Railroad News

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) late last week released preliminary details gathered from the locomotive event data recorder and inward- and outward-facing cameras from the Amtrak Cascades train that derailed Dec. 18 in Dupont, Washington.

The lead locomotive's event data and video recorders were downloaded and processed at the NTSB's lab in Washington, D.C. Among the details of the initial review of the final portion of the accident sequence:

On Dec. 20, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced the Tax Extender Act of 2017 (S. 2256), which proposes to extend several tax credits — including the Section 45G short-line tax credit — that either expired at 2016's end or are set to expire on Dec. 31.

Expired since Dec. 31, 2016, the short-line tax credit would be extended to Dec. 31, 2018. The Section 45G provision allows regionals and short lines to claim a 50 cent tax credit for each dollar they spend on track rehabilitation and maintenance projects, up to a cap of $3,500 per mile of owned or leased track.

Federal and provincial funding has been committed toward freight rail analysis of Ontario's Peterborough-Toronto-Havelock-Blue Mountain corridor.

The government of Canada and the province of Ontario are each contributing CA$65,000 (US$51,599) for the Peterborogh-Toronto Freight Rail Analysis project, which will define freight infrastructure requirements and outline the projected economic impact of potential future freight rail improvements along the rail corridor. Specifically, the project will evaluate the benefits and impacts associated with enabling increased freight rail capacity along the corridor.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) released the names of the 19 finalists in three categories as part of "The MTA Genius Transit Challenge."

The Sound Transit Board approved submission of an application for a $1.17 billion grant for the Lynnwood Link Extension on Dec. 21, moving toward breaking ground in 2018 and extending light-rail service to Snohomish County residents in 2024.

Stone Canyon Industries LLC has acquired Magnus LLC, a producer and global supplier of bronze locomotive traction support bearings. Stone Canyon, which acquired A. Stucki Co. in September 2015, is a global manufacturer and supplier of rail-car locomotive and industrial parts. Magnus will continue to operate out of its facility in Fremont, Nebraska, and Magnus President John Macklin will report directly to A. Stucki Chief Executive Officer Bill Kiefer, A. Stucki officials said in a press release. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has completed its acquisition of CH2M for $2.85 billion in cash and stock, according to a Jacobs press release. The combined firm will continue to make talent retention and hiring a priority. Additionally, the transaction is expected to make the combined company an "employer of choice" in the $300 billion-a-year transportation sector, Jacobs officials said. In August, Jacobs announced it had reached an agreement to acquire CH2M.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) late last week announced that it completed a $2.1 million renovation of the Washington Park MAX light-rail station in Portland.

The station now features graffiti-resistant wall coatings, LED lighting and elevator lobby upgrades. The new LEDs, which are engineered to last up to 20 years, use one-sixth of the electricity as metal halide bulbs, TriMet officials said in a press release.

The Raritan Central Railway LLC has named Ronald Klein and Susan Walsh-Enloe to its marketing team.

Klein will serve as vice president of marketing, while Walsh-Enloe will serve as West Coast marketing specialist, according to an announcement published in the Raritan Central and Pennsylvania & Southern Railways newsletter.

Crews have installed 90 percent of the track for the Milwaukee Streetcar's initial route, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett announced late last week.

Workers were able to complete the installation in one construction season thanks in part to "favorable fall weather," Barrett wrote in a year-end report on the project.

After New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo complained about rail cars being stored on track in the state's Adirondack Forest, Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Union Tank Car Co. announced this week that it would remove the 65 cars it has stored there.

Last week, Cuomo announced that the state would pursue legal action to try to stop Iowa Pacific Holdings from storing thousands of tank cars in Adirondack Park.
Iowa Pacific owns the Saratoga & North Creek Railway that operates the rail line that runs through the park, where tank cars that carry crude oil are being stored.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) last week launched a new recruitment initiative aimed at attracting military veterans.

Under the initiative, PANYNJ and the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail system will consider active military duty in lieu of certain education requirements when assessing qualifications for positions. In addition, the agency will waive all test application fees for veterans.

U.S. railroads logged an 11 percent increase in combined carload and intermodal traffic for the week ending Dec. 23 compared with the same week a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total carloads for the week climbed 10.8 percent to 270,356 units, while intermodal volume soared 11.3 percent to 281,210 containers and trailers compared with the same week in 2016, AAR officials said in a press release.

TransLink's ridership in 2017 has surpassed 400 million boardings, marking the agency's highest ridership for a single year.

The 400 millionth boarding occurred Dec. 20 at the end of the morning rush hour.

Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) recently offered hazmat safety training for emergency responders in Volusia and Palm Beach counties, Florida.

The railroad partnered with The Safety Train — an independent organization that operates a train equipped with onboard classrooms and tank cars — to assist experts from FEC, other railroads and environmental services companies in providing hands-on instruction regarding hazardous materials transportation equipment and liquified natural gas (LNG).

The Orange County Transportation Authority's (OCTA) board has begun seeking bids for contractors to build the Orange County Streetcar.

The agency earlier kicked off a "pre-qualification process" to establish a pool of potential contractors with the skills required to build a streetcar system. Bids are due in March 2018, and the board is expected to award the construction contract in April.

Amtrak should begin high-speed service between Chicago and St. Louis this summer, the result of a $2-billion project that is in the final phase of construction.

Canadian Pacific's 19th annual Holiday Train raised more than CA$1.5 million and 300,000 pounds of food for local food banks and food shelves on its Nov. 25-Dec. 17 trip through Canada and parts of the United States.

The train's charitable runs over the holiday season have raised more than CA$14.5 million and 4.3 million pounds of food since its inaugural journey in 1999, CP officials said in a press release.

Canadian Pacific's 19th annual Holiday Train raised more than CA$1.5 million and 300,000 pounds of food for local food banks and food shelves on its Nov. 25-Dec. 17 trip through Canada and parts of the United States.

The train's charitable runs over the holiday season have raised more than CA$14.5 million and 4.3 million pounds of food since its inaugural journey in 1999, CP officials said in a press release.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending December 23, 2017.

For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 551,566 carloads and intermodal units, up 11 percent compared with the same week last year.​