Railroad News

The city of Borger, Texas, has applied for a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program that would help fund a project to improve the safety and security of the Panhandle Northern Railroad LLC (PNR).

The city is the lead applicant for the grant, but is joined by the short line and the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission as co-applicants, according to a city press release.

Metrolinx Chair Robert Prichard resigned yesterday.

During his nine-year tenure at the agency, Prichard also served as president and chief executive officer. He cited the election of new government leaders in Ontario among his reasons for resigning. Prichard served as chair for the past seven years.

[Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a link to the sidebar.]

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel earlier this week joined Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and Chicago Department of Transportation officials to unveil design plans for a new Green Line station on the city's near west side.

Located at Lake Street and Damen Avenue, the new station is designed to improve public transit options for nearby residents, visitors to the United Center sports arena and businesses along the Kinzie Industrial Corridor.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) next month will retire its remaining P865 light-rail cars.

Seaonus Stevedoring-New Orleans, a division of Patriot Rail Co., has been granted permission to operate the only on-dock foreign trade zone (FTZ) site in New Orleans, which will be at the Port of New Orleans' Alabo Street Wharf location.

The facility will offer covered and noncovered storage for a variety of cargo, including breakbulk commodities such as nonferrous metals and steel, company officials said in a press release.

CN will spend CA$315 million on projects to expand and strengthen its network across Ontario this year, the Class I announced yesterday.

Planned expansion projects will include investments in a satellite intermodal facility near the railroad's Brampton Intermodal Terminal to provide temporary capacity; intermodal equipment and infrastructure at CN's Brampton Intermodal Terminal to serve growing cold supply chain business; and construction of a new train passing siding east of Sioux Lookout.

The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) has chosen Walsh Construction to rebuild the Merchants Bridge spanning the Mississippi River.

Built in 1889, the bridge is the oldest rail structure over the Mississippi River, Walsh officials said in a press release. The $172 million project calls for bringing the bridge up to current rail standards and adding capacity.

U.S. railroads' intermodal volume surged 12 percent to 244,679 containers and trailers during the week ending July 7 compared with the same week in 2017, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Carload volume also rose during the week, up 5.4 percent to 240,514 units. Total traffic for U.S. railroads climbed 8.6 percent to 485,193 carloads and intermodal units during the week compared to a year ago, according to an AAR press release.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) yesterday marked the arrival and inaugural run of its first new Siemens ACS-64 electric locomotive.

The agency is buying 15 locomotives from Siemens. The new units will enable SEPTA to expand its fleet and replace eight aging locomotives, including the only remaining AEM-7 locomotives operating in the United States, agency officials said in a press release.

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has awarded $19 million in state funding toward a CSX rail-yard expansion in the town of DeWitt in central New York.

The project will create central New York's first inland port, which will allow for containerized freight to be moved between the Port of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) and CSX's DeWitt terminal, NYSDOT officials said yesterday in a press release.

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HollyFrontier Corp. has agreed to acquire locomotive engine oil supplier Red Giant Oil Co. Based in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Red Giant has storage facilities in Idaho, Utah and Wyoming, along with a blending and packaging facility in Texas. The transaction is slated to close in the third quarter, HollyFrontier officials said in a press release. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has chosen architecture, engineering and planning firm Bergmann as a preferred provider of grant application services. The company will assist ASLRRA members in applying for grants from federal and other sources. Bergmann's grant-writing capabilities cover the application process, including environmental support services, permitting, preliminary engineering, cost estimating, and cost-benefit analysis, company officials said in a press release.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has appointed Rose Windmiller to the Bi-State Development's board.

Bi-State Development is the operator of Metro Transit-St. Louis, which operates light-rail, bus and paratransit services in the St. Louis area.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. announced a unanimous jury verdict in subsidiary Sandbox Logistics' breach-of-contract lawsuit against Arrows Up LLC, an affiliate of OmniTRAX Inc.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of Sandbox on all 12 issues presented in the lawsuit, U.S. Silica officials said July 9 in a press release.

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) logged a record 2.2 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU), marking a 3 percent increase in fiscal-year 2017 over the previous fiscal year.

In June, the authority handled 201,163 TEUs, representing the single highest month for container volume in the port's history, SCPA officials said in a press release.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has asked President Donald Trump to intervene in a dispute between the union and Texas Mexican Railway (Tex Mex) and its parent, Kansas City Southern Railway (KSCR).

On July 9, Tex Mex replaced U.S. crew members with Mexican train crews between Laredo Yard in Laredo, Texas, and the International Bridge located about 10 miles away.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced $1.8 million in grant awards to expand freight-rail opportunities as part of the Industrial Rail Access Program.

The program is a competitive state-funded public-private partnership that provides financial assistance to eligible applicants to invest in projects that improve access to industry-based rail infrastructure.

North Carolina, Puerto Rico and Washington have obtained federal certification for their rail safety oversight programs, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced yesterday.

Federal law requires states with transit-rail systems to obtain FTA certification of their state safety oversight (SSO) programs by April 15, 2019.

In an op-ed published today in the Washington Examiner, Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and Chief Executive Officer Edward Hamberger and shipper industry executives issued a strong rebuke of President Donald Trump's trade policies.

Trump's recently announced tariffs on certain foreign goods will hinder global commerce and could reverse economic progress spurred by the president's regulation reforms and tax cuts, wrote Hamberger, American Chemistry Council CEO Cal Dooley and American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard.