Railroad News

The seven-year, $2 billion project to prepare a high-speed passenger-rail route between Chicago and St. Louis is in its final months, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).

IDOT Secretary Randy Blankenhorn told the The State Journal-Register this week that he expects the project — to upgrade track, grade crossings and technology to allow high-speed Amtrak trains on the corridor — will be completed on time and on budget.

The Canadian Senate has passed legislation aimed at streamlining rail and air travel between the United States and Canada.

Known as C-23, the bill last week received Royal Assent, marking the last step in the Canadian legislative process. The law establishes streamlined customs procedures for air travel — and eventually passenger-rail service — between the United States. and Canada.

Progressive Railroading today opened its nomination process for the sixth annual "Rising Stars" Awards, a recognition program for up-and-coming leaders in North America's railroad industry.

Progressive Railroading defines a Rising Star as someone under the age of 40 who is making a positive difference in his or her company, department or team, and is viewed by others — peers, colleagues, supervisors, clients or associates — as a rising star in the rail industry. Progressive Railroading will select 20 Rising Stars and publish their profiles in the September 2018 issue.

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:55 a.m. CST.]

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) board late last week awarded a $91.5 million design-build contract to Halmar International to improve five MTA Metro-North Railroad stations.

Positive train control (PTC) was not implemented on either the rail line or the Amtrak Cascades 501 train that derailed in DuPont, Washington, on Monday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced yesterday.

NTSB investigators confirmed that the Sound Transit, which owns the track from which the train derailed, had centralized traffic control (CTC), which allows for dispatch direction over the train.

By Michael Popke

When it comes to meeting demands in the hi-rail marketplace — from light-duty trucks to rail gear to maintenance-of-way vehicles — suppliers continue their mission to provide versatile equipment that’s reliable, easy to use and affordable.

Bombardier Transportation has obtained a $150 million contract to provide operations and maintenance services for its Innovia automated people mover system at Denver International Airport. Bombardier provided operations and maintenance services for the people mover under previous contracts since the airport opened in 1994. The latest agreement, which goes into effect Jan. 1, covers seven years.

Alstom's Urbalis 400 communications-based train control system (CBTC) is in operation on the Toronto Transit Commission's recently opened Line 1 subway extension. The system's commissioning marks the first time a radio-based CBTC system has entered commercial service on a Canadian metro line, Alstom officials said in a press release. Alstom's complete project scope includes the replacement of the relay-based interlocking on Line 1, as well as the deployment of CBTC across the entire line.

Virginia Gov.-elect Ralph Northam has named Shannon Valentine as his administration's transportation secretary and reappointed Jennifer Mitchell as director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT).

Valentine, a Lynchburg-area Commonwealth Transportation Board member, is a former member of Virginia's House of Delegates. She will succeed Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne, who will become Northam's finance secretary.

The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs' recently published agenda includes measures aimed at accelerating the delivery of major infrastructure projects.

In the 2017 plan, federal agencies outline their goals for eliminating or modifying regulatory actions. Reducing regulatory burdens is one of the primary priorities in the agenda, according to the plan's introductory statement.

The Port of Long Beach exceeded its 2016 cargo total in the first 11 months of this year, and expects to handle more than 7 million containers for the fourth time in its 106-year history, port officials announced last week.

A total of 612,659 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) moved through the port last month, an increase of 14.7 percent over the same month a year ago. Through the first 11 months of 2017, shippers sent 6,847,589 TEUs across the port's docks — a 10 percent increase compared with the same period in 2016, port officials said in a press release.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is "gaining speed" in its plan to drive down costs and improve operations, according to the latest annual report from the agency's Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB).

Although the MBTA's operating budget deficit was projected to reach $242 million in fiscal-year 2017, the actual deficit for the year was $30 million. That improvement stemmed from $37 million in internal cost controls and $30 million debt service savings, the report stated.

Ontario late last week issued a request for bids (RFB) to develop environmental assessment terms of reference for the Kitchener-London segment of the proposed Toronto-Windsor high-speed rail corridor.

The terms of reference will serve as a framework for planning and the environmental assessment, Ontario Ministry of Transportation officials said in a press release.

An Amtrak Cascades train was traveling about 80 mph in a 30 mph zone before it derailed yesterday near DuPont, Washington, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Amtrak Cascades Train 501 was carrying 80 passengers, five Amtrak crew members and one Talgo technician when it derailed at 7:34 a.m. Pacific time while crossing an overpass.

This time last year, the rail equipment outlook for 2017 looked promising. Freight volumes had picked up in late 2016, rail-car demand had improved and 2017 was looking like a possible recovery year. However, the pick-up was short lived and there was no recovery to be had — just a continued slogging through a shifting market with too many cars in some segments and not enough in others.

Siemens has delivered new locomotives to the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA).

In the third quarter, U.S. transit ridership slipped 3.65 percent year over year to 2.503 billion total trips.

Nine of the 10 largest transit agencies in the nation reported declines for the quarter. Some agencies attributed the downtick to an increase in auto travel and continued low gas prices, according to the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) Passenger Transport newsletter.