), the train travels between the Halim railway station in East Jakarta and Padalarang railway station in West Bandung, and is well connected to local public transport systems.

    The trains, modified for Indonesia’s tropical climate, are equipped with a safety system that can respond to earthquakes, floods and other emergency conditions, officials added.

    There are talks to extend the high-speed line to Surabaya – a major port and capital of East Java Province, PT KCIC director Dwiyana Slamet Riyadi told Chinese state media outlets at a ceremony earlier in September.

    Stops at other major cities like Semarang and Yogyakarta, the gateway to Borobudur – the largest Buddhist temple in the world – are also being planned, Dwiyana said.

    According to information released by PT KCIC, the railway features eight cars – all equipped with Wi-Fi and USB charging points – and seats 601 passengers.

    There will be three classes of seats – first, second and VIP.

    Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest country and Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has been actively and openly courting investment from China, its largest trade and investment partner.

    A high-profile meeting in July between Indonesian and Chinese leaders Joko Widodo and Xi Jinping unveiled a series of projects, including plans to build a multi-billion dollar Chinese glass factory on the island of Rempang in Indonesia’s Riau Islands Archipelago as part of a new ‘Eco-City,’ sparking weeks of fierce protests from indigenous islanders opposed to their villages being torn down.

    Indonesia's outgoing President Joko Widodo rides the high-speed railway during a test ride in Jakarta.

    Widodo and Chinese Premier Li Qiang were photographed taking test rides on the new high-speed railway throughout September.

    The train deal was first signed in 2015 as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and construction began later that year.

    It was initially expected to be completed in 2019 but has faced multiple operational delays as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as land procurement and ballooning costs.

    PT KCIC’s director Dwiyana hailed the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway as an “outstanding example of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and China.” It will not only improve Indonesian infrastructure but “promote the development of Indonesia’s railroad and manufacturing industries,” he said.

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  • Mexico makes agreement with US to deport migrants from its border cities amid ongoing surge in illegal migration | CNN

    Mexico makes agreement with US to deport migrants from its border cities amid ongoing surge in illegal migration | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Mexico has made an agreement with the United States to deport migrants from its border cities to their home countries and take several actions to deter migrants as part of a new effort to combat the recent surge in border crossings.

    Mexican officials met with US Customs and Border Protection officials on Friday in Ciudad Juárez,, Mexico, which is across the border from El Paso, Texas, following the recent spike in illegal crossings into the US, which temporarily closed an international bridge and paused Mexico’s main cargo train system.

    As part of the agreement, Mexico agreed to “depressurize” its northern cities, which border the El Paso, San Diego and Eagle Pass, Texas, where the mayor has declared a state of emergency. They will also implement more than a dozen actions to prevent migrants from risking their lives by using the railway system to reach the US-Mexico border, according to Mexico’s National Migration Institute.

    The US Department of Defense is ramping up resources at the US-Mexico border, sending at least 800 new active-duty personnel to the border, where 2,500 National Guard members are already servicing, Department of Homeland Security officials announced Wednesday night in a call with reporters.

    The move comes as migrant crossings along the border are rising, surpassing 8,600 over a 24-hour period this week, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. It is up from around 3,500 daily border arrests after the expiration in May of Title 42 triggered new consequences for those who cross the border illegally. There were more than 8,000 apprehensions on Monday.

    The busiest sectors are Del Rio, El Paso, Lower Rio Grande Valley and Tucson; each facing more than 1,000 encounters over the last 24 hours, according to the official. Eagle Pass is in the Del Rio sector.

    Friday’s meeting was attended by Customs and Border Protection’s Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, the commissioner of Mexico’s National Migration Institute, the governor of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, members of Mexico’s national defense and national guard and representatives of Ferromex, a Mexican railroad operator, according to the institute.

    Mexican officials vowed to carry out a series of 15 actions as part of the agreement, some in coordination with Customs and Border Protection and Ferromex, which includes deporting migrants to their home countries by land and air.

    The country said it will carry out negotiations with the governments of Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia and Cuba to confirm receipt of their citizens deported from the US-Mexico border. It will also allow US border patrol agents to expel migrants through the Ciudad Juárez international bridge, which connects to El Paso.

    Other terms of the agreement include submitting a daily report of the number of migrants on the train system to Customs and Border Protection’s El Paso sector, establishing checkpoints along the Ferromex rail route and conducting interventions on railways and highways, according to Mexico’s National Migration Institute.

    The institute said Mexico had deported more than 788,000 migrants to their home countries from January 1 to September.

    The agreed-upon actions by Mexican officials raise questions about the country doing work typically designated for the US – from the south of the border – to manage the influx of migrants in recent weeks, which have has strained federal resources and overwhelmed already-crowded facilities, CNN previously reported.

    Many who leave their homes for the United States face long and dangerous treks in hopes of finding better, safer lives. Some may flee violence, while others may immigrate for economic opportunities or to reunite with family, experts say. Deteriorating conditions in Latin America exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic also have contributed to the influx of migrants into the US.

    It is likely the number of border crossings will continue to increase, as more Mexican nationals are making plans to come to the US, Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, told CNN.

    US government data show more Mexican families coming to the border, likely to seek asylum, Ruiz said. In July 2022, for example, Customs and Border Protection figures indicate 4,000 Mexican family encounters at the border. A year later, the number had more than quadrupled, reaching nearly 22,000.

    “These are the three levers that are in play right now. … And regardless of what the Biden administration does today or tomorrow,” he says, “the people that are on the way already are going to continue, unless something else happens in the region.”

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  • Train derailment on Montana bridge sends multiple rail cars into the Yellowstone River | CNN

    Train derailment on Montana bridge sends multiple rail cars into the Yellowstone River | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A train derailment in Montana caused a bridge across the Yellowstone River to collapse and sent multiple cars into the water below, officials in Stillwater County said Saturday.

    The derailment occurred around 6 a.m. Multiple tanker cars were damaged and are leaking “petroleum products,” according to Yellowstone County Disaster and Emergency Services.

    The derailed Montana Rail Link train cars included “several hazmat cars,” the regional rail company said in a statement.

    The train crew is safe and no injuries have been reported, the statement said.

    “The safety of our employees and the public remains our top priority. We are committed to addressing any potential impacts to the area as a result of this incident and working to understand the reasons behind the accident,” Montana Rail Link said.

    Yellowstone County officials said there was no immediate threat and “precautions are being put in place.”

    The cause of the derailment has not yet been determined and people are being asked to keep away from the areas around the Yellowstone River Rail Bridge.

    “Local fishing accesses will be closed. Water treatment plants, irrigation districts, and industrial companies are taking appropriate precautions,” the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office said.

    The Yellowstone County Disaster and Emergency Services has asked people living in the area to conserve water.

    Tammie Mullikin, a spokesperson with Stillwater County Disaster and Emergency Services, said notifications have been made to all required agencies, and “safety and hazard mitigation efforts” have been implemented in response to the incident.

    “We have formally established a unified command and are using the incident command system,” Mullikin said. “Unified Command is working together to determine the most appropriate steps to ensure a safe resolution to this incident.”

    Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte tweeted Saturday that he was monitoring the derailment. 

    “The state is standing by to support as Montana Rail Link and county officials assess their needs,” he said.

    Montana Rail Link is a Class II regional railroad that operates over 900 route miles of tracks across Montana and Idaho, according to the company’s website.

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  • This Pennsylvania city hopes Biden’s infrastructure law can help revitalize its downtown | CNN Politics

    This Pennsylvania city hopes Biden’s infrastructure law can help revitalize its downtown | CNN Politics


    Reading, Pennsylvania
    CNN
     — 

    Reading, the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania, may be most recognized for the iconic Monopoly board game’s Reading Railroad property.

    The railroad was one of the first in the US and was one of the biggest companies in the world in its heyday, connecting northeast Pennsylvania’s coal region with Philadelphia and the rest of the country.

    But the Reading Railroad went bankrupt in 1971. The last passenger train left Reading a decade later, and the city found itself detached from the rest of the country.

    Now Reading, a working-class city, is looking to regain its footing with a big investment in a new iteration of transportation: electric vehicle charging stations.

    City officials have a multimillion-dollar plan to install dozens of EV charging stations, with high hopes of revitalizing the city by making it easier for more workers and visitors to go to Reading and perhaps attract a new, younger generation of residents as well.

    To help make it happen, city officials are seeking federal money provided by the massive infrastructure law passed by Congress in 2021. The law not only provides funding for roads and bridges but also allocates billions of dollars to build a nationwide network of plug-in electric vehicle chargers – a key climate priority for the Biden administration.

    The measure garnered bipartisan support, despite facing some backlash from a handful of Republicans. After many previous administrations had failed to get a comprehensive infrastructure package through Congress, the Biden administration celebrated the law as a huge legislative win.

    In late May, Reading submitted an application for a new grant known as the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure program. The program will provide $2.5 billion over the next five years to local governments – and Reading officials hope to get a piece of that pie.

    The city recently exited a state oversight program for “financially distressed” cities after nearly 13 years, and seeking federal and state funding for a variety of projects is key to helping it rebuild.

    “We don’t give up,” said Mayor Eddie Moran, noting that it was a no-brainer for the city to apply for the federal grant.

    “We know these opportunities exist that can give us a better future,” he said.

    Mayor Eddie Moran speaks during the State of the City address at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Reading, Pennsylvania, on January 28, 2022.

    An electric vehicle revolution could be on the horizon, but there are reasons to be skeptical.

    EVs made up just 5.8% of new car sales last year, according to Kelley Blue Book.

    In addition to being expensive, it’s not always easy for drivers to find a charging station when they need one. There are currently only about 63,000 EV chargers publicly available in the US. Tesla has an extensive nationwide network, including a handful at a hotel in Reading, but those chargers are currently only compatible with Tesla vehicles.

    And let’s face it: EV plug-in chargers are of no use to people who don’t own electric vehicles. But Moran argues Reading’s proposed EV charger plan is an “encouragement” for people to buy EVs.

    There is federal money available for drivers too. The Inflation Reduction Act – a sweeping, federal climate and health care law passed last year – revamped a federal EV tax credit worth up to $7,500 for consumers who purchase certain vehicles.

    The Biden administration has also proposed ambitious new car pollution rules that could require electric vehicles to account for up to two-thirds of new cars sold in the US by 2032.

    “Electric vehicles still have a long way to go; there’s still a lot of bugs that need to be worked out,” said Donna Reed, president of the Reading City Council.

    “But if you’re going to be an economic development leader or political leader, you always have that eye to the future,” she said.

    And while the number of EVs on the road is small, it’s been growing.

    In 2022, the number of registered electric and hybrid vehicles jumped more than 75% compared with the prior year in Berks County, where Reading is the county seat, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

    Other than the Reading Railroad, there’s another fun fact about the city. A seven-story pagoda atop Mount Penn overlooks the city. Originally meant to be a luxury hotel when it was built in 1908, the unique landmark now serves as a symbol of Reading – and is one of the seven locations where city officials have proposed installing EV chargers.

    Overall, Reading has asked for nearly $2.6 million from the federal grant program to help install more than 30 public electric vehicle chargers and expects to find out later this year whether it will receive the grant money.

    The city will be on the hook for covering at least 20% of the project, but it can use other grants and in-kind contributions, such as land value and city workers’ salaries, to make up that amount.

    The Pagoda in Reading, Pennsylvania.

    The plan calls for two mobile charging trailers that would be tested at the pagoda. The site draws visitors to the area, and there’s access to hiking and biking trails nearby. The road up the mountain is also home to two annual hill-climb races in which cars race up Duryea Drive, named for an automobile maker who used the road to test his cars in the early 1900s.

    But building the needed infrastructure up the mountain could prove challenging. The mobile chargers will help the city evaluate whether there is demand for permanent EV chargers at that location.

    Permanent EV chargers are planned for two city parks and Albright College’s campus.

    The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, the former site for a safety goggles manufacturer, is another proposed location for EV chargers. It features dozens of resident artists, holds workshops and has a number of studios for trades such as ceramics, woodworking and photography.

    The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts is a community art and cultural resource center located in Reading, Pennsylvania.

    City officials expect chargers at city hall and the public works department to be the first ones up and running, operable in late 2024. Installation at these locations may move the quickest because existing electricity sources can be utilized.

    Currently, Reading spends about $800,000 annually on fuel for city-owned vehicles – a cost that could be reduced with the pivot to electric vehicles, according to Jamar Kelly, the city’s director of finance and deputy managing director.

    Additionally, the EV chargers could help the city reach its sustainability goals.

    The grant would be “instrumental in us starting and leading the City of Reading and the County of Berks to a safer, healthier, ecofriendly community,” the application reads.

    Whenever a massive federal spending law is enacted, there’s concern over whether the money will go out fairly – reaching small towns, rural areas and urban metropolises alike.

    While there may be plenty of money to go around, smaller cities may lack the staffing needed to prepare and submit applications. The infrastructure law offers nearly 400 different funding programs.

    For Reading, a boot camp offered by the Local Infrastructure Hub – which helps cities access the funds provided by the federal infrastructure law – was invaluable. It provided tips on how to apply, the ins and outs of how EV chargers work, and how other cities have had success or challenges installing chargers previously.

    “Seeing how people in other places have already addressed these issues allows us to be able to write a better grant,” said Lisa Unrath, Reading’s former grant coordinator.

    She learned how to structure the grant so that if Reading receives the money, it can complement projects funded by other grants. The city can apply for more money from the same federal grant again over the next five years, creating an opportunity for the city to plan for the future now.

    The Local Infrastructure Hub is sponsored by a variety of groups, including Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Kresge Foundation, as well as the National League of Cities and the US Conference of Mayors, among others.

    “Working with already more than 950 municipalities across the US, we’re placing a concentrated focus on America’s traditionally underserved areas who each have ambitious dreams, but need the expertise, resources, and network the Hub offers to put forward competitive applications,” said James Anderson, who leads the government innovation programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies.

    “It’s about getting as many of the so-called left-behind places a once-in-a-generation foothold in the new economy – and we’re well on our way,” he added.

    This headline has been updated.

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  • Major Rail Accidents Fast Facts | CNN

    Major Rail Accidents Fast Facts | CNN

    Editor’s Note: This timeline is not all-inclusive. Selected rail incidents with at least 200 fatalities are listed, plus US incidents.



    CNN
     — 

    Here’s some background information about major rail accidents since 1900.

    January 1915 – Guadalajara, Mexico: More than 600 people die when a train derails into a ravine during a steep descent.

    May 22, 1915 – Gretna, Scotland: The United Kingdom’s worst rail disaster occurs when three trains collide at Quintinshill, resulting in 227 deaths, many of whom were soldiers of the Royal Scots.

    June 1915 – Montemorelos, Mexico: A military train derails into a canyon, killing more than 300.

    December 12, 1917 – Modane, France: 427 people die when a train carrying more than 1,000 soldiers derails in the French Alps.

    January 16, 1944 – León Province, Spain: A train wrecks in the Torro tunnel, killing more than 500 people.

    March 2, 1944 – Near Salerno, Italy: At least 521 people die from carbon monoxide fumes when a train stalls in a tunnel.

    October 22, 1949 – Poland: More than 200 are killed when the Danzig-Warsaw express derails.

    April 3, 1955 – Guadalajara, Mexico: About 300 die when a night express train derails into a canyon.

    September 29, 1957 – Montgomery, western Pakistan: 250 die when a passenger train collides with a cargo train.

    February 1, 1970 – Buenos Aires, Argentina: The worst train disaster in Argentina’s history occurs when an express train crashes into a standing commuter train, killing 236.

    October 6, 1972 – Saltillo, Mexico: 208 people die after a train traveling at excessive speed derails and catches fire.

    June 6, 1981 – Bihar, India: India’s worst rail accident to date occurs during inclement weather when a train derails and plunges into a river in the state of Bihar, killing 800 and injuring more than 100.

    January 13, 1985 – Near the town of Awash, Ethiopia: The government says that 392 people died when a passenger train derailed while crossing a bridge over a ravine.

    June 4, 1989 – Ural Mountains, Soviet Union: 575 people die when a gas pipeline leaks, causing two passenger trains to explode.

    January 4, 1990 – Sindh province, Pakistan: More than 210 people are killed after the Zakaria Bahauddin Express passenger train crashes into a stationary freight train.

    September 22, 1994 – Tolunda, Angola: 300 die after malfunctioning brakes cause a train to derail and fall into a ravine.

    August 20, 1995 – Firozabad, India: 358 are killed after an express train collides with another train that had stalled after striking a cow.

    October 28, 1995 – Baku, Azerbaijan: A subway fire kills about 300 passengers and injures more than 200.

    August 2, 1999 – India: Brahmaputra Mail train en route to New Delhi slams into the idle Awadh-Assam Express at Gaisal Station in West Bengal, killing 285 and injuring more than 300.

    February 20, 2002 – Egypt: 361 people are killed when a fire breaks out on a train traveling from Cairo south to Luxor.

    June 24, 2002 – Tanzania: A runaway passenger train collides with a freight train and then derails, resulting in 281 deaths.

    February 18, 2004 – Near the town of Neyshabur, Iran: A runaway 51-car chemical train derails and explodes, causing at least 320 deaths and hundreds of injuries to residents in the area.

    December 26, 2004 – Sri Lanka: Between 1,500 to 1,700 passengers aboard the Samudradevi, or Queen of the Sea, train, are believed dead when the tsunami sweeps their train off the tracks.

    June 2, 2023 – Odisha, India: More than 280 people are killed and over 1,000 injured in a three-way crash involving two passenger trains and a freight train in eastern Odisha state.

    March 1, 1910 – Wellington, Washington: An avalanche pushes a passenger train and a mail train into a ravine, killing 96 people.

    July 9, 1918 – Nashville, Tennessee: Considered the worst rail disaster in US history, two passenger trains collide on Dutchman’s Curve, resulting in 101 deaths.

    November 1, 1918 – Brooklyn, New York: At least 90 are killed when a Brighton Beach Train of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company derails inside the Malbone Street tunnel.

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  • Transportation Department announces funding to improve dozens of train-car intersections | CNN Politics

    Transportation Department announces funding to improve dozens of train-car intersections | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    US federal officials are putting millions of dollars into fixing dangerous intersections where trains and cars meet.

    The $570 million in infrastructure spending to replace, improve or study grade crossings will reduce the approximately 2,000 train-vehicle collisions that happen every year, the Biden administration said. The collisions kill about 200 people annually.

    It will also reduce congestion at intersections where trains block traffic, the administration said. Nearly 26,000 blocking incidents have been reported to the federal Transportation Department in the last year, and more than 9,000 of those lasted for longer than one hour.

    The Federal Railroad Administration said the funds will go toward 34 projects, including five in Texas, the state with the most grade crossing blockage complaints. A grade crossing refers to the area where a roadway intersects with or crosses a railroad track at the same level.

    One of those projects, in Houston, will replace seven points where tracks and roads meet. Instead, the trains will have a protected route, and vehicle traffic will have four underpasses.

    More than 850 blockages have been reported this year alone at those seven crossings, according to the Department of Transportation. The department said the project would save drivers fuel and frustration alike, and reduce noise where train operators blow loud horns as a warning to vehicles.

    Amit Bose, the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, said grade crossings and blockages, in particular, present “significant challenges” in many parts of the country, including Houston, where multiple rail lines meet.

    “The reality is far too many communities deal with collisions at grade crossings,” Bose said. “They deal with blockages due to stopped or stalled trains and deal with the risk of first responders being delayed by those incidents.”

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  • More than 230 killed, 900 injured in three-train crash in India | CNN

    More than 230 killed, 900 injured in three-train crash in India | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    More than 200 people were killed and hundreds injured when three trains collided in India on Friday in one of the worst train crashes in recent history.

    Two passenger trains and a goods train collided in the city of Balasore in eastern Odisha state, according to state chief secretary Pradeep Jena.

    At least 233 people died and 900 were injured in the impact, Jena said on Twitter.

    The death toll is expected to rise as teams carry out a colossal rescue operation, Jena said during a news conference.

    Images from the scene showed rescuers attempting to find survivors in a damaged rail carriage. Video footage also showed upturned coaches littered across train tracks, and people climbing a mangled train carriage.

    Friday’s rescue effort included more than 115 ambulances and several fire service units, say authorities. About 500 units of blood were collected overnight with 900 units currently in stock, Jena wrote on Twitter.

    “This will help in treating the accident victims. I’m personally indebted and grateful to all the volunteers who’ve donated blood for a noble cause,” he wrote.

    The cause of the catastrophic crash has yet to be determined, Jena told CNN affiliate News18, emphasizing that the current focus is on ongoing rescue operations.

    “We are only working (at) sending additional doctors, ambulances, buses, so all those things we are doing so we have not thought of asking what happened, how it happened,” he said.

    The deadly collision occurred after one passenger train collided into coaches of an already derailed passenger train that had tossed into the opposite track, Indian authorities said.

    Both trains then derailed.

    “An unfortunate accident took place between Coromandel Express, a goods train and another passenger train near Bahanaga railway station in Balasore district,” Jena said.

    “Around 7 p.m., 12841 Coromandel Express, which runs between Shalimar and Chennai, around Balasore, 10 to 12 of its coaches derailed and tossed over to the opposite track. After some time, another train, which runs between Yesvantpur and Howrah, dashed into those derailed coaches, which resulted in the derailment of its three to four coaches,” Railway Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma told reporters.

    The Coromandel travels through India’s east coast, between West Bengal’s capital Kolkata to the South Indian city of Chennai.

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences on Friday. “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected,” he wrote.

    India’s extensive rail network suffers from aging infrastructure and poor maintenance – factors that are often responsible for accidents.

    The death toll from Friday’s crash has already surpassed that of an infamous crash in 2016 – one of the deadliest in recent years – when over 140 people were killed in a derailment in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

    In 2021, some 16,431 people were killed in nearly 18,000 railway accidents across the country. “Majority (67.7%) of railway accident cases were reported (as) ‘Fall from trains /collision with people on track,” according to a 2021 report by the National Crime Records

    Local authorities say rescue teams have been dispatched to the site of the crash, and efforts include more than 50 ambulances and several fire service units.

    Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said he will visit the site of the accident on Saturday morning to review the situation, the department said.

    The families of those killed on Friday will receive $12,136, India’s Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology has announced, with lesser amounts available to people who were injured in the crash.

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  • Europe is trying to ditch planes for trains. Here’s how that’s going | CNN

    Europe is trying to ditch planes for trains. Here’s how that’s going | CNN

    Editor’s Note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments.



    CNN
     — 

    Ever since the “flight shame” movement began encouraging travelers to seek greener alternatives to jet planes, many in Europe have been looking to the continent’s extensive rail network to replace short-haul air travel.

    There’s definitely been progress. Airlines including Dutch carrier KLM are entering into rail partnerships on certain routes, while countries like Austria and France are seeking to restrict internal routes where trains are available – although the French decree, which was made law in May 2023, has been significantly watered down from its original premise.

    That’s amid a palpable rail revolution on mainland Europe, with new high-speed routes and operators coming online, a reversal in the decline of overnight sleeper services, new tunnel links cutting travel times and new locomotives improving reliability and efficiency. In Spain, Germany and Austria, cheap ticket deals have also played their part.

    With so much railway investment, it seems as if the train-ification of Europe’s air transport network is well underway. Surely, it’s only a matter of time before the continent is relying almost exclusively on its iron roadways for getting around and the skies are clearer and greener .

    In reality, that remains a distant dream. But why?

    As with many efforts to innovate away from environmentally harmful practices, there’s good news and bad news. Fixes are being made, but none of them are quick. And there’s no sign that Europe’s airports are going to get quieter anytime soon.

    This year got off to a strong start with new legislation promised in France that would ban short-haul flight on a number of domestic routes to help the country cut levels of planet-heating pollution, but though approved by EU officials and then signed into French law in May 2023, the measures are limited in impact.

    For the ban to apply, the EU insisted the air route in question must have a high speed rail alternative that makes it possible to travel between the two cities in less than two and a half hours. There must also be enough early and late-running trains to enable travelers to spend at least eight hours at the destination.

    This means that ultimately only three routes were culled: those linking Paris-Orly airport to the cities of Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon. In a further blow to those hoping for a rail revolution, it turned out that, as it happened, those routes had already been cut in 2020 – the new law just means that they will not be reinstated in the future.

    So what went wrong? The ruling by the EU’s European Commission watered down the original French plans, which would have seen a further five routes ending: From Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon and Rennes, as well as a Lyon to Marseilles route.

    The result, say critics, is something that pays lip service to climate concerns without really doing anything about them.

    “The French flight ban is a symbolic move, but will have very little impact on reducing emissions,” Jo Dardenne, aviation director at cleaner transport campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E), told CNN before the law took effect.

    T&E has estimated that the three routes affected by the ban represent only 0.3% of the emissions produced by flights taking off from mainland France, and 3% of the country’s domestic flight emissions (again counting only mainland domestic flights).

    If the five additional routes that the French authorities wanted to include were added, those figures would be 0.5% and 5% respectively.

    That doesn’t sound like much. But although aviation as a whole currently accounts for around 2.5% of global carbon emissions, its overall contribution to climate change is estimated to be higher, due to the other gases, water vapor and contrails that airplanes emit.

    What’s more, it’s a fast-growing industry – despite the pause enforced by Covid – and is on track to be one of the most significant emissions-contributing industries in the future. Aviation emissions in Europe increased an average of 5% year-on-year between 2013 and 2019, according to the EU.

    Airlines pay zero tax or duty on their fuel in the EU, unlike other forms of transport. Plane tickets are also exempt from VAT.

    Deutsche Bahn and Lufthansa offer linked journeys via rail and air.

    On the positive side, despite its limited impact, the French ruling sets a precedent that will be difficult to ignore by the aviation industry at a time when it’s coming under ever increasing scrutiny from the public, as well as politicians.

    “The French measure is so marginal in its current scope that it is sustainability theater rather than having any material impact on emissions,” Patrick Edmond, managing director of Altair Advisory, an Ireland-based aviation consultancy told CNN – again before the law took effect.

    “However we can look at it a different way – as the harbinger of more restrictions on aviation which are likely if the industry doesn’t get more serious about decarbonizing itself.”

    France isn’t the first European country to take a tougher line on super short-haul flights.

    In 2020 the Austrian government bailed out the national carrier, Austrian Airlines, on the condition that it axed all flights where a rail journey could take less than three hours.

    In reality, only the Vienna-Salzburg flight route was cut, with train services increased on the line in response. A similarly short route, from Vienna to Linz, had been moved to rail in 2017.

    That same year, the government also launched a 30 euro ($32) tax on all flights of under 350 kilometers (220 miles) departing from Austrian airports.

    Other European countries are said to be considering curbs on short-haul commercial flights as well – a move that could be welcome, since 62% of European citizens would support a ban on short-haul flights, according to a 2020 survey. Spain has outlined plans to cut flights where train journeys take less than 2.5 hours by 2050.

    Not surprisingly these moves have set alarm bells ringing in the aviation industry.

    According to a 2022 report commissioned by the European Regional Airlines Association (ERA) together with a number of other aerospace industry bodies, if all airline traffic on routes of under 500 kilometers (310 miles) switched to another form of public transport, the potential carbon savings would total up to 5% of intra-EU emissions.

    “For many decision-makers, banning short-haul flights and showing support to the rail industry is an easy win to gain favor with the public, especially in Europe,” Montserrat Barriga, the ERA’s director general, told CNN.

    But Barriga and others – on both side of the issue – point to the double standard of restricting short-haul flights and phasing out carbon allowances for flights in Europe while taking no major steps to limit connections outside the bloc.

    Long-haul flights produce the most emissions globally. A recent academic paper in the Journal of Transport Geography found that while flights of under 500 kilometers (310 miles) account for 27.9% of departures in the EU, they represent only 5.9% of fuel burnt. In contrast, flights longer than 4,000 kilometers make up just 6.2% of departures from the EU, but 47% of fuel burnt.

    “Governments continue ignoring the biggest source of aviation emissions – long-haul flights, that remain unpriced and unregulated,” says T&E’s Dardenne. “Flight bans shouldn’t be used by governments as a distraction from the real problem.”

    Europe's train network is connected by spectacular stations, like Paris Gare de Lyon.

    And while railways are currently blazing fresh trails through Europe, playing a part in the recent collapse of Alitalia, Italy’s national airline, rail operators could do more, says Jon Worth, founder of public advocacy group Trains for Europe.

    High prices and low frequencies remain an obstacle to getting more people to switch from flying, he says – especially on trunk routes like Paris to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Barcelona.

    “On quite a few corridors, rail could get a share of multimodal transportation way above the current one. Rail operators have focused on maximizing profit rather than market share. The latter can only be achieved either by running railways as a public service or by introducing more competition,” he says.

    Better connectivity between intercity rail and airports would also reduce the need for short-haul flights. Worth adds that it’s essential to offer combined tickets, so that, for example, if a train is delayed and the connection is missed, travelers are accommodated on the next one, as happens now with connecting flights.

    This works rather well in countries where airlines and operators cooperate, including Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland and Spain. In February 2023, Italian airline ITA Airways – Alitalia’s successor – signed on to work with Italy’s national rail operator to create links, too.

    However, this is an area where there is still much to be done – for starters, the schemes above are limited to the national carriers. A proposed piece of legislation called Multimodal Digital Mobility Services is expected to be adopted by the European Commission in 2023 with the aim to facilitate this type of intermodal travel more widely.

    Back in France, shorter train travel times and increased frequencies may mean the end of the line for more domestic air routes when the ban comes up for review – the measure is only valid for three years. However, advances in clean flight technology may eventually change the perspectives for regional aviation as well.

    Short-haul flights are likely to be the first segments of the aviation industry to decarbonize since most of the projects under way in the fields of electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen-powered aviation focus precisely on small airplanes designed to cover very short distances.

    The debate looks set to continue playing out over the next few years, as the environmental, social, economic, political and technological parameters that shape this discussion continue to evolve – and as the climate crisis continues.

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  • ‘You can’t sleep here:’ On board a perilous freight train with families hoping to reach the US | CNN

    ‘You can’t sleep here:’ On board a perilous freight train with families hoping to reach the US | CNN


    Aboard a train heading to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
    CNN
     — 

    On top of the rumbling freight train, the young man says he has been attacked and robbed. There is no shade from the burning sun in the day, nowhere to keep warm in the perishing cold of the night. But still, he says, this brutal journey is worth it.

    Roberto, 23, told CNN he was escaping from Honduras, where the US State Department says violent gang activity is rife and police are ineffective.

    “Due to crime in my country, we can’t work, we can’t do anything,” he said.

    Roberto is one of the tens of thousands of migrants who have been making the perilous journey to the US-Mexico border ahead of Thursday night’s expiration of the Covid-era immigration rule known as Title 42.

    Roberto fled the country with his two young children, he said, becoming emotional as he talked about them. “I brought them here to Mexico but they got sick, they almost died,” he said. “I had to send them back to Honduras.”

    Roberto was still sick himself, wearing a mask to protect others from his coughs. He said this was the seventh train he had ridden on top of in the past 12 days as he, his father and his sister tried to find a new life. His sister is 15, he said. In other circumstances, she would be celebrating her quinceañera at home with friends and family. But home, for now, was an open train car heading north.

    The truck contains metal construction beams, covered in plastic. There are a couple dozen people in this freight car alone, with dozens more riding on top of and within the other cars. The riders flatten cardboard boxes and use dirty clothing to try to give themselves some padding against the hard, uneven surface. But this is still the preferred kind of train car, as it at least offers some protection from falling off.

    A traveler rests on the cargo. There is no shelter from the sun, wind and nighttime cold, but these open trucks are preferred as they offer some protection from falling off.

    “You can’t sleep here,” Roberto said as he sat, buffeted by the wind, seemingly exhausted but determined as the train neared Ciudad Juarez, the town across the international border from El Paso.

    He, his sister and his father, plan to try to cross into the United States this same day. They believe they have no reason not to.

    The lifting of the US’s Title 42 pandemic-era immigration restriction on Thursday has raised concerns that more people will try to enter the United States. Title 42 allowed officials to quickly process people arriving and send many back across the border. The reinstatement of old rules may mean heavier legal penalties, but it is expected to be a longer process.

    But the people on the freight train are not talking about US rule changes. Those we spoke with had the singular goal of escaping their countries and starting again in the US, whatever process they had to follow.

    Crossing the border is as far as Felipe and Marcela have thought. The couple said they left Colombia, ready to sacrifice themselves for the five children they left behind.

    “We don’t know for sure,” Felipe replied when asked where they would go. “We need to get there first, that’s the priority. Once there, we can see what to do, because we don’t have friends, family, anyone who can take us in.”

    Felipe and Marcela have nowhere to go and no one to stay with in the US but they are hopeful they will be able to help the five children they had to leave in Colombia.

    They said they suffered in the heat and the cold, and were hungry and thirsty. But their worst fear was the threat of violence, especially to women.

    “The treatment of women is the worst and also dangerous,” Felipe said. “People get on the train, to look for women.” Marcela added: “Dangerous meaning rape, sometimes people get in looking for that.”

    Wind pummels the people in the rail car. Many, like Roberto, are sick and coughing. As the train passed what looked like an incinerator, there was the smell of burning trash and a massive plume of smoke. At other times, the smell of sewage is overwhelming.

    Travelers come from many different countries. We even met two from China.

    For some of them, this is not their first attempt to get into the US.

    Omar Zambrano said he left Venezuela six months ago to escape the crime and violence there, coupled with the economic crisis. “Living in Venezuela is chaotic. If you have breakfast, you don’t have enough money for lunch,” said Zambrano, a chef who said he would try any kind of work in the United States.

    He has the address of a friend in Baltimore along with a printout in Spanish of all the circumstances under which he would be allowed to stay in the US.

    He said he has tried and been sent back before. But he will try to cross the border again. “They ignore you when you’re trying to do it legally,” he said. “But let’s go for the legal way first to see what happens.”

    After clambering down from the final train stop, Zambrano picked up his small bookbag, containing all he has on the journey and prepares to head to the border crossing, walking or perhaps on a truck.

    “We are going to turn ourselves in, in the name of God,” he said, somehow wearing a smile under his sunglasses. “Faith moves mountains and you must not lose it.”

    Once the train stops, people still have 25 miles or so to make it through Ciudad Juarez and the US border leading to El Paso, Texas.

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  • Weird and wonderful trains that break the rules | CNN

    Weird and wonderful trains that break the rules | CNN

    Editor’s Note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get the latest news in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments.



    CNN
     — 

    Whether we call them railways or railroads, we’re all familiar with the concept – big, heavy vehicles that can’t climb steep hills, running on two steel rails. That’s the pattern, right?

    Well, railway technology is more versatile than you think. Over the last 200 years it has evolved to conquer cities, mountains, deep mines and some of the world’s most extreme climates. Here’s a selection of unusual railways that break the rules in order to reach the places other trains can’t roll.

    If ever a railway was perfectly suited to its environment, it’s the legendary Schwebebahn monorail in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region. Built to link several industrial towns along the narrow, twisting valley of the Wupper river, the suspended monorail was completed in 1901 and was instrumental in the growth of the towns, which eventually merged to become the city of Wuppertal in 1929.

    It might look unusual to visitors, but to the people of Wuppertal it’s the backbone of the city’s transit network, gliding up to 40 feet above congested streets to offer fast, direct journeys along an eight-mile route.

    The single rails carrying the trains are supported by a series of 486 steel portals weighing almost 20,000 tonnes in total. More than 80,000 people a day are transported by 31 modern articulated cars traveling at up to 37 mph (60 kph). A replica of the vintage Kaiserwagen (Emperor’s Car) used by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1900 also operates on special occasions but is currently being restored; it’s hoped that it will return to service by spring 2024.

    Current holder of the record for the world’s steepest public railway, Switzerland’s Stoosbahn opened in December 2017 and has become a global tourist attraction in its own right.

    The unique cars with their rotating “barrels” allow passengers to stay level and travel serenely up the mountain at gradients of up to 110%. On a route of just over one mile (1.74 kilometers), the railway climbs almost 2,450 feet (744 meters) from the valley station in just five minutes.

    Stoosbahn is far more than just a joyride though – it’s a vital lifeline for the car-free village of Stoos, which sits high on a mountain near the town of Schwyz, south of Zürich. Each car is fitted with three passenger “barrels” plus a further section for freight. Every year, up to 10,000 tonnes of freight is carried – essential supplies going up the hill to restaurants and hotels, garbage and recycling traveling back down. Up to 1,500 passengers an hour, plus their skis or snowboards, can also be carried – a 50% increase over the previous funicular railway.

    Riding the Stoosbahn is a unique experience, even if you’re a connoisseur of mountain railways. The smooth transition from level to almost vertical happens very quickly and the view from the rotating cabins is exceptional. You’d have to be very jaded not to be impressed with such an astonishing piece of railway engineering.

    Pier railways were an attraction at several British seaside resorts in the 19th century, the most famous being the mile-long trip to the tip of Southend Pier on the country’s east coast – which you can still experience today. Most were built for pleasure, usually to save visitors a long walk back to shore.

    Hythe Pier Railway, on the south coast of England, has always been a little different though; it provides a unique link between dry land and the Hythe Ferry, which has shuttled to and fro across Southampton Water since the Middle Ages.

    The current pier opened in 1881 and a quirky 2,100-foot railway was added in 1909. It is the oldest continuously operating pier railway in the world. Wagons were initially propelled by hand but in 1922 a new narrow gauge electric railway replaced the original track. Two Army surplus electric locomotives, originally built to work in a World War I mustard gas factory, have worked the trains ever since.

    The bizarre-looking locomotives continue to pull (or push) their weatherbeaten little coaches along the pier to meet every ferry to and from Southampton Town Quay, despite numerous threats of closure. Visit it while you still can.

    Monorails have been around for more than a century and examples can be found all over the world, but they’ve never quite fulfilled the futuristic promises of their early promoters. That said, there are a few places where the unique qualities offered by monorails are ideally suited to their environment.

    Chongqing in China is home to the world’s longest and one of its busiest monorail system, carrying millions of passengers a year on two high-capacity “straddle beam” lines totaling 61 miles in length. At just over 34 miles, Line 3 is also the world’s longest single monorail line with an annual ridership of around 250 million. Opened between 2005 and 2016, the two lines have 70 stations with a mix of underground and elevated sections. Famously, one section of Line 2 passes through the heart of a high-rise apartment block.

    The city’s unique topography, with extreme differences in altitude between its densely populated mountain plateaus and the Yangtze and Jialing river valleys forced Chongqing’s transit authorities to seek an alternative to conventional metro trains. Monorail’s ability to negotiate steep climbs and tight curves made it the ideal solution when this megacity needed to transform its public transit system.

    Is it a train? Or is it a bus? Neither, it’s a Ferrobus – a unique form of improvised transport found across mountainous regions of South America.

    Combining old road bus bodies with rail wheels, these wobbly-looking contraptions are a lifeline for remote mountain villages lacking official road access. Using otherwise abandoned rail lines – often built in the 19th and early 20th century to exploit mineral deposits – Ferrobus routes can be found in Chile, Bolivia and Colombia, climbing high into the Andes.

    Ferrobus trips are increasingly popular with tourists seeking an unforgettable experience, and likely wanting to avoid uncomfortable and often dangerous road journeys. Chile’s Gondola Carril from Los Andes to Rio Blanco, north of Santiago, operates purely for tourists, but others provide regular, if somewhat unpredictable, transport for locals and tourists alike.

    Bolivia is arguably the epicenter of the Ferrobus world, with at least three routes, although there’s a constant risk of derailments, not to mention disruption from floods, rockfalls and extreme weather.

    Riding a Ferrobus requires patience and stamina, but you’re guaranteed to return with some hair-raising stories to tell your friends.

    Gotta catch ‘em all? Here’s one that will appeal to fans of Pokémon and trains. An otherwise ordinary Japanese local train has been dressed up to resemble the all-conquering franchise’s most famous character – Pikachu.

    The bright yellow signature color dominates inside and out, with Pikachu motifs covering everything from floor to walls and curtains. One car has seating, while the second car has been fitted out as a fabulous mobile playroom for junior Pokémon trainers. During the two-hour trip from Ichinoseki to Kesennuma in the Tõhoku Region, children can play, nap and socialize with giant plush Pikachus or even pretend to drive the train.

    Introduced in 2017 to put a smile on local faces after the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 2011, which also prompted the reactor meltdown in the neighboring Fukushima region, Pokémon with You is one of several “Joyful Trains” operated by railway company JR East. Ranging from traditional steam trains to luxurious, exotically decorated expresses between cities and resorts, they’re part of an incredibly rich and vibrant railway culture that attracts visitors from all over the world to Japan.

    Which city is home to mainland Europe’s oldest underground railway? Paris? Berlin? Vienna? In fact, it’s the Hungarian capital Budapest, where line M1 has been operating since May 1896.

    In the late-19th and early 20th centuries Hungary – then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – was a vigorous pioneer of new railway technology. This short (2.3-mile) line under Andrássy Avenue on the Pest side of the Danube river was only the third underground electric railway in the world, opening shortly after similar lines in London and Liverpool, England.

    Like London’s tiny “tube trains” of the same era, the first tunnels in Budapest were built to an unusually small profile and the effects of that decision can still be encountered today on what the locals call “a kisföldalatti,” or “the small underground.” The original trains, more akin to freight cars fitted with wooden shelters, were replaced in 1973 when line M1 was rebuilt and extended, but a ride on M1 is still a very different experience from the city’s later metro lines with their wide-bodied trains and airy stations.

    Thousand of people a day squeeze into the little yellow trains – a much higher ridership than when it was completed. But with its low platforms and short, angular trains, it’s very different to the usual city metro experience.

    Over the last two decades, China’s rail industry has become the largest and most varied in the world, helped by the astonishing expansion of the country’s high-speed network and global exports.

    But there’s far more to China than sleek high-speed trains and megacity subways; the size and diversity of this enormous nation demands ingenious solutions to serve areas conventional trains can’t reach.

    A unique example is the world’s first hanging monorail with a glass floor, now running in Sichuan Province. The Dayi Air Rail Project connects four stations at busy tourist spots over a seven-mile (11.5 kilometer) route in the city of Chengdu.

    Unusually, the lightweight car bodies are constructed from carbon fiber and composite foam material. They are powered by rechargeable batteries with electricity from renewable sources. But the panoramic windows and transparent floor are their most spectacular features, allowing up to 120 passengers per trip a 270-degree view combining clean, efficient and quiet transport with a memorable sightseeing trip.

    Trains, roads: Get you a vehicle that can do both.

    Imagine a vehicle that can pick you up outside your home, drive to the nearest railway line, convert itself into a train and then switch back to drop you in the center of a nearby town. It may sound like a story from “Thomas the Tank Engine,” but that exactly what Japan’s DMV Road-Rail buses have been doing since they launched on Christmas Day 2021.

    The buses, carrying around 20 passengers per trip, run a 30-mile route between the town of Kaiyo in Tokushima and the city of Muroto, Kochi Prefecture. Six miles of the route are along a rural railway line, with the rest in bus mode.

    With a capacity of 23, including passengers and crew, the DMV is a diesel-powered bus fitted with a set of retractable rail wheels which can be deployed in about 15 seconds. Lighter than a traditional train, the DMV also consumes less fuel and is cheaper to maintain.

    Billed as “the world’s first operational dual-mode vehicle,” it is actually the latest in a long series of similar experiments to improve rural rail services and reduce their costs. As far back as the 1930s, road buses were converted into railcars in Ireland and similar vehicles to the DMV were tested in England in the 1930s and West Germany in the 1950s.

    Tokushima prefectural government hopes the DMV buses will become a tourist draw in their own right. It also believes that the vehicles could also be useful for reaching isolated communities in the event of natural disasters such as earthquakes, which can leave sections of roads or railway lines unusable.

    Not far from the wonderful city of Sydney is a railway experience unlike anything else in the world. Situated in the heart of the Blue Mountains, the Katoomba Scenic Railway is another contender for the title of the world’s steepest railway. But, unlike Switzerland’s Stoosbahn, this railway delivers a hair-raising descent down sandstone cliffs and through epic rock formations and tunnels perched over a stunning rainforest landscape.

    Glass-roofed cars take up to 84 visitors per trip down the 52-degree (128%) incline, although if you’re feeling brave you can adjust the angle of your seat to the “Cliffhanger” position at 64 degrees. Fortunately, there’s also a “Laidback” option for the less adventurous.

    The rope-hauled railway dates back to the late-1800s when it was part of the Katoomba mining tramways, but since 1945 the remaining line has been a thrilling tourist attraction. More than 25 million people have braved the trip since it opened and the latest generation of cars feature panoramic roofs, allowing visitors to get an even better view of the forest canopy and rock formations.

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  • Train derailment in Wisconsin sends 2 containers into the Mississippi River, operator says | CNN

    Train derailment in Wisconsin sends 2 containers into the Mississippi River, operator says | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A train derailment in southwestern Wisconsin on Thursday sent two derailed containers into the Mississippi River, and at least one crew member received medical attention, according to the train’s operator.

    The train derailed around 12:15 p.m. local time near the village of De Soto, and all crew members have since been accounted for, according to BNSF Railway.

    At least a dozen train cars were off the tracks, according to video that witness Caitlin Nolan shot. Other images on social media, along with the video Nolan shot, show some of the train cars in the river.

    BNSF personnel were headed to the scene, and the cause of the incident is under investigation, the railway said.

    The train was carrying hazardous materials, according to Marc Myhre, a Crawford County emergency management specialist. But none of hazardous materials, believed to be batteries, were in the train cars that went into the river, Myhre said.

    BNSF said some of the containers that derailed – but stayed onshore and didn’t enter the water – contained paint and lithium-ion batteries. But neither of the two containers that went into the river contained hazardous materials, BNSF said.

    “It was reported to us that there were hazardous materials on the train itself, but it is not believed to be a concern to the public or the responders at this time as those cars were contained,” Myhre said during a news conference.

    The units that derailed were two of the train’s three locomotives and “an unknown number of cars carrying freight of all kinds,” BNSF said.

    The main track was blocked in both directions after the incident, and an estimated time for reopening the track wasn’t available, BNSF said.

    Heavy rain has recently brought parts of the Mississippi River to near flood stage, but the railroad tracks at the site of the derailment were above water, Myhre said.

    National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told CNN the agency is gathering information about the derailment. The agency said it has not yet verified whether hazardous materials were on the train.

    US Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who represents the area, said his office was coordinating with state officials, BNSF and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “get answers on what occurred.”

    The congressman’s staff was traveling to the site of the derailment and will “continue to monitor the situation and determine next steps,” his statement reads.

    Nolan was on her way to college at around noon central time when she saw the derailed train, she told CNN in an interview.

    “I didn’t see a fire or smell anything but witnessed multiple cars in the water on both sides of the tracks,” she told CNN. “There hadn’t been any emergency help until after I had passed by,” she said.

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  • Ohio’s governor wants Norfolk Southern to pay for toxic derailment’s long-term impacts, including lowered home values and potential health issues | CNN

    Ohio’s governor wants Norfolk Southern to pay for toxic derailment’s long-term impacts, including lowered home values and potential health issues | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Ohio’s govenor said Friday evening that he wants Norfolk Southern to pay East Palestine residents for the long-term impacts the February 3 toxic train derailment may have caused on the community.

    The rail operator should pay residents selling their house the difference of what their home value used to be in comparison to what it’s worth now, nearly three months since the accident, Gov. Mike DeWine told CNN’s Jake Tapper. Norfolk Southern should also set up a fund specifically for impacts on residents that may arise in the future, including medical issues, that could be connected to the derailment, he added.

    Since the accident, officials have said tests showed the air and municipal water were safe and allowed residents to return to their homes after a brief evacuation order. But those living in East Palestine have for months expressed concerns and frustration about both the economic impacts the crash had on their community and health problems, including rashes and nausea, they worry are linked to the derailment.

    Norfolk Southern has vowed to help East Palestine fully recover and has said it will remain in the community for “as long as it takes.”

    DeWine said Friday he has met with Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw and discussed those issues recently.

    “One of the things that I said to him is, if people sell their house and they do not get what that house was worth before the train wreck, I think you owe them the difference,” DeWine said. “I fully expect them to pay for that.”

    CNN reported on Friday about East Palestine residents who were concerned with their home values, including one woman whose home is just about a mile away from the derailment site and proved to be a “nightmare” to sell in the past few weeks.

    When asked for comment on that report, Norfolk Southern directed CNN to a statement from mid-March: “We are committed to working with the community to provide tailored protection for home sellers if their property loses value due to the impact of the derailment.”

    While the company has said it will work with the community to address concerns about losses in home values, details on the issue have been slow to materialize.

    “Everything we’ve asked (Norfolk Southern) to pay for so far, they’ve paid for,” DeWine said Friday. “And we expect them to continue to do that.”

    The governor said he also told Shaw he expects to see a fund set up “fairly quickly” for residents affected by the derailment, including those who may have health problems connected to the accident in the future.

    “(Residents) need to be reassured,” DeWine said. “I think that’s another thing that we can do to help assure the people in the community that we’re going to do everything and that we’re not going away.”

    Officials are continuing to conduct air, water and soil testing and have worked to set up a full-time clinic in the community in the aftermath to the derailment to address health concerns and to improve “the quality of life in the community,” the governor said.

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  • High speed trains are racing across the world. But not in America | CNN

    High speed trains are racing across the world. But not in America | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    High speed trains have proved their worth across the world over the past 50 years.

    It’s not just in reducing journey times, but more importantly, it’s in driving economic growth, creating jobs and bringing communities closer together. China, Japan and Europe lead the way.

    So why doesn’t the United States have a high-speed rail network like those?

    For the richest and most economically successful nation on the planet, with an increasingly urbanized population of more than 300 million, it’s a position that is becoming more difficult to justify.

    Although Japan started the trend with its Shinkansen “Bullet Trains” in 1964, it was the advent of France’s TGV in the early 1980s that really kick-started a global high-speed train revolution that continues to gather pace.

    But it’s a revolution that has so far bypassed the United States. Americans are still almost entirely reliant on congested highways or the headache-inducing stress of an airport and airline network prone to meltdowns.

    China has built around 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers) of dedicated high-speed railways since 2008 and plans to top 43,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) by 2035.

    Meanwhile, the United States has just 375 route-miles of track cleared for operation at more than 100 mph.

    “Many Americans have no concept of high-speed rail and fail to see its value. They are hopelessly stuck with a highway and airline mindset,” says William C. Vantuono, editor-in-chief of Railway Age, North America’s oldest railroad industry publication.

    Cars and airliners have dominated long-distance travel in the United States since the 1950s, rapidly usurping a network of luxurious passenger trains with evocative names such as “The Empire Builder,” “Super Chief” and “Silver Comet.”

    Deserted by Hollywood movie stars and business travelers, famous railroads such as the New York Central were largely bankrupt by the early 1970s, handing over their loss-making trains to Amtrak, the national passenger train operator founded in 1971.

    In the decades since that traumatic retrenchment, US freight railroads have largely flourished. Passenger rail seems to have been a very low priority for US lawmakers.

    Powerful airline, oil and auto industry lobbies in Washington have spent millions maintaining that superiority, but their position is weakening in the face of environmental concerns and worsening congestion.

    US President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill includes an unprecedented $170 billion for improving railroads.

    Some of this will be invested in repairing Amtrak’s crumbling Northeast Corridor (NEC) linking Boston, New York and Washington.

    There are also big plans to bring passenger trains back to many more cities across the nation – providing fast, sustainable travel to cities and regions that have not seen a passenger train for decades.

    Add to this the success of the privately funded Brightline operation in Florida, which has been given the green light to build a $10 billion high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas by 2027, plus schemes in California, Texas and the proposed Cascadia route linking Portland, Oregon, with Seattle and Vancouver, and the United States at last appears to be on the cusp of a passenger rail revolution.

    Amtrak plans to introduce its new generation Avelia Liberty trains to replace the Acelas, pictured, on the NEC later this year.

    “Every president since Ronald Reagan has talked about the pressing need to improve infrastructure across the USA, but they’ve always had other, bigger priorities to deal with,” says Scott Sherin, chief commercial officer of train builder Alstom’s US division.

    “But now there’s a huge impetus to get things moving – it’s a time of optimism. If we build it, they will come. As an industry, we’re maturing, and we’re ready to take the next step. It’s time to focus on passenger rail.”

    Sherin points out that other public services such as highways and airports are “massively subsidized,” so there shouldn’t be an issue with doing the same for rail.

    “We need to do a better job of articulating the benefits of high-speed rail – high-quality jobs, economic stimulus, better connectivity than airlines – and that will help us to build bipartisan support,” he adds. “High-speed rail is not the solution for everything, but it has its place.”

    Only Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor has trains that can travel at speeds approaching those of the 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph) TGV and Shinkansen.

    Even here, Amtrak Acela trains currently max out at 150 mph – and only in short bursts. Maximum speeds elsewhere are closer to 100 mph on congested tracks shared with commuter and freight trains.

    This year, Amtrak plans to introduce its new generation Avelia Liberty trains to replace the life-expired Acelas on the NEC.

    Capable of reaching 220 mph (although they’ll be limited to 160 mph on the NEC), the trains will bring Alstom’s latest high-speed rail technology to North America.

    The locomotives at each end – known as power cars – are close relatives of the next generation TGV-M trains, scheduled to debut in France in 2024.

    Sitting between the power cars are the passenger vehicles, which use Alstom’s Tiltronix technology to run faster through curves by tilting their bodies, much like a MotoGP rider does. And it’s not just travelers who will benefit.

    “When Amtrak awarded the contract to Alstom in 2015 to 2016, the company had around 200 employees in Hornell,” says Shawn D. Hogan, former mayor of the city of Hornell in New York state.

    “That figure is now nearer 900, with hiring continuing at a fast pace. I calculate that there has been a total public/private investment of more than $269 million in our city since 2016, including a new hotel, a state-of-the-art hospital and housing developments.

    “It is a transformative economic development project that is basically unheard of in rural America and if it can happen here, it can happen throughout the United States.”

    Alstom has spent almost $600 million on building a US supply chain for its high-speed trains – more than 80% of the train is made in the United States, with 170 suppliers across 27 states.

    “High-speed rail is already here. Avelia Liberty was designed jointly with our European colleagues, so we have what we need for ‘TGV-USA’,” adds Sherin.

    “It’s all proven tech from existing trains. We’re ready to go when the infrastructure arrives.”

    And those new lines could arrive sooner than you might think.

    In March, Brightline confirmed plans to begin construction on a 218-mile (351-kilometer) high-speed line between Rancho Cucamonga, near Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, carving a path through the San Bernardino Mountains and across the desert, following the Interstate 15 corridor.

    The 200 mph line will slash times to little more than one hour – a massive advantage over the four-hour average by car or five to seven hours by bus – when it opens in 2027.

    Mike Reininger, CEO of Brightline Holdings, says: “As the most shovel-ready high-speed rail project in the United States, we are one step closer to leveling the playing field against transit and infrastructure projects around the world, and we are proud to be using America’s most skilled workers to get there.”

    Brightline West expects to inject around $10 billion worth of benefits into the region’s economy, creating about 35,000 construction jobs, as well as 1,000 permanent jobs in maintenance, operations and customer service in Southern California and Nevada.

    It will also mark the return of passenger trains to Las Vegas after a 30-year hiatus – Amtrak canceled its “Desert Wind” route in 1997.

    Brightline hopes to attract around 12 million of the 50 million one-way trips taken annually between Las Vegas and LA, 85% of which are taken by bus or car.

    Contruction is underway on California High Speed Rail (CHSR,) a high-speed system between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

    Meanwhile, construction is progressing on another high-speed line through the San Joaquin Valley.

    Set to open around 2030, California High Speed Rail (CHSR) will run from Merced to Bakersfield (171 miles) at speeds of up to 220 mph.

    Coupled with proposed upgrades to commuter rail lines at either end, this project could eventually allow high-speed trains to run the 350 miles (560 kilometers) between Los Angeles to San Francisco metropolitan areas in just two hours and 40 minutes.

    CHSR has been on the table as far back as 1996, but its implementation has been controversial.

    Disagreements over the route, management issues, delays in land acquisition and construction, cost over-runs and inadequate funding for completing the entire system have plagued the project – despite the economic benefits it will deliver as well as reducing pollution and congestion. Around 10,000 people are already employed on the project.

    Costing $63 billion to $98 billion, depending on the final extent of the scheme, CHSR is to connect six of the 10 largest cities in the state and provide the same capacity as 4,200 miles of new highway lanes, 91 additional airport gates and two new airport runways costing between $122 billion and $199 billion.

    With California’s population expected to grow to more than 45 million by 2050, high-speed rail offers the best value solution to keep the state from grinding to a smoggy halt.

    Brightline West and CHSR offer templates for the future expansion of high-speed rail in North America.

    By focusing on pairs of cities or regions that are too close for air travel and too far apart for car drivers, transportation planners can predict which corridors offer the greatest potential.

    “It’s logical that the US hasn’t yet developed a nationwide high-speed network,” says Sherin. “For decades, traveling by car wasn’t a hardship, but as highway congestion gets worse, we’ve reached a stage where we should start looking more seriously at the alternatives.

    “The magic numbers are centers of population with around three million people that are 200 to 500 miles apart, giving a trip time of less than three hours – preferably two hours.

    “Where those conditions apply in Europe and Asia, high-speed rail reduces air’s share of the market from 100% to near zero. The model would work just as well in the USA as it does globally.”

    French high-speed train the TGV Duplex, built in the 1990s, has a maximum speed of 186 miles per hour.

    Sherin points to the success of the original generation of Acela trains as evidence of this.

    “When the first generation Acela trains started running between New York City and Washington in 2000, Amtrak attracted so many travelers that the airlines stopped running their frequent ‘shuttles’ between the two cities,” he adds.

    However, industry observer Vantuono is more pessimistic.

    “A US high-speed rail network is a pipe dream,” he says. “A lack of political support and federal financial support combined with the kind of fierce landowner opposition that CHSR has faced in California means that the challenges for new high-speed projects are enormous.”

    According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), urban and high-speed rail hold “major promise to unlock substantial benefits” in reducing global transport emissions.

    Dr. Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, argues that rail transport is “often neglected” in public debates about future transport systems – and this is especially true in North America.

    “Despite the advent of cars and airplanes, rail of all types has continued to evolve and thrive,” adds Birol.

    Globally, around three-quarters of rail passenger movements are made on electric-powered vehicles, putting the mode in a unique position to take advantage of the rise in renewable energy over the coming decades.

    Here, too, the United States lags far behind the rest of the world, with electrification almost unheard of away from the NEC.

    Rail networks in South Korea, Japan, Europe, China and Russia are more than 60% electrified, according to IEA figures, the highest share of track electrification being South Korea at around 85%.

    In North America, on the other hand, less than 5% of rail routes are electrified.

    The enormous size of the United States and its widely dispersed population mitigates against the creation of a single, unified network of the type being built in China and proposed for Europe.

    Air travel is likely to remain the preferred option for transcontinental journeys that can be more than 3,000 miles (around 4,828 kilometers).

    But there are many shorter inter-city travel corridors where high-speed rail, or a combination of new infrastructure and upgraded railroad tracks or tilting trains, could eventually provide an unbeatable alternative to air travel and highways.

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  • Train derails and causes forest fire in Rockwood, Maine but officials say no hazardous materials involved | CNN

    Train derails and causes forest fire in Rockwood, Maine but officials say no hazardous materials involved | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    The train cars that derailed near a village in central Maine Saturday and caused a large fire were not carrying hazardous materials, officials said, adding there was no threat to public safety.

    Officials say the derailed fright train cars were carrying lumber and wiring. Other carts were carrying hazardous materials but were unaffected by the derailment and the fire, a spokesperson for the Canadian Pacific Kansas City rail network said. Officials said the derailment likely was caused by a washout of ice and debris on the tracks.

    The Rockwood Fire and Rescue Department said the train derailed north of Rockwood, a village in Somerset County that borders Moosehead Lake – the largest body of fresh water in the state.

    Officials at the scene assessed the derailment and said the “hazardous materials are not at risk of leaking and are not at risk of catching fire,” Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry spokesperson Jim Britt said in a statement.

    Three railroad employees suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the derailment and are being treated at a nearby hospital, Britt added.

    The derailment happened around 8:30 a.m. ET when the train came across a track washout in a rural wooded area, the rail network’s spokesperson C. Doniele Carlson said in a statement.

    It wasn’t immediately clear which freight train carrier was operating the train Saturday.

    “An early assessment indicates that the derailment may have been caused by a build-up of melting ice and debris that washed out part of the railroad track,” according to the Maine Forest Service.

    The three locomotive engines and six rail cars that derailed were carrying lumber and electrical wiring and caught fire causing a small forest fire, according to the Maine Forest Service. The fire is now contained and being monitored by local emergency first responders, the service said.

    Maine Governor Janet Mills tweeted she was briefed on the train derailment and stated her office “will continue to closely monitor the situation” but that there was “no threat to public health or safety.”

    The rail network, which was inaugurated Friday, combines railways from Canada and the US to create “the first single-line railway connecting Canada, the U.S., and Mexico,” according to a press release.

    “CPKC is the only railway connecting North America and has unrivaled port access on coasts around the continent, from Vancouver to Atlantic Canada to the Gulf of Mexico to Lázaro Cárdenas on Mexico’s Pacific coast,” the press release states.

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  • Officials say water and air are safe after train carrying highly flammable ethanol derails in Minnesota | CNN

    Officials say water and air are safe after train carrying highly flammable ethanol derails in Minnesota | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    The day after a train carrying a highly flammable chemical derailed and burst into flames in a small city in southwestern Minnesota, crews are still working to clear the area as officials reassure residents the water and air are safe.

    Of the 22 cars that derailed in Raymond, Minnesota, Thursday morning, four containing ethanol ruptured and caught fire, the US Environmental Protection Agency said. Other cars carrying the substance were also at risk of releasing the chemical, the EPA said.

    Other cars that derailed contained corn syrup, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office said. No injuries have been reported.

    Sen. Amy Klobuchar said at a Friday news conference at the site that it “seems” there is no contamination within the soil.

    “No one was hurt. The ground is good. The air is good. So, let’s just see what we can do going forward to make sure it does not happen again,” the Minnesota Democrat said.

    There are currently 100 people at on the scene of the derailment cleaning up the cars. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, Klobuchar said.

    The EPA said it has been at the crash site and monitoring the air for particulate matter and other compounds, noting there hasn’t been severe impact to the community thus far. And the train operator, BNSF Railway, said it did not find any impact to the drinking water and the air either, it said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

    “Our concern, after the safety of the people here, was what was going to happen with the air and they have done multiple tests and they will continue to do that,” Klobuchar said.

    The cars are expected to be running again – barring a major blizzard – in the next few days, according to Klobuchar and remediation efforts are also underway to help residents who were impacted by the incident.

    Klobuchar said she and fellow Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith are looking into rail safety legislation in Congress.

    In the meantime, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a tweet Friday that he’s “grateful for the swift, coordinated response” of local, state, and national partners.

    “Yesterday’s derailment amplifies the critical need to pass my budget’s investments in rail safety to prevent this from happening again,” Walz said.

    The response to the derailment and fire included 28 fire departments, including several volunteer departments who remained at the crash late Thursday, the sheriff’s office had said in a post online.

    The derailment happened around 1 a.m. Thursday in Raymond, a small city of some 800 residents.

    Homes within a half-mile of the derailment were evacuated, but the order was lifted later in the day, according to the sheriff’s office.

    The derailment in Minnesota comes less than two months after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals crashed in the Ohio community of East Palestine.

    The blaze burned for days, and toxic chemicals were released into the air and killed thousands of fish. Many residents there have complained of health problems after the derailment and raised concerns about the impact of the chemicals.

    Firefighters work near piled up train cars, near Raymond Thursday.

    In Minnesota, preliminary information from the crash suggested 14 of the train’s 40 cars were carrying hazardous materials, “including ethanol, which was released – leading to a fire,” US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN Thursday morning.

    Ethanol can explode when mixed with vapor and air. Exposure to ethanol can lead to coughing, dizziness, the feeling of burning eyes, drowsiness and unconsciousness.

    “Ethanol, like many chemicals, can be toxic if inhaled or comes into contact with skin or is ingested. But it requires a certain concentration to be a health hazard,” said Purdue University professor Andrew Whelton, an expert in environmental chemistry and water quality.

    Ethanol is highly soluble in water, meaning it will be relatively easy to dilute.

    “Dilution is one way to reduce the risk” of health issues from any water that may be contaminated with ethanol, Whelton said.

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  • US Justice Department sues Norfolk Southern following train derailment in East Palestine | CNN

    US Justice Department sues Norfolk Southern following train derailment in East Palestine | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    The US Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Thursday, alleging violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and seeking damages over the train derailment and subsequent environmental disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, in February.

    The Norfolk Southern Railway Company and parent company Norfolk Southern Corporation are both named in the suit, court records show. The DOJ filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency.

    The DOJ says the lawsuit seeks “injunctive relief, cost recovery, and civil penalties” for violations of the CWA, including discharges of pollutants and hazardous materials into waters, and under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

    Norfolk Southern says its focus is on making “progress every day cleaning up the site, assisting residents whose lives were impacted by the derailment, and investing in the future of East Palestine and the surrounding areas,” according to a statement sent to CNN from the company’s spokesperson, Connor Spielmaker, on Friday.

    “We are working with urgency, at the direction of the US EPA, and making daily progress,” the statement said. “That remains our focus and we’ll keep working until we make it right.”

    On February 3, a Norfolk Southern train derailed, igniting a dayslong inferno, spewing poisonous fumes into the air, killing thousands of fish and leaving residents to wonder if it was safe to live in East Palestine, Ohio.

    The fiery derailment prompted fears of a catastrophic explosion of vinyl chloride – a highly flammable chemical linked to an increased risk of cancer. After a mandatory evacuation order, crews released vinyl chloride into a trench and burned it off – averting an explosion but spawning new health concerns.

    Officials said tests showed that the air and municipal water were safe and allowed residents to return home, but some have reported a variety of new health problems including rashes, nausea, bloody noses and trouble breathing.

    While studying the possible health impacts from the train derailment, seven US government investigators also briefly fell ill in early March, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed to CNN on Thursday.

    “Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon, and everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours. Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects,” a CDC spokesperson said in a statement.

    The train operator Norfolk Southern must handle and pay for all necessary cleanup, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The company has sent some hazardous waste out of state – fueling more questions about safety.

    The DOJ isn’t the only one filing a lawsuit against the railroad. The state of Ohio also filed a 58-count federal lawsuit against the rail company on March 14, saying Norfolk Southern violated numerous state, federal and Ohio common laws and violated the state’s CERCLA act.

    Norfolk Southern has set up a new web page that summarizes community impact efforts. Spielmaker said it “provides a 7-day look ahead and is updated daily and outlines Norfolk Southern’s continued environmental remediation efforts in concert with state and federal authorities.”

    “When a Norfolk Southern train derailed last month in East Palestine, Ohio, it released toxins into the air, soil, and water, endangering the health and safety of people in surrounding communities,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. “With this complaint, the Justice Department and the EPA are acting to pursue justice for the residents of East Palestine and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries the financial burden for the harm it has caused and continues to inflict on the community.”

    The Justice Department, citing annual company reports, alleges in the suit Norfolk Southern both increased operating income and dropped operating costs over the past four years, including making “reductions in spending to repair, service, and maintain locomotives and freight cars, perform train inspections, and pay engine crews and train crews.” The suit also alleges that these measures are a “focus” of the compensation of the company’s executives.

    The lawsuit claims when the train derailed and cars carrying hazardous materials were breached, the dispersion and subsequent combustion of those materials released toxic chemicals into the “air, soil, groundwater, and waterways.”

    The DOJ says seven local waterways including the Ohio River were contaminated as a result.

    The Ohio Department of Natural Resources reported “thousands of aquatic animals were killed in the five-mile span of waterway from the Site” to the confluence of two creeks the DOJ described as contaminated, the lawsuit says.

    DOJ is asking for $64,618 per day, per violation of the CWA and $55,808 per day or $2,232 per barrel of oil or unit of hazardous substance, per violation of the CWA – but it was not immediately clear from the suit how many days the DOJ considered the violation to be applicable.

    They’re also seeking a declaration of liability against the company for response costs; a mandated increase in safety precautions by Norfolk Southern when transporting hazardous materials; and for the railroad to “remedy, mitigate, and offset” the environmental damage and public health issues that have arisen as a result of the derailment, court documents show.

    In early March, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw told a US Senate hearing that the company would “clean the site safely, thoroughly, and with urgency.”

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  • A train carrying highly flammable ethanol derails in Minnesota, sparking an hourslong fire. Now 4 more cars with ethanol could spill | CNN

    A train carrying highly flammable ethanol derails in Minnesota, sparking an hourslong fire. Now 4 more cars with ethanol could spill | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A train hauling ethanol derailed Thursday morning in Raymond, Minnesota, igniting several rail cars and forcing a mandatory evacuation of the city of about 800, officials said.

    The fire was still burning more than 8 hours after the derailment, the US Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement late Thursday morning.

    “Four cars containing ethanol, a highly flammable product, ruptured, caught fire and continue to burn,” said the EPA, which had members at the scene by 6:30 a.m.

    And there’s a risk that more ethanol could spill.

    “Four additional cars containing ethanol may also release,” the EPA said. “The local fire department is currently the lead for the response and ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city. The evacuation remains in place.”

    The EPA team is on the ground in Raymond to conduct air quality monitoring.

    Preliminary information suggests 14 of the train’s 40 cars were carrying hazardous material, “including ethanol, which was released – leading to a fire,” US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN on Thursday.

    In addition to ethanol, the train was carrying mixed freight including corn syrup, said Lena Kent, general director of public affairs for BNSF Railway.

    Ethanol can explode when mixed with vapor and air. Ethanol exposure can lead to coughing, dizziness, the feeling of burning eyes, drowsiness and unconsciousness.

    First responders work the scene of a train derailment Thursday in Raymond, Minnesota.

    The derailment happened around 1 a.m. Homes within a half-mile of the derailment were evacuated, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office said.

    “There have been no injuries as a result of the crash or emergency response,” the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook. “BNSF specialists are on scene and continued mitigation is occurring.”

    Brittney Phelps and her family were startled by a knock on their door at 1:30 a.m. It was a first responder going door to door telling residents to flee as a precaution.

    “I heard a loud crash but didn’t think anything of it ‘til ambulances were outside the house,” Phelps said.

    She soon smelled the stench of ethanol and saw the wrecked train cars and large fire, Phelps told CNN.

    The derailment happened at about 1 a.m. Thursday, the Raymond Fire Department said.

    The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed a nearby highway due to the derailment and blaze, the fire department said. The main railroad track is blocked, and an estimated time for reopening the line was not available.

    “The City of Raymond is not accessible to the public, so Unity Church in Prinsburg is willing to be a drop off location for bottled water and snacks for the firemen,” the wife of a fire department member said, according to the department’s Facebook page. “These brave souls have been working hard for hours already, and have several hours of work ahead for them.”

    The cause of the derailment is under investigation. A team from the National Transportation Safety Board is expected to arrive at the site Thursday afternoon, the NTSB said.

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state emergency management leadership will travel to Raymond on Thursday to visit the site of the derailment, the governor’s office said.

    The derailment happened nearly two months after another train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio – igniting a dayslong inferno, spewing poisonous fumes into the air and killing thousands of fish. The Ohio health department is preparing to offer health tests to first responders as part of a long-term effort to monitor the health of those who responded to the disaster.

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