Railroad News

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Parker yesterday promoted George Wright to deputy chief of rail operations.

Wright will oversee the agency’s rail transportation, rail-car maintenance, maintenance of way, stations and facilities, technical training and Atlanta Streetcar operations. 

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) last week issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) for contractors to design and renovate the agency’s new corporate headquarters in Oakland, California. 

The $45 million to $50 million contract would include furnishing management, coordination, professional services, labor, equipment and materials for the design and renovation of an existing building that will serve as the transit agency's new corporate headquarters.

Class Is employed 128,311 workers as of mid-January, down 2.41 percent compared with mid-December's level and down 12.45 percent compared with the year-ago employment level, U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) data shows.

Five of six workforce categories posted month-to-month decreases. They were: executives, officials and staff assistants, down 0.18 percent to 7,608 employees; maintenance of equipment and stores, down 0.43 percent to 22,647; transportation (other than train and engine), down 0.91 percent to 5,346; maintenance of way and structures, down 2.04 percent to 30,152; and transportation (train and engine), down 4.48 percent to 51,709.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) yesterday announced plans to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for up to 949 new subway cars. 

NYCT is planning a base order of 504 rail cars, which will be identified as the R262 class, with the option of 445 additional cars, and a second option to buy an additional 415 cars, NYCT officials said in a press release.

Lower volumes due to severe winter weather and other factors contributed to BNSF Railway Co.'s revenue decline during fourth-quarter and full-year 2019, the Class I announced yesterday.

BNSF posted revenue of $5.8 billion for the quarter, down 6 percent, and $23.5 billion for all of 2019, down 1 percent, compared with Q4 and full-year revenue in 2018, railroad officials said in a press release.

Reading & Northern Railroad (R&N) has finalized an agreement to return passenger-rail service to a 146-year-old train station in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania.

The agreement calls for the construction of a new passenger platform, R&N officials said in a press release issued last week.

The Port Authority Transit Corp. (PATCO) last week received the New Jersey Alliance for Action's Leading Infrastructure Project award for the transit agency’s rail station accessibly improvements.

The award recognizes PATCO’s $38 million project to install elevators at all its rail stations. 

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) has made service improvements to adjust for increasing ridership on the Market-Frankford Line in Philadelphia.

SEPTA eliminated skip-stop service during peak travel times, meaning all trains will stop at all stations, agency officials said in a press release.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) last week completed station and track improvement work on the Orange Line.

During four weekends, MBTA crews replaced about 1,400 feet of track, including 1,040 feet at North Station, 150 feet at State Station and 204 feet at Haymarket Station, MBTA officials said in a press release.

Federal lawmakers from Utah earlier this month introduced a bill that, if passed, would allow the Utah Transit Authority’s (UTA) FrontRunner commuter-rail service to compete for millions of federal capital dollars distributed annually to fund rail updates.

The Transit Revitalization And Infrastructure Needs (TRAIN) Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams (D-Utah) and U.S. Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), would broaden the Core Capacity Improvements grant criteria under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. 

Canadian Pacific President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Creel last week called on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to hold talks with the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs to bring to an end to the protest blockades that have affected the nation's freight- and passenger-rail networks.

In a Feb. 20 letter to Trudeau, Creel said the company's rail system has been "severely impacted" by the ongoing blockades, which have created "critical safety and security concerns."

Navajo Nation and San Juan County, New Mexico, officials last week signed an agreement to pursue the construction of a new freight railroad system that would serve the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) calls for cooperation between both governments to help establish the rail system to promote and strengthen the community and economic development projects in the region, Navajo Nation officials said in a press release.

Norfolk Southern Corp.'s board has elected John "Jack" Huffard Jr. and Christopher Jones to serve as directors, the company announced today.

Huffard is cofounder of Tenable Network Security Inc. and Tenable Holdings Inc., a cybersecurity software company. He served as president and chief operating officer and as a director of Tenable Network Security from 2002 to 2018, where he was responsible for driving Tenable’s global corporate strategy and business operations and was instrumental in the venture funding and initial public offering process, NS officials said in a press release.

Navis has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Biarri Rail later this month. The acquisition will support Navis’ expansion into inland solutions, providing freight operators with planning software designed to improve the quality and efficiency of rail operations, Navis officials said in a press release. After the acquisition is completed, the Biarri Rail team will operate out of the Melbourne, Australia, and Chicago offices under Chief Executive Officer Tom Forbes' direction.

STV named Fred Tallarico vice president and regional practice lead of design-build for the Northeast United States and Canada. Tallarico has more than 30 years of infrastructure design and construction experience. Previously, he served as a design-build principal at a global engineering firm where he supported large-scale civil works projects for public agencies including the Federal Transit Administration, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Valley Metro.

Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI) last week released a safety video targeting professional drivers of heavy trucks to prevent collisions with trains at grade crossings.

The weight of cement, dump and garbage trucks increases the potential for death, injury and property damage to occur when such vehicles collide with trains, OLI officials said in a press release.

The Rail Passengers Association next month will present its Golden Spike Award to U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.).

Lipinski — who chairs the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials — is being honored for "his 15 years of work in Congress for a safer passenger-rail network, more reliable commuter-rail and transit service, and better relationships between railroads and the communities they serve," association officials said in a press release.

Milwaukee city officials entered into a 10-year contract with Smart City Media LLC to implement a digital kiosk system to support streetcar operations in downtown Milwaukee later this spring.

Thirty-five touch-screen kiosks, called CityPosts, will be installed along The Hop streetcar route, streetcar officials said in a press release.

Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney has introduced the Building Transit Faster Act to help accelerate the completion of subway expansion projects.

The legislation would provide the province with the tools to expedite the planning, design and construction process of subway projects, including the all-new Ontario Line, the Yonge North Subway Extension, the three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) yesterday announced the agency will spend $250 million on transit improvements in DeKalb County, Georgia, including rail station rehabilitation and rail system maintenance.

MARTA will rehabilitate eight stations in the county by 2025, and complete state-of-good-repair maintenance projects on the rail, bus and paratransit system, agency officials said in a press release.