Railroad News

Metrolink's board late last week approved a 25 percent fare cut on its San Bernardino Line in an effort to increase ridership.

One of the commuter railroad's busiest lines, the San Bernardino Line serves the San Gabriel Valley in California, with stops at Los Angeles Union Station, California State University in Los Angeles, Montclair, Rancho Cucamonga and downtown San Bernardino.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has asked Federal Railroad Administrator Ronald Batory to work with freight railroads around the Chicago area to ensure Amtrak's on-time performance improves in Illinois and around the country.

In a letter to Batory sent last week, Durbin noted that Amtrak's Chicago-Champaign-Carbondale route continues to be "one of the worst performing routes" in the country.

The freight-rail industry has invested an estimated $100 billion in infrastructure, equipment and technology over the past four years to prepare for a 41 percent increase in freight shipments by 2040.

The investments have paid off by making U.S. railroads safer, with mainline accidents down 32 percent over the past decade, Association of American Railroads (AAR) officials said today, as they released a white paper highlighting how technology has improved rail network safety.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has awarded a $75 million Small Starts grant to Sound Transit for its Hilltop Tacoma Link extension.

The 2.4-mile light-rail extension will run along Commerce Street and Stadium Way to the Hilltop District in Tacoma, Washington. The line will include six new stations.

The Canadian government last week announced a CA$15.5 million investment in three infrastructure projects at the Port of Quebec.

The first project will upgrade rail and road infrastructure in the port's Anse au Foulon area to increase efficiency. Additionally, electrical network and water system will be upgraded, government officials said in a press release.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Senior Associate Editor

Amtrak
2018 C&S budget: $102.5 million
2017 C&S budget: $69.2 million
Major C&S projects planned in 2018: For fiscal-year 2018, continue PTC projects on the Empire Corridor and Springfield Line.

CSX
2018 C&S budget: $44 million
2017 C&S budget: $56.5 million
Major C&S projects planned in 2018: C&S capital focuses on SRO obsolescence, signal reliability, communications upgrades, defect detectors and hump yard improvements.
Note: The budget doesn’t include $116 million expected to be spent on signal upgrades for positive train control (PTC) implementation this year.

Norfolk Southern Corp.
2018 C&S budget: $31 million
2017 C&S budget: $30.8 million
Major C&S projects planned in 2018: Replace process control system (PCS), centralized traffic control (CTC) and direct traffic control (DTC) system at Elkhart Yard, and replace PCS system at Enola Yard.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Managing Editor

Canadian elected officials earlier this month gathered to install the final piece of light-rail track for the O-Train Confederation Line in Ottawa, Ontario.

On May 4, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and other leaders boarded a train at the Tremblay Station and traveled into the line's downtown tunnel, where officials hammered rail clips to secure the final piece of rail into position.

A draft agreement for a new rail service operator along the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line in California is now available for public view, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (SCCRTC) announced late last week.

The commission will consider the draft agreement at a June 14 meeting in Watsonville, California.

New Jersey Transit's board has appointed William Viqueira chief financial officer and treasurer.

Viqueira has more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance, including a decade as an investment banker with Merrill Lynch. He also worked at Lucent Technologies, where he served as treasurer and head of mergers and acquisitions.

Union Pacific Railroad has named Clark Ponthier senior vice president-supply chain and continuous improvement. He begins his new job May 29.

Ponthier has more than 30 years of experience in broad supply chain, manufacturing and engineering at Fortune 500 companies. Most recently, he served as Ingersoll Rand's VP of operations and integrated supply chain-residential HVAC and supply.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Associate Editor

Brightline will launch passenger-rail service to Miami from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 19.

Trains will travel from an existing station in Fort Lauderdale into MiamiCentral, a new 11-acre intermodal development in downtown Miami. The railroad will provide eight northbound and eight southbound trips each day between Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Florida.

The governments of Canada and Quebec have agreed in principle to jointly fund the Lac-Megantic rail bypass project, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced late last week.

The government of Canada will fund 60 percent and Quebec the remaining 40 percent of the CA$133 million cost to build the nearly 8-mile bypass.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Managing Editor

The National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association (NRC) auctioned off 367 pieces of equipment for a total $1.15 million at NRC's annual equipment auction held last month in Lonoke, Arkansas. The association raised a record $72,027 for its safety and education program, which receives a percentage of the value of all consignments from contractors, suppliers and railroads. The program also nets all proceeds from items donated to the auction. Equipment sold this year ranged from tampers and grapple trucks to tie inserters, spikers and ballast regulators.

The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority has chosen Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. to manage construction of a new storage and maintenance facility for the Redlands passenger-rail project. The 15,000-square-foot facility and storage tracks will accommodate six diesel multiple units at a time, and will be equipped with an inspection pit, pedestal and maintenance tracks with portable jacking pads. As construction management consultant, LAN will provide schedule evaluation, construction project advertising, bid analysis and award, construction inspection, materials testing and inspection, contractor interface, and contract administration services, according to a company press release. The financial value of LAN's contract wasn't disclosed. The 9-mile project crosses through the cities of San Bernardino and Redlands, California.