Railroad News

Kyle Fortson has been named chairman of the National Mediation Board (NMB).

The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed her as a board member in November 2017. Before joining the NMB, Fortson served as labor policy director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has reached a settlement with the First Free Baptist Church of Bakersfield, which will result in California Environmental Quality Act litigation being dismissed for the project's Fresno-to-Bakersfield section.

The litigation involved the final environmental impact report and statement for that section of the project, authority officials said yesterday in a press release.

Federal government and California Polytechnic University Pomona officials will gather Thursday to mark the start of a new freight-rail diversion route that will end blocked crossings, collisions and train noise on a campus gateway.

Located on the transcontinental Alameda Corridor-East (ACE) Trade Corridor, the Union Pacific Railroad route is used daily by 20 freight trains and is projected to increase to 42 trains by 2025.

Jessica Mefford-Miller has been named interim executive director of Metro Transit-St. Louis.

She succeeds Ray Friem, who retired July 1. Mefford-Miller previously served as Metro Transit's assistant executive director of transit planning and system development, according to a press release issued by Bi-State Development, Metro-Transit's parent agency.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has released a request for proposals (RFP) to advance engineering work for its proposed King of Prussia Rail extension of the Norristown High Speed Line.

The RFP's scope covers preliminary design work, including utility and geotechnical investigations and surveying. The chosen bidder will advance the engineering and architectural design from the conceptual locally preferred alternative, which SEPTA chose in January.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved the Port of Virginia's project to widen and deepen its shipping lanes serving Norfolk Harbor.

The Corps' report represents the federal government's final approval for the project, which will take the channels to 55 deep and widen them in select areas to allow for two-way traffic of ultra-large container vessels, port officials said in a press release.

The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority's (SFRTA) governing board has elected Esteban Bovo Jr. as chairman and Tim Ryan as vice chair.

Last month, the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners tapped Bovo to serve as its representative on SFRTA's governing board. Ryan was added to the agency's governing board in January 2015.

Construction of Sound Transit's East Link light-rail tunnel in downtown Bellevue, Washington, is more than 90 percent completed, the agency announced late last week.

Crews are on track to finish the tunnel within 15 months, or about five months earlier than scheduled, Sound Transit officials said in a press release.

TransLink's board and the Vancouver-area Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation late last week finalized funding agreements for the second phase of the region's 10-year transportation plan.

The British Columbia government has committed to funding 40 percent of the capital costs of the plan's second phase, which includes construction of the new Surrey-Newton-Guildford light-rail and an extension of the Millennium SkyTrain line.

House Democrats last week warned the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) against issuing exemptions that allow railroads to avoid implementing positive train control (PTC).

In a letter to FRA Administrator Ron Batory, the lawmakers said the exemptions included in the FRA's PTC regulations were "overly broad." Although Congress did not authorize exemptions to the PTC mandate, the FRA included them in its regulations.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has approved New Jersey Transit's positive train control (PTC) testing plan that would qualify the agency for a two-year extension to implement the technology.

While existing PTC law allows railroads to seek an extension if they initiate a PTC revenue service demonstration on at least one required territory, the FRA can establish "substitute criteria" for commuter railroads.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for Palmetto Railway's proposed intermodal facility at the former Navy base in North Charleston, South Carolina.

A division of South Carolina's Commerce Department, the railroad's proposed intermodal container transfer facility would provide equal access to CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway trains.

Alstom this week presented its first Prima T8 AZ8A electric freight locomotive to Azerbaijan Railways. Capable of towing up to 9,000 tons, the eight-axle unit is based on the KZ8A locomotives in service in Kazakhstan. The company presented the Prima T8 locomotive at its site in Astana, Kazakhstan, where 40 units are being manufactured by Alstom joint venture EKZ. In 2014, Azerbaijan Railways awarded EKZ a contract to build 50 locomotives, including 10 Prima M4 AZ4A passenger locomotives.

French industrial battery manufacturer Saft this year is marking its 100th anniversary. The company provides specialized batteries for transportation, energy storage and Internet of Things applications. Saft serves more than 3,000 customers worldwide, and has research centers in France and the United States, company officials said in a press release.

Brightline has partnered with nonprofit Talent4Change to sponsor a program aimed at increasing public awareness of rail safety.

Known as "BUZZitFORWARD," the program would provide free haircuts and mentoring for underprivileged youth and the homeless who take Brightline's rail safety pledge or complete a brief tutorial on rail safety, Brightline officials said in a press release.

Port Everglades in Broward County, Florida, is nearing the end of the design phase of its plan to install three new super post-Panamax container-handling gantry cranes.

The port's Chief Executive Officer Steven Cernak has issued a second notice to proceed to begin manufacturing the cranes, which are valued at $13.8 million each. They are being manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. Inc. of China (ZPMC), according to a Broward County press release.

Californians in November will vote on whether to repeal the state's gas tax increase and vehicle fees that are slated to provide billions of dollars for transportation projects over the next few years.

The initiative was added to the ballot after petitioners collected more than 585,000 signatures, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week.