Railroad News

Washington state regulators have approved $130,000 in grant funding for grade crossing improvements in Yakima County and the city of Tacoma.

In Tacoma, the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) approved $50,000 in Grade Crossing Protective Fund (GCPF) grants to improve a BNSF Railway Co. crossing at McCarver Street, where two pedestrians were killed between November 2015 and November 2016.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has published a draft of the California State Rail Plan, which will guide state priorities for investment in what state officials say will be a more coordinated, statewide travel system.

State transportation officials are accepting public comments on the plan through Dec. 11. Seven public workshops have been scheduled, with the first one starting tomorrow in San Luis Obispo, California.

Bombardier Transportation won't be able to deliver all 70 streetcars as promised to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) by Dec. 31, the agency announced yesterday.

The company has revised the figure to 65 units — a change that TTC officials decried as "extremely disappointing and frustrating."

Metrolink yesterday rolled out the first of 40 new locomotives that meet the Environmental Protection Agency's Tier 4 emission standards.

The rail industry needs to repair track defects, upgrade tank-car design and increase training of emergency responders in order to improve safe transportation of crude oil and ethanol, says a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

In their report, the academies raise concerns about the safety of rail in transporting energy liquids and gases, particularly in relation to track defects, rural communities' emergency response preparedness and the older tank-car designs that will continue to be used in unit trains, the report says.

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) upgrades to its Woodbine Station are complete, following an overhaul to make the station fully accessible.

This latest rehab is a part of TTC's commitment to becoming fully accessible by 2025 under its Easier Access Program. Woodbine and St. Clair West are the latest TTC subway stations to become accessible, making 37 of TTC's 69 subway stations compliant.

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) upgrades to its Woodbine Station are complete, following an overhaul to make the station fully accessible.

This latest rehab is a part of TTC's commitment to becoming fully accessible by 2025 under its Easier Access Program. Woodbine and St. Clair West are the latest TTC subway stations to become accessible, making 37 of TTC's 69 subway stations compliant.

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) upgrades to its Woodbine Station are complete, following an overhaul to make the station fully accessible.

This latest rehab is a part of TTC's commitment to becoming fully accessible by 2025 under its Easier Access Program. Woodbine and St. Clair West are the latest TTC subway stations to become accessible, making 37 of TTC's 69 subway stations compliant.

Caltrans released the public draft of the California State Rail Plan, which outlines a new framework for California's rail network, for new and better rail transportation, and multimodal and community connections in the state for the next 20 years and beyond.

As wildfires burn in its service region, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) will continue to provide free train service for passengers through Sunday, Oct.15 to assist evacuees and others who need transportation options.

Caltrans released the public draft of the California State Rail Plan, which outlines a new framework for California's rail network, for new and better rail transportation, and multimodal and community connections in the state for the next 20 years and beyond.

As wildfires burn in its service region, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) will continue to provide free train service for passengers through Sunday, Oct.15 to assist evacuees and others who need transportation options.

Caltrans released the public draft of the California State Rail Plan, which outlines a new framework for California's rail network, for new and better rail transportation, and multimodal and community connections in the state for the next 20 years and beyond.

As wildfires burn in its service region, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) will continue to provide free train service for passengers through Sunday, Oct.15 to assist evacuees and others who need transportation options.

Alstom and Bombardier Transportation have awarded contracts worth more than $100 million to Faiveley Transport to supply systems for the first 71 next-generation double-deck trains in Paris. The trains eventually will run on lines D and E of the city's passenger-rail work. A subsidiary of Wabtec Corp., Faiveley will provide braking systems, door systems, HVAC equipment, pantographs and tachometer systems. The scope of work includes studying, designing, engineering, manufacturing and delivering the rail systems, Wabtec officials said in a press release. Deliveries are expected to start by September 2018 and wrap up by 2022. France's national rail network SNCF earlier this year inked a contract for up to 255 trains with an Alstom-Bombardier consortium.

GE Transportation this week marked the arrival of the first of 1,000 Evolution series locomotives ordered by Indian Railways. The locomotive arrived at India's Mundra Port. The unit will be the first diesel-electric locomotive running on Indian tracks that complies with the UIC1 international emissions standards, GE officials said in a press release. Forty Evolution series locomotives are being imported to India from the United States; the remaining 960 units will be built at GE's factory under construction and slated to open in 2018 in Bihar. India's Ministry of Railways in 2015 signed a $2.5 billion order for 1,000 of GE's Evolution Series locomotives.

Stadler earlier this week unveiled its first "Fast Light Intercity and Regional Train" (FLIRT) for the TEX Rail commuter line in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.