Railroad News

Metra is considering reducing service and raising fares to close a $45 million deficit in its proposed 2018 operating budget.

Under the budget proposal, a small number of weekday trains would be eliminated on the North Central Service, SouthWest Service and Rock Island Line. Metra also would remove six weekend trains on the Milwaukee District North Line.

Virginia Railway Express (VRE) has signed an agreement with Rockwell Collins to implement the company's ARINC RailwayNet service. The technology is a hosted network, messaging and application platform for passenger and freight railroads that creates a common communication infrastructure for positive train control (PTC) systems. RailwayNet will help VRE meet the federal PTC mandate "efficiently, cost effectively and securely," said Ken Schreder, Rockwell Collins vice president of strategic programs and surface transportation systems, in a press release. Financial terms of the pact weren't disclosed.

TrinityRail Asset Management Co. LLC (TRAMCo) served as an adviser and arranger for ECN Capital Corp.'s sale of 9,950 leased rail cars. A subsidiary of Trinity Industries Inc., TRAMCo also acted as adviser to Napier Global Capital LP, the investment manager for the purchaser of most of the portfolio. TRAMCo earned fees in its capacity as adviser and arranger. Trinity will continue to service the leased rail cars under the new ownership to help maintain a "seamless transition" for the lessees and strategic partners, said TrinityRail Group President D. Stephen Menzies in a press release. In August, ECN announced that it agreed to sell $1.487 million worth of rail-car asset to affiliates of ITE Management LP and Napier Global Capital.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) on Wednesday announced plans to conduct a peer review of single- and twin-bore tunnel methods.

Slated to begin this month and last several weeks, the review will be conducted by public transit agencies that currently operate subway systems, VTA and BART officials said in a joint press release.

Port of Columbia and Frontier Rail officials will gather tomorrow in Dayton, Washington, to mark the reopening of the Columbia Walla Walla Rail Line (CWW).

The port owns a 37-mile stretch of rail that spans two counties and provides service from Dayton to Walla Walla, Washington. A segment that runs between Prescott and Dayton has been closed for nearly three years due to repair work on eight bridges and a section of track near the Touchet River, port officials said in a press release.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has released a new report that provides a framework for assessing return on investment (ROI) for high-speed and intercity passenger-rail projects.

The report suggests a new analysis that considers a broader range of local community effects, as well as impacts on regional connectivity and global competitiveness.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) on Tuesday announced more than $3 million in grants will be awarded as part of the 2017 Industrial Rail Access Program.

The eight awards will be issued to projects that expand or improve rail or freight access, economic opportunity and job growth. The grants require a private-sector match of at least 40 percent, according to a MassDOT press release.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has awarded a $50 million contract to Spanish manufacturer CAF to supply 10 streetcars.

CSX Corp. is making progress in its implementation of a new operating model, the company announced yesterday. 

The Class I has improved its transit time, train speed, car-handling efficiency and terminal fluidity as it continues to implement the principles of precision scheduled railroading, said President and Chief Executive Officer E. Hunter Harrison in a press release. 

CSX Corp. is making progress in its implementation of a new operating model, the company announced yesterday. 

The Class I has improved its transit time, train speed, car-handling efficiency and terminal fluidity as it continues to implement the principles of precision scheduled railroading, said President and Chief Executive Officer E. Hunter Harrison in a press release. 

The six unions that make up the Coordinated Bargaining Group (CBG) have reached a tentative agreement with the nation's freight-rail carriers, the unions announced yesterday.

The CBG represents the American Train Dispatchers Association; the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a division of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS); the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers, and Helpers; the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers/SEIU; and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART TD). 

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) will replace the railroad's 103-year-old Post Avenue Bridge that carries the Main Line over Post Avenue at the Westbury train station.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) says he new bridge will be 13 feet wider than the existing bridge in order to accommodate the Third Track and will mark the first completed Third Track-related project since the Main Line Expansion Project was approved in July. The $9.7-million bridge project utilizes a design-build contract to expedite the timetable of the project, which MTA says is on track to be on time and on budget.

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) will replace the railroad's 103-year-old Post Avenue Bridge that carries the Main Line over Post Avenue at the Westbury train station.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) says he new bridge will be 13 feet wider than the existing bridge in order to accommodate the Third Track and will mark the first completed Third Track-related project since the Main Line Expansion Project was approved in July. The $9.7-million bridge project utilizes a design-build contract to expedite the timetable of the project, which MTA says is on track to be on time and on budget.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit's (DART) board has elected Sue Bauman chair.

Bauman joined the board in 2016 after retiring as DART's vice president of marketing and communication in 2011. Bauman currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at Richland College.

The Panama Canal last week welcomed the COSCO Yantian, the 2000th "Neopanamax" vessel to pass through the expanded waterway.

The ship, which can carry up to 9,504 20-foot equivalent units (TEU), moved through the canal on its journey from Asia to the Caribbean.

Texas Central announced today that WSP USA will provide engineering support to the proposed North Texas-to-Houston bullet-train project.

Formerly known as WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, WSP USA will focus on engineering, cost estimating and scheduling, said Texas Central officials in a press release. 

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials yesterday held a hearing to gather stakeholders' perspectives on what's needed to improve the nation's rail infrastructure.

Several representatives of railroad and transportation labor organizations testified before the subcommittee members. The hearing was held as the subcommittee and committee prepare for the Trump administration's infrastructure package proposal.

Sound Transit is one-third finished with construction of its East Link light-rail tunnel under downtown Bellevue, Washington, the agency announced Tuesday.

Crews continue to excavate at the south portal site at 112th Avenue Northeast and Main Street in Bellevue. When completed, the 2,000-foot tunnel will connect the future East Main and Downtown Bellevue stations.

U.S. railroads' intermodal volumes boosted combined rail traffic to a 0.7 percent gain last month compared with traffic in September 2016, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Carload traffic for U.S. railroads declined 2.3 percent to 1,044,563 units, while intermodal volumes rose 3.8 percent to 1,080,444 containers and trailers in September compared with the same month last year, according to an AAR press release.

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro) in Austin, Texas, late last week approved the agency's $418.8 million budget for fiscal-year 2018, which began Oct. 1.

The budget includes $250 million for operating expenses and $151.5 million for capital investments. Major capital projects include rail improvements to double the frequency and capacity of MetroRail service, as well as positive train control (PTC) implementation for the system.