El Paso Streetcar services return this week
The El Paso Streetcar will return to the city’s streets this week with services every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Fares will be waived and the streetcar will run from 4 p.m. to midnight during those days. The vintage vehicles, outfitted with modern amenities, serve 27 stops along the streetcar’s 4.8 mile loop route through El Paso’s Downtown and Uptown neighborhoods. Officials said hours of operation may be expanded to accommodate events during other times or days of the week this summer. [ktsm.com]
Rocky Mountaineer running tests in Colorado
The Rocky Mountaineer is conducting a series of test runs before launching its new “Rockies to Red Rocks” service between Denver and Moab, Utah. The Canadian railroad and tour operator is offering two-day trips between Denver and Moab or Moab and Denver, with an overnight stop in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The trainsets are being hauled by two Union Pacific locomotives, leased to Rocky Mountaineer for the duration of the train’s debut season, scheduled to begin Aug. 15. The locomotives lack the railroad’s widely recognized, signature livery colors and insignias. They may be wrapped or otherwise dressed up prior to the start of operations. [trains.com]
Seattle transit teams with agencies for ‘Trees for Rail’
Seattle’s Sound Transit, the city of Shoreline, Washington, and the King Conservation District are partnering for Trees for Rail, a program to re-green the Lynnwood Link light-rail corridor with native trees and shrubs as it passes through Shoreline. The program calls for using the district’s county-wide Urban Tree Canopy program to establish native vegetation and a tree canopy to reduce the impact on corridor-adjacent homeowners. The Trees for Rail program enables the planting of trees and shrubs near track-impacted homes and city rights-of-way. [progressiverailroading.com]
Trans-Iranian Railway added to World Heritage List
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has announced the addition of the Trans-Iranian Railway to its World Heritage List. The 1,394 km (866 mi) railway, which connects the Caspian Sea in the northeast with the Persian Gulf in the southwest, was built between 1927 and 1938. The railway is notable for its scale and the engineering work that was required to overcome steep routes and other difficulties. Its construction involved extensive mountain cutting in some areas, while the rugged terrain in others dictated the construction of 174 large bridges, 186 small bridges, and 224 tunnels. [rferl.org]
