Railroad News

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has announced the 293 winners of 2018 Jake Awards, which recognize regionals' and short lines' safety efforts.

To win a Jake Award, an ASLRRA member railroad must perform better than the Class II and III industry average for injury frequency rate, as reported by the Federal Railroad Administration during a calendar year. Of the 293 honorees, 265 will receive a Jake Award with Distinction, which recognizes reportable injury-free performance in 2018. A complete list of the Jake Award and Jake Award with Distinction winners is available here.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) earlier this week announced plans to eliminate the sale of paper magstrip tickets at four stations this summer as part of a phaseout of all such tickets by 2020.

BART is working toward a card-only fare payment system. The Clipper card system is reusable and accepted by nearly all transit agencies in the region, BART officials said in a press release.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) yesterday endorsed a bill that would increase congressional authority over tariff hikes such as those proposed by the Trump administration over the past year.

Introduced by U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), the Reclaiming Congressional Trade Authority Act would limit any new or additional tariffs imposed on national security grounds to 120 days unless approved by Congress.

Transport Canada yesterday announced the federal government and Canada Infrastructure Bank are committing CA$71.1 million to back VIA Rail Canada Inc.’s plan for high-frequency rail service in the busy Quebec City-Toronto corridor.

The funding will be used to establish a joint Canada Infrastructure Bank-VIA Rail project team and preserve the option of interoperability with regional transit providers in Montreal and Toronto, Transport Canada officials said in a press release.

The U.S. House yesterday approved H.R. 3055, a $383.3 billion package of fiscal-year 2020 appropriations bills that includes the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill.

The legislation funds federal departments, including transportation, from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2020.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday announced a plan designed to accelerate the pace of capital construction projects at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).

Through a five-part strategy, the acceleration plan will build on the authority's safety and capital investment programs, helping to facilitate more construction and maintenance projects within shorter timeframes, Baker said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has selected the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) as the first U.S. transit agency to participate in an expedited project delivery pilot program.

The federal funding program will include VTA’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Silicon Valley Phase II project, a heavy-rail extension from north San Jose to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara, California. The project will include a maintenance facility and storage yard, and three underground stations and one at-grade station.

Schneider earlier this month began offering intermodal service at a CSX ramp in Indianapolis.

The new service provides shippers in central and southern Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati markets with a more cost-competitive transportation option to eastern U.S. markets, Schneider officials said in a press release.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) yesterday announced the winners of its annual Rail Safety and Security Excellence Awards.

The awards recognize public transportation organizations for "innovative and proactive" safety and security programs. Winning agencies provide value to the industry by benchmarking successful programs so that other transit systems can adopt them, APTA officials said in a press release.

Keolis has launched its first North American light-rail operation in the Waterloo region of Ontario, Canada. As part of the GrandLinq Consortium, Keolis’ local subsidiary Keolis Grand River will operate nearly 10-mile light-rail for the next 10 years, and maintenance for the next 30 years.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) partnered with DMI to launch an app-based inspection system designed to replace handwritten notes and outdated palm devices used to gather defect data. The Portable Inspection Reporting Tool (PIRT) uses voice recognition software to allow inspectors to do their job hands-free, and artificial intelligence to reference the FRA’s extensive database on railway problems, according to a press release.

TEXRail last week received a Celebrating Leadership in Development Excellence (CLIDE) Award from the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

The CLIDE Awards recognize development programs that plan for future growth and seek to support a sustainable North Texas, according to a TEXRail press release.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) won the Rail Transit Team Achievement Award at the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) International Rail Rodeo, which was held June 21-22 in conjunction with the association’s 2019 Rail Conference in Toronto.

The award is given to the system with the highest rail operator and maintainer team combined score. The winning team members were Joshua Vining, Justin Strong, Gary Crandall, Steven Dore and Erroll Luciano.

Utah Transit Authority's (UTA) board announced yesterday it selected Carolyn Gonot as executive director, effective Aug. 19.

A 25-year transit professional, Gonot will join UTA after 22 years at the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority. There, she led the funding and planning for the 16-mile, six-station extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system into San Jose, California, UTA officials said in a press release.

Virgin Trains USA officially broke ground yesterday on an extension of its privately funded passenger-rail line from West Palm Beach to Orlando, Florida.

Formerly Brightline, Virgin Trains is developing 170 miles of new track into the completed intermodal facility located in the new South Terminal at Orlando International Airport as part of the second phase of the expansion into central Florida.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) last week unveiled a $1 billion plan to increase capacity and reduce delays on the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail system by 2022.

The capacity increases rely on more than $1 billion in capital investment — the ongoing $750 million investment in a new signal system that enables PATH to run more trains per hour; a prior commitment of $215.7 million for 72 new rail cars that will be delivered in 2021-2022; and a new capital commitment of $80 million for station modifications to enable nine-car trains on the Newark-to-World Trade Center (WTC) line.

Prompted by a fatal Amtrak train derailment in 2017, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling on the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to implement a passenger-rail operations safety program "without further delay."

The NTSB statement followed the release yesterday of its final report on the agency's investigation into the Amtrak derailment that occurred in DuPont, Washington.

The Little Rock Port Authority's board has elected Melissa Hendricks to a second term as chair. Her term will run from July 2019 through June 2020.

Hendricks was first appointed to the board in September 2011. During her tenure, she has served as treasurer, vice chair and chair of the external affairs committee.

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System's (SDMTS) board earlier this month approved a transit-oriented development (TOD) near the Grantville light-rail station in San Diego, California. 

The housing development would include 156 affordable units built by Affirmed Housing, 254 market-rate, student-oriented units built by Greystar and 96 parking spaces for SDMTS commuters, according to an SDMTS press release. 

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) will resume on July 7 the automatic door-opening feature on Red Line trains.

The feature, which has been tested throughout the system since February, is part of Metrorail's original design. But it was discontinued years ago due to a decline in reliability, WMATA officials said in a press release.