Railroad News

New Jersey Transit founding chairman Louis Gambaccini died Aug. 19. He was 87.

In 1978, he was selected to serve as New Jersey's commissioner of transportation, and through his leadership, NJ Transit was created on July 17, 1979. He served as the state's commissioner and NJ Transit's chairman through 1981.

Hexagon's Geosystems division has signed a U.S./Canada distribution agreement with Amberg Technologies Ltd., a provider of surveying solutions for the rail industry. The expanded partnership is aimed at accelerating the digitalization of the industry by providing easier access to solutions that solve "geospatial and measurement challenges," Hexagon officials said in a press release. Under the new agreement, Hexagon will improve its rail industry offerings in the United States and Canada by adding sales distribution, technical support, and repair and calibration services for the full line of Amberg's rail products. Hexagon provides several branded products and services to the rail industry, including Leica Geosystems' reality capture solutions and SafeLoad clearance solutions.

IMC Cos. has received the "Best in Benefits" award at a recent Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance event. The honor recognizes employees that offer the best benefit plans relative to their peers, IMC officials said in a press release. Using medical plan designs, premiums and contributions from employers in the Benefits Benchmarking Survey, management consulting firm Milliman examined about 430 employers in the Memphis, Tennessee, area. IMC was recognized for being in the top 10 employers evaluated in the mid-south United States.

RIO Real Estate Investment Opportunities LLC has signed an agreement with Blacklands Railroad subsidiary Black Gold Terminals to manage operations at the Central New Mexico Rail Park that's slated to open soon in Los Lunas, New Mexico.

Black Gold Terminals provides transload services, including on-demand switching, loading and unloading services. In May, the subsidiary opened a transloading and storage terminal at the Northern Nevada Railport and Logistics Center in Fernley, Nevada. Black Gold Terminals also operates a facility in Odessa, Texas.

During the second quarter, Sound Transit's Central Link light-rail line served 6.3 million riders, marking a 6.2 percent increase over the same period last year.

In addition, average weekday boardings shot up 5.4 percent to 77,567, according to the agency's second-quarter ridership report.

The Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA) yesterday announced that Bruce Wise will step down as president and be succeeded by Alan Reynolds, who's served on REMSA's board since 2009.

Wise recently joined Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. as director of business development. His employment change necessitates the officer change, REMSA officials said in a press release.

BNSF Railway Co. has awarded its "Certified Sites" designation to three new industrial locations in Oklahoma, Montana and Saskatchewan.

The program identifies optimal rail-served sites for customer development along the Class I's network. To be considered for the designation, sites must undergo a thorough analysis that includes an evaluation of environmental and geotechnical standards, available utilities and site availability.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has granted Valley Metro approval to begin "significant construction" on a new streetcar system in Tempe, Arizona.

Valley Metro has already started preliminary construction and underground utility work, but the FTA's blessing will enable the agency to begin building trackway, power systems and street improvements.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) yesterday released a second-quarter status update on railroads' self-reported progress toward implementing positive train control (PTC) systems.

As of June 30, 15 railroads had installed 100 percent of the PTC system hardware required for implementation; 12 had installed between 95 percent and 99 percent of all hardware; and all railroads — except for one — that use spectrum-based PTC systems had acquired sufficient radio spectrum, according to the status update.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has reached a tentative agreement with Transit America Services Inc. (TASI) for its members that work as Caltrain locomotive engineers.

On Aug. 20, ratification ballots were mailed to BLET members employed by TASI who are eligible to vote on the pact. Ballots are due Sept. 13.

W.A. Rasic Construction Co. Inc. has completed work under its $2.6 million utility relocation design-build contract for the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority's 12.3-mile light-rail project between Glendora and Montclair, California.

Awarded in fall 2017, the contract called for relocating or protecting a dozen strategically located sewer and water lines that cross the corridor where the light-rail line is being built.

The Maryland Department of Transportation's Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) next week will begin construction on a $4.7 million renovation of its Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport rail station in Linthicum, Maryland.

Slated to start Aug. 27, the project includes expanding the waiting area, creating new ticketing facilities and a concession area, and building new restrooms. The work is expected to take 14 months to complete, MTA officials said in a press release.

In mid-July, U.S. Class Is employed 147,426 people, up a meager 0.1 percent from the count a month earlier and down less than a tenth of a percent from the workforce figure in July 2017, according to Surface Transportation Board (STB) employment data.

On a month-over-month basis, only the maintenance-of-way and structures segment of U.S. Class I's workforce shrank, and slightly at that, declining 0.3 percent to 32,617. The other five segments registered the following gains: transportation (other than train and engine), 1.7 percent to 5,691; executives, officials and staff assistants, 0.4 percent to 8,422; transportation (train and engine), 0.2 percent to 61,891; professional and administrative staff; 0.05 percent to 12,004; and maintenance of equipment and stores, 0.01 percent to 26,801.

Politicians in New York and Illinois are the latest policymakers to announce the award of federal funding for positive train control (PTC) implementation projects at several freight and passenger railroads.

Yesterday, U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has awarded a $1.2 million grant to the Middletown & New Jersey Railroad for PTC installation.

Thirty-three weeks into the year, U.S railroads’ traffic continued to mount. During the week ending Aug. 18, they moved 567,477 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.7 percent year over year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

U.S carloads increased 2.9 percent to 278,701 units and intermodal volume rose 4.4 percent to 288,776 units. Nine of 10 carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR posted a gain in the week, including grain, up 5,491 carloads to 23,404, and petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,544 carloads to 10,898. Coal carloads fell by 4,534 units to 93,248.

Yesterday, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal joined other state officials, port representatives, and business and civic leaders at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Chatsworth to officially open the Appalachian Regional Port (ARP).

Managed by the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) and served by CSX, the inland port facility will provide logistics services for customers in a four-state region and remove an estimated 50,000 trucks from local highways each year, GPA officials said in a press release. The ARP targets shippers in north Georgia, northeast Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky who seek a more efficient option to move cargo to and from the Port of Savannah, they said.

United Technologies Corp. has acquired Predikto Inc., an Atlanta-based predictive analytics software firm. Predikto has developed a cloud-based predictive health maintenance solution aimed at enabling its customers to forecast and improve asset reliability with better certainty. The acquisition will reinforce United Technologies' global digital strategy of making strategic business investments to deliver "new forms of value" for customers, employees and shareholders, company officials said in a press release.

Knorr-Bremse Rail Vehicle Systems has acquired Federal-Mogul Corp.'s intellectual property rights for the development and production of friction materials for rail vehicle and industrial applications. In return, Federal-Mogul will receive a "back license" from Knorr-Bremse that will enable the company to continue supplying rail friction materials. The acquisition will help Knorr-Bremse reinforce its system expertise and invest in new and improved customer-oriented products, company officials said in a press release. The integarted development of rail braking systems and brake pads is expected to lead to greater deceleration, lower noise emissions and reduced lifecycle costs, according to Knorr-Bremse.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's (RTA) board yesterday appointed Floun'say Caver as interim chief executive officer and general manager.

He's slated to serve from Sept. 1 until March 1 while the board conducts a search to fill the position permanently, according to a GCRTA press release.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and its commuter-rail contractor Keolis Commuter Services will begin an infrastructure improvement program Aug. 25 along the Worcester Line.

The project calls for replacing 38,000 feet of rail. Expected to take eight weeks to complete, the work may cause minor delays for some weekend trains and weekday morning rush-hour trains, MBTA and Keolis officials said in a press release.