Railroad News

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro) board yesterday approved a new policy to incentivize companies bidding on contracts to create and retain U.S. jobs.

Under the policy, the agency will apply a "U.S. Employment Plan" to all train, bus and equipment purchases above $100 million. The plan was developed by advocacy group Jobs to Move America, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, the Brookings Institution, the University of Southern California and the University of Massachusetts.

Union Pacific will target a 2018 capital plan of approximately $3.3 billion, pending final approval from its Board of Directors.

Union Pacific will target a 2018 capital plan of approximately $3.3 billion, pending final approval from its Board of Directors.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Jan. 29 will begin a series of 10 public hearings on its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed bullet train project in Texas.

The first public hearing will be held in Dallas County. Others will be held in locations along the proposed route, which would extend from North Texas to Houston.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will adopt the recommended Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) as presented in the King of Prussia Rail (KOP Rail) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) with the North/South design option following Board approval. 

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will adopt the recommended Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) as presented in the King of Prussia Rail (KOP Rail) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) with the North/South design option following Board approval. 

The engineer of an Amtrak train that derailed in DuPont, Wash., in December was aware of the 30 mph curve and planned to reduce speed, but miscalculated the train's location until it entered the curve and derailed.

The engineer of an Amtrak train that derailed in DuPont, Wash., in December was aware of the 30 mph curve and planned to reduce speed, but miscalculated the train's location until it entered the curve and derailed.

Union Pacific Railroad began construction this month on the Brazos Yard in Robertson County, Texas.

The $550 million rail yard project represents the largest capital investment in a single facility in the railroad's 155-year history, UP officials said in a press release.

Last year, Metro Transit served a record number of riders across all three of its rail lines in and around the Twin Cities.

The agency logged a record 13.1 million rides on the Green Line light-rail route, along with a record 10.7 million rides on Blue Line light-rail trains. Ridership on the latter line topped the previous high-water mark set in 2015.

Union Pacific Railroad began construction this month on the Brazos Yard in Robertson County, Texas.

The $550 million rail yard project represents the largest capital investment in a single facility in the railroad's 155-year history, UP officials said in a press release.

The engineer of the Amtrak Cascades train missed seeing a speed-limit sign before the train derailed from an overpass in Washington state last month, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced yesterday.

NTSB investigators interviewed the train's engineer and a conductor the week of Jan. 15, about a month after the fatal derailment killed three passengers and injured dozens of others. The engineer and conductor, who were in the lead locomotive during the Dec. 16 accident, were unable to be interviewed until recently because of their injuries.

Rail-car orders in fourth-quarter 2017 totaled 8,501 units compared with 8,671 units in the third quarter and 4,866 units in fourth-quarter 2016, according to quarterly statistics released this week by the Railway Supply Institute's American Railway Car Institute Committee (ARCI).

Car deliveries in Q4 2017 rose to 13,404 units from 11,015 units in Q3. Deliveries for Q2 and Q1 came in at 10,625 and 10,042 units, respectively.

Total U.S. railroad traffic declined 2.9 percent to 508,239 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending Jan. 20 compared with the same week a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total carloads for the week fell 7.6 percent to 241,258 units, but intermodal volume ticked up 1.8 percent to 266,981 containers and trailers compared with the third week of 2017, AAR reported in a press release.

Norfolk Southern plans a capital program of $1.845 billion in 2018, continuing what the railroad calls a balanced deployment of capital.

Norfolk Southern plans a capital program of $1.845 billion in 2018, continuing what the railroad calls a balanced deployment of capital.

Construction began early this month on Brazos Yard in Robertson County, Texas. Union Pacific says the $550-million yard is the largest capital investment in a single facility in its history.

UP says Brazos Yard is the first classification yard to be built in more than a generation and will showcase best practices in operating efficiency, technology and innovation. The yard is scheduled to be completed in 2020 and will have the capacity to switch up to 1,300 rail cars per day, making it one of the highest capacity yards on Union Pacific's 23-state network.

Construction began early this month on Brazos Yard in Robertson County, Texas. Union Pacific says the $550-million yard is the largest capital investment in a single facility in its history.

UP says Brazos Yard is the first classification yard to be built in more than a generation and will showcase best practices in operating efficiency, technology and innovation. The yard is scheduled to be completed in 2020 and will have the capacity to switch up to 1,300 rail cars per day, making it one of the highest capacity yards on Union Pacific's 23-state network.

Bergmann, a national engineering firm, has named George Kevgas, PE, as its new vice president of infrastructure for the firm's Atlantic region.