Railroad News

The District of Columbia (D.C.) obtained Federal Transit Administration (FTA) certification for its rail transit State Safety Oversight (SSO) Program, becoming the fourth state or entity to be certified.

Under the D.C.'s SSO Program, the D.C. Fire and Emergency Management Services is responsible for providing safety oversight of the D.C. Streetcar system. Separately, the District of Columbia, together with Virginia and Maryland, are expected to jointly submit to the FTA an SSO Program certification application for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail system, which will be overseen by the Metrorail Safety Commission.

Virtually, all incidents involving winter recreation vehicles and trains can be avoided says Operation Lifesaver's (OL) Canadian arm, which released a new video campaign addressing the subject.

OL Canada says the snowmobile-focused virtual-reality video raises awareness about how to prevent collisions between trains and winter off-road vehicles. The shock value is high in the video, which immerses viewers in a 3D environment where they are treated to a snowmobile-driver's point of view of the last seconds of a ride before approaching a crossing where the ride ends in what OL Canada hopes is an unforgettable collision with a train. The video is the latest addition to the Look. Listen. Live. campaign first launched by OL Canada last April.

Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) crews will work from the end of February through mid-May to replace crossties and install grade crossings.

LIRR plans to replace timber crossties on the Montauk Branch between Patchogue and Speonk on weekdays from February 26 to May 18, 2018. This work is being performed as part of the LIRR's 2018 Annual Track Program, an ongoing initiative to renew the commuter line's track infrastructure, which LIRR says is an imperative effort to maintain and improve safety and on-time performance. The 2018 program was originally budgeted at $60 million, but as of a December 2017 update, has increased to $64 million.

California Gov. Jerry Brown this week announced the appointments of Brian Annis as secretary of the California State Transportation Agency and Laurie Berman as the new director of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

Both appointments require the state Senate's confirmation.

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (SCVTA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) have issued the final state and federal environmental document for SCVTA's BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project.

The Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIS/SEIR) includes responses to comments that were received during the public circulation of the draft document, which was released in December 2016, and design refinements made since then.

One of the oldest railroad bridges in Wisconsin, a more-than-century-old, 2,200-foot timber structure spanning the Wisconsin River at Spring Green on the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad's (WSOR) Prairie Subdivision, has undergone a a major improvement project. WSOR, a Watco Cos.subsidiary, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) collaborated on the project.

In 2017, Sound Transit logged 47,031,781 rides on its rail, bus and paratransit routes, marking a 10 percent increase over the previous year.

On the Central Link light-rail line, ridership surged 22 percent to more than 23 million riders. Ridership on the Tacoma Link light-rail line grew 3.6 percent to 983,315 passengers. The agency's Sounder commuter-rail system logged 4,312,113 riders, up 2.9 percent compared with ridership in 2016.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) earlier this week released the final environmental impact document for the second phase of Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) Silicon Valley extension.

The document environmentally clears all potential station locations, as well as both single- and twin-bore tunneling options, VTA officials said in a press release. The report also includes responses to public comments on the draft document, which was released in December 2016.

The District of Columbia has obtained federal certification for its transit-rail State Safety Oversight (SSO) program, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced yesterday.

Under the the district's SSO program, the D.C. Fire and Emergency Management Services is responsible for providing safety oversight of the D.C. Streetcar system.

Compiled By Walter Weart

Swedish train operator SJ has selected the Trimble® R2M real-time remote diagnostic system, along with the Trimble C2M component condition monitoring system. The systems are designed to improve real-time status monitoring and analytics capabilities by accessing up-to-date fleet status, Trimble officials said in a press release. The technologies also can help reduce costs and improve safety. Trimble R2M processes diagnostic data from rail vehicles to provide a comprehensive view of overall fleet status, including specific and potential vehicle faults. The C2M system, on the other hand, analyzes and detects anomalies with particular component behavior and uses the information to identify impacts on maintenance and service, according to Trimble.

Ferrellgas Partners LP announced the sale of Bridger Rail Shipping LLC's tank cars to an undisclosed buyer. Bridger Rail Shipping is a subsidiary of Bridger Logistics, which is a subsidiary of Ferrellgas. The transaction consisted of 1,072 rail cars, including 300 DOT-117 units and 772 CPC-1232 units. Most of the CPC-1232s are in storage and incurring storage fees, while all of the DOT-117s are leased to a third-party under a multiyear contract. The cash purchase was valued at $47 million, according to a Ferrellgas press release. Proceeds from the transaction will be used to reduce outstanding debt on Ferrellgas' secured credit facility. Ferrellgas officials decided to exit the rail-car business due to changes in the market, said James Ferrell, interim chief executive officer and president.

A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says a refuse truck was on the grade crossing after gates were lowered when it was hit by Special Amtrak Train 923 in Crozet, Va.

NTSB's preliminary report says the crossing was active and equipped with crossbuck signs, warning lights, bells and gates. Data extracted from the locomotive's forward-facing track camera showed that as the crossing came into view, the gates were down and the refuse truck was on the grade crossing. NTSB reports that witnesses to the crash reported that the refuse truck entered the crossing after the gates were down.

New York state has $26.5 million in funds available for rail and port projects as part of the Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program.

The TriMet Board of Directors has named Shelley Devine, the transit agency's current general counsel, as its new interim general manager.