Maintenance work began Wednesday on Union Pacific railroad tracks in the Downtown Sacramento railyards, while ongoing upgrades continue at the historic Sacramento Valley Station. Union Pacific has started rail maintenance work on existing tracks. Rail cars that are part of a track replacement train known as the TRT 909 are pulling up the rail and replacing railroad ties underneath, said Aaron Hunt, public relations director for Union Pacific. "We have track improvement projects going on throughout the state currently," he said. The work is not part of the $60 million Downtown track relocation project, said Richard Rich, development director of Thomas Enterprises' Railyards project. The

California's air may start to look a little cleaner, thanks to the California Department of Transportation and its project partners. Caltrans's revolutionary "green locomotive" debuted Wednesday morning at the Amtrak Sacramento Valley station. Members of Caltrans and its project partners assembled within the train station at a press release to make statements regarding the new locomotive, considered a major step toward reducing California's carbon footprint. It is one of the 15 F59PHI model locomotives owned by Caltrans and operated by Amtrak that is now installed with a 710ECO Repower upgrade package. The package is said to consist of the latest microprocessor-controlled locomotive eng

 A greener locomotive will make its official California debut in Sacramento Wednesday. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will present the locomotive during a press conference at the Sacramento Valley Rail Station, which holds a prestigious spot in railroad history as the western starting point for the Transcontinental Railroad. Caltrans and Amtrak are partners operating "Amtrak California." Caltrans owns this locomotive, plus 16 others and 88 train cars. Amtrak operates the trains and stations. The first in the Amtrak California passenger fleet, the locomotive has been upgraded to operate using the cleanest diesel technology available for train engines. “This is r

 “Who doesn’t love Christmas in June?” Nicole Rivelli, team member of Walt Disney Studio’s Special Events, posed this question when asked about the timing of Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” Train Tour stop in Sacramento. This weekend will mark the seventh stop for Disney’s train on its 40-city tour. Sacramento native and president of the Walt Disney Picture Group, Mark Zoradi, wished everyone a “Merry Christmas” as he introduced the interactive walk-through train tour being held at the California State Railroad Museum. The train is filled with costumes, flat-screen TVs with commentaries from all the characters, including Producer Robert Zemeckis, and a behind-the-scenes peek of how the d

On Thursday night, Sacramento's Preservation Commission held a special meeting to review plans to expand and refurbish Sacramento's historic passenger depot. The depot's environmental impact report includes two alternatives: a "move the depot" option that would involve rolling the historic building 400 feet north to meet the new track alignment, or a "don't move the depot" option that would build an expanded station between the current depot and the new track alignment. The commission was asked to provide their recommendation to City Council as to whether the city should move the station or not. Union Pacific's railroad tracks adjacent to the depot currently form a sharp S-curve that limi

At 9:40 this morning, a suspicious object was spotted on the light rail and called in by a citizen at the Amtrak station on 4th and I Streets, causing a flurry of emergency vehicles to come to the scene. The Sacramento Police Department responded, and the Sacramento Fire Department, HAZMAT team, Federal Protective Services, District Attorney's Investigator and the FBI were all on the scene. Cars were not allowed into the Amtrak parking lot to allow for emergency vehicle access, however, people on foot were allowed into the station. According to Sergeant Norm Leong of the Sacramento Police Department Public Information Office, Amtrak and light rail will still be running. "First thing the

Free Webcam Chat at Ustream This is a live feed from our office window, which is the epicenter of the hazardous materials threat ongoing at the Sacramento Valley Station Light Rail stop. The feed captures a small fraction of the law enforcement officers involved, but shows the ones at the center of the problem UPDATE: Live feed was discontinued at approximately 12:45p.m. as all the law enforcement had left the scene.

Our office, The Sacramento Press office, is located at 431 I Street right next to the Sacramento Valley Station. We share a parking lot with the train station. Parking at this location is not a pleasant experience. The lot serves as parking for our building, the train station and often times the Sacramento Federal Court house. Most days I choose not to drive to work, firstly because I prefer to use the very convenient light rail option, but secondly because the parking situation is so terrible. By 10 a.m., the lot is almost certainly full and the few remaining spots are almost always 2 hour spots, not suitable for those hoping to park and ride the train. After finally finding a spot mo