Railroad News

The Port of Everett last week hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction on the South Terminal modernization project.

The $36 million effort is the largest capital project in the port's history. It is designed to ensure the port is ready to support the next generation of over-dimensional cargo, such as aerospace parts for Boeing Co.'s new 777X, port officials said in a press release.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) tomorrow will host its first public meeting on the $40 billion "Fast Forward" plan to modernize its subway and bus systems.

The agency expects to host a series of similar town hall-style meetings across the city. Tomorrow's meeting will take place at York College in Queens.

Port Manatee and Carver Maritime LLC have entered into a long-term marine terminal operating agreement for a 10-acre aggregate offloading site at the Florida Gulf Coast port.

The agreement, which could last up to 20 years including options, was approved Aug. 16 by the Manatee County Port Authority, port officials said in a press release.

During the 2017-18 crop year, Canadian Pacific moved 25.8 million metric tons of western Canadian grain and grain products, soybeans and other non-regulated principal field crops.

That marks a 1 percent increase compared with volume in the 2016-17 crop year, CP officials said in a press release. The figure is also 1 percent above the railroad's three-year average. Additionally, in September 2017, CP handled its most grain to date.

Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. (GREX) has added Bruce Wise as director of business development. He'll focus on strategic accounts and new products as the company continues to develop track inspection and maintenance technologies, GREX officials said in a press release. Wise has more than three decades of experience in engineering, sales, management and leadership experience. He most recently served as director of railroad sales at Whitmore Rail in Rockwall, Texas. Since 2009, Wise has served on the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association's board. For the 2017-2018 term, he served as board president.

Stewart & Stevenson Manufacturing Technologies has named Eastern Lift Truck Co. Inc. as the sole authorized dealership to market, sell and service its Rail King® rail-car movers within the Mid-Atlantic region. Headquartered in Houston, Stewart & Stevenson manufactures five different Rail King rail-car movers, which feature side-mount or full-width cabs with dual direction controls. The company chose Eastern Lift for its "first-class" service, Stewart & Stevenson officials said in a press release.

Metro Transit-St. Louis on Aug. 20 will begin extending the platform of its Central West End MetroLink station.

The platform is being extended to the east to better accommodate the volume of riders using the station, Metro Transit officials said in a press release. The stop is the busiest station on the 46-mile MetroLink light-rail system.

The Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) board earlier this week awarded a $30 million contract to F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates LLC to renovate the Grand, Chicago and Division rail stations along the Blue Line.

Each station will be equipped with new railings, lighting, security cameras and other improvements. The project marks the largest renovation of the three subway stations since they opened in 1951, CTA officials said in a press release.

Infrastructure improvements along a stretch of the North Carolina Railroad Co. (NCRR) in High Point, North Carolina, have been completed, the railroad announced this week.

In January, NCRR and High Point officials agreed to a $5.1 million plan to improve the railroad corridor and drainage in the city's downtown. NCRR funded $3.6 million of the project's cost, NCRR officials said in a press release.

Michigan has become the latest state to achieve federal certification of its transit-rail safety oversight program, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced yesterday.

States with transit-rail systems need to get their safety programs certified by April 15, 2019. Twenty-eight states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are required to obtain the certification. States that fail to meet the deadline risk losing federal transit funding.

Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad (CSS) is joining a local two-year project aimed at increasing train capacity between Gary and Michigan City, Indiana.

The railroad will work with the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) and the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) on the project, which is designed to improve passenger-rail service between Chicago and South Bend, Indiana, and support economic growth in northwest Indiana, CSS officials said in a press release.

The Pennsylvania State Transportation Commission has adopted an updated 12-year transportation plan, which calls for $63.9 billion worth of improvements to railroads, transit systems, roads, bridges and airports.

The new program, which goes into effect Oct. 1, calls for $9.62 billion for public transit, $319 million for multimodal and $228 million for freight-rail projects during 2019 through 2022, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

Cecily Way, 35

Job description: Responsible for delivery of high-speed rail to Southern California. Currently focused on completing preliminary engineering and environmental approvals for over 150 miles of high-speed rail in the southern region. Works alongside a team of project managers and technical experts to oversee this effort. Also focused on the delivery of early investments in Southern California, projects that the California High-Speed Rail Authority is working on with local partners to see immediate benefits for existing systems while accommodating high-speed rail in the future.

Education: Undergraduate degree in civil engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; master's degrees in transportation engineering and city planning, University of California, Berkeley

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has begun upgrading old cameras to high-definition ones at four stations along the Blue Line.

The agency also is installing new cameras at the Clinton, LaSalle, Grand and Chicago stations along the line. Slated to be completed shortly after Labor Day, the work is being performed at night to minimize service disruptions, CTA officials said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has not yet distributed $1.38 billion in federal funding that's been designated for transit-rail and bus projects, causing delays in transit agencies' construction plans, according to a report from Transportation for America.

The organization reported this week that the FTA has distributed about $25 million of $1.4 billion in transit-related grants that were included in the 2018 appropriations bill signed in March by President Trump.

The Canadian government will spend more than CA$335,000 to upgrade the signal system at a grade crossing in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, Canada's Minister of Transport Marc Garneau announced this week.

The warning system for the Route 116 crossing at Benoit Road will be upgraded so it can continue managing incoming traffic from multiple directions, Transport Canada officials said in a press release.

U.S. railroads posted a 2.8 percent increase in traffic during the week ending Aug. 11 compared with the same week in 2017, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Total carloads for the week rose 1.8 percent to 271,718 units, while intermodal volume increased 3.8 percent to 285,169 containers and trailers compared a year ago, AAR announced in a press release.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) 10-year "Fast Forward" plan to repair MTA New York City Transit's (NYCT) subway and bus systems is expected to cost about $40 billion, NYCT President Andy Byford said in a YouTube video released yesterday.

Unveiled in May, the plan calls for updating the subway system's signals and track infrastructure to improve performance. Within five years, the agency aims to install communications-based train control on five additional rail lines. And within the 10 years, that control system would be implemented on 11 more lines.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has balanced its operating budget for the first time in 10 years, agency officials announced earlier this week.

The MBTA's $2 billion operating budget for fiscal-year 2018 was expected to carry a $30 million structural deficit. However, the agency was able to balance the budget through revenue growth and cost controls, according to a report to the MBTA's Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB).