Railroad News

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) yesterday announced the completion of the ExpressRail Port Jersey facility, the final piece of the port's intermodal rail network spanning facilities in Elizabeth and Newark, New Jersey, and Staten Island, New York.

Opening the Express Rail Port Jersey intermodal facility allows the port to advance its five-year goal to handle more than 900,000 rail lifts a year — the equivalent of 1.5 million fewer truck trips traveling through local roads, PANYNJ officials said in a press release.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and dozens of other U.S. congressmen want to know why Amtrak is reportedly planning to reduce the size of its police force by 20 percent over the next several years.

In a letter sent yesterday to Amtrak President and Chief Executive Office Richard Anderson, DeFazio and 52 other House members expressed concern that the possible Amtrak Police Department (APD) cuts "could undermine the safety and security of the entire system."

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and dozens of other U.S. congressmen want to know why Amtrak is reportedly planning to reduce the size of its police force by 20 percent over the next several years.

In a letter sent yesterday to Amtrak President and Chief Executive Office Richard Anderson, DeFazio and 52 other House members expressed concern that the possible Amtrak Police Department (APD) cuts "could undermine the safety and security of the entire system."

Thales was awarded a contract by the East-West Connectors to provide its SelTrac communications-based train control system for the second phase of the O-Train Confederation Line extension project in Ottawa, Canada. Under the contract, Thales will integrate control units on each train and install guideway equipment, according to a company press release. Thales also provided its SelTrac system for the project's first phase, and will be responsible for integrating the two operations.

Wabtec Corp. ratified the first four-year contract agreement with members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Locals 506 and 618 who are employed at the Wabtec locomotive plant in Erie, Pennsylvania, that was acquired from GE Transportation in February. The contract covers terms of employment, pay, benefits, hours, leave and health and safety policies, according to a UE Local 506 press release.

The Jacksonville Port Authority's board yesterday approved two long-term agreements with automobile processor Amports Inc., which will expand its lease space at the Florida port.

One lease extends an existing leased property at the port's Blount Island Marine Terminal; the second agreement provides Amports with 22.4 acres of new space for auto processing and storage at the Dames Point Marine Terminal, port authority officials said in a press release.

On June 15, the Metro Transit-St. Louis MetroLink light-rail system logged a record 100,000-plus boardings as passengers traveled to downtown St. Louis for a celebration honoring the St. Louis Blues' Stanley Cup Championship. 

In preparation of large crowds expected to take MetroLink to the championship parade and rally, the Metro Transit and MetroLink police scheduled extra security, dozens of additional transit operations personnel, customer service representatives and volunteer employee ambassadors to assist riders, Metro Transit officials said in a press release.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has recognized the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad with the Class I's "Short Line of the Year" award.

A Genesee Valley Transportation (GVT Rail) subsidiary, the Delaware-Lackawanna was recognized by NS for its "conscientious customer service and commitment to growth," according to a GVT Rail press release.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) earlier this week announced the launch of a two-year study of potential improvements to the Blue, Orange and Silver (BOS) lines. 

The BOS lines all share a single set of tracks between the Rosslyn Station tunnel and the Anacostia River, creating a bottleneck that limits the number of trains that can cross between Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, WMATA officials said in a press release.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) Hartford Line between Hartford and Windsor, Connecticut, last week marked its first year of service. 

During its first year in business, the line logged 634,000 passenger boardings — about 51,000 more than originally projected for the first year, according to CTDOT report. 

House Democrats yesterday unveiled a bill that would renew several expired and expiring tax incentives, including the short-line 45G maintenance tax credit.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, introduced the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019 (H.R. 3301), which would extend the short-line tax credit for three years through Dec. 31, 2020.

The American Pubic Transportation Association (APTA) will host a skills competition for rail transit operators and maintenance personnel later this week in Toronto, Canada. 

APTA’s International Rail Rodeo will have operators and maintenance teams from U.S., Canada and Japan transit agencies compete in timed skill-tests in several categories. 

A new Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA) timetable took effect yesterday, reducing by five minutes the time it takes trains to travel  between Sacramento and San Jose, California. 

The change is a result of the Travel Time Savings Project, a $12 million rail infrastructure improvement project completed in December 2018 between the California Department of Transportation, the California State Transportation Agency and Union Pacific Railroad.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) will close two Expo Line stations this week as crews begin construction on the Blue Line improvement project's northern segment. 

The 7th Street/Metro Center and Pico stations will close June 22 and reopen August 21 so that crews can replace shared track at the junction of the Expo and Blue lines at Washington Boulevard and Flower Street in the 7th Street/Metro Center tunnel in downtown Los Angeles, LA Metro officials said in a press release.

North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Secretary James Trogdon III has been named chairman of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Council on Rail Transportation.

Appointed secretary of the NCDOT in January 2017, Trogdon is a registered professional engineer with more than 30 years of experience in transportation alongside three decades of military service with the North Carolina National Guard, AASHTO officials said in a website post.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday published a preliminary report for its investigation of an April 24 derailment of a Union Pacific Railroad train near Fort Worth, Texas.

The 6,122-foot, high-hazard flammable, key train was carrying denatured ethanol in 96 loaded rail tank cars when 25 cars derailed on UP's Midlothian Subdivision. At least three tank cars leaked about 74,000 gallons of denatured alcohol, which then ignited. Some of the product entered a nearby tributary of the Trinity River, NTSB officials said in a press release.

The North County Transit District (NCTD) of San Diego announced that earlier this year the board authorized the purchase of two additional Siemens SC-44 Charger diesel-electric locomotives, pending receipt of funding from a source that has yet to be announced.

The procurement would be part of NCTD’s plan to increase Coaster commuter-rail service frequency. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) yesterday announced an agreement to add 500 additional uniformed officers to the New York City Transit (NYCT) system to address transit-worker assaults and combat fare evasion.

Assaults on NYCT workers increased 15.2 percent between 2013 and 2017. Lost revenue from fare evasion rose to $225 million in 2018 from $105 million in 2015, according to a press release issued by Cuomo's office.

New Jersey Transit will create a video campaign to make passengers with mobility challenges aware of the accessibility accommodations available on its commuter- and light-rail services. 

NJ Transit was awarded a $60,600 Access and Mobility Partnership Grant from the Federal Transit Administration to complete the campaign. The agency will add $17,400 for a total project cost of $78,000, according to a NJ Transit press release.