Railroad News

The Greenbrier Cos. Inc.’s board announced that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Furman will continue in his current position for up to two more years, retiring in 2022. The board took this action to ensure the continuity of an experienced leadership team in the current COVID-19 crisis and accompanying environment of economic uncertainty, Greenbrier officials said in a press release. Meanwhile, Greenbrier also reported financial results for its third fiscal quarter ending May 31. Greenbrier reported Q3 revenue at $762.6 million, a $138.8 million increase compared with Q2. The increase is attributed to higher deliveries reflecting increased syndication activity. Net earnings attributable to Greenbrier for the quarter were $27.8 million, or 83 cents per diluted share.

Alstom has proposed several commitments to address the European Commission’s concerns about the company’s planned acquisition of Bombardier Transportation in the first half of 2021. The proposed commitments include a transfer of Bombardier Transportation’s contribution to the V300 ZEFIRO high-speed train; the divestment of the Alstom Coradia Polyvalent and the Reichshoffen production site in France; and the divestment of the Bombardier TALENT 3 platform and dedicated production facilities located within the Hennigsdorf site in Germany. Alstom will also provide access to certain interfaces and products for some of Bombardier Transportation’s signaling on-board units and train control management systems. The commitments are subject to European Commission approval.

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) crews this weekend will install a new bridge over New Hyde Park Road on the border of New Hyde Park and Garden City in Long Island, New York, to eliminate a grade crossing. 

Over the past several months, crews have been building the new bridge adjacent to the tracks, in preparation for this weekend’s installation. 

Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad (RBMN) officials announced yesterday they will challenge a recent three-judge panel's ruling that affirmed a trial judge's decision to reject the company's lawsuit against the SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority.

At issue is the process the rail authority used in 2014 when it sought proposals for a company to operate five short lines in eight central Pennsylvania counties. RBMN, which came in last in the authority's preliminary rankings, contended the process was designed to eliminate it from consideration, Pennlive.com reported.

Monarch Gold Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ontario Northland Railway that calls for rail transportation of ore from Monarch's Wasamac gold project to the Kidd concentrator in Timmins, Ontario. 

The MOU's first phase consists of an economic study of infrastructure for the transportation of ore by train from Wasamac to Kidd. The study is expected to be completed no later than Dec. 31.

VIA Rail Canada Inc. on July 8 announced it will temporarily lay off 1,000 unionized employees due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

VIA Rail does not anticipate ridership to be back to pre-COVID-19 levels in the foreseeable future, and therefore has had to adjust to the increasing financial impacts the crisis has had on the company, VIA Rail officials said in a press release.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) next month will temporarily close the Steel Bridge over the Willamette River in Portland to perform major repairs to the MAX light-rail system. 

The upper deck of the 108-year-old bridge will be closed Aug. 2-29 while improved lift joints and locks, new switches and signal equipment are installed.

The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority's (SFRTA) board last week elected Hal Valeche to serve as chair and Esteban Bovo as vice chair.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Valeche was appointed to SFRTA's board by the Palm Beach County Commission in June 2018. He also serves on the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) yesterday signed an agreement with SunPower Corp. and Goldman Sachs Renewable Power LLC (GSRP) to install solar paneled carports or canopies over parking areas at four rail stations.

Combined, the four sites will have 12.8 megawatts of electrical capacity, making the installation the largest community solar project in the area and one of the largest in the nation, WMATA officials said in a press release.

G3 announced yesterday it opened a new grain export terminal at the Port of Vancouver on Canada's West Coast and new grain elevators in Morinville and Carmangay, Alberta.

The two new loop-track grain elevators will ship grain to G3 Terminal Vancouver. Construction on the terminal began in March 2017. It is designed with a focus on high velocity grain receiving and shipping, as well as environmental and safety standards, G3 officials said in a press release.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) researchers are evaluating a number of commercially available products for potential long-lasting effectiveness against the coronavirus on trains and at stations.

The EPA Office of Research and Development Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response is conducting the research, using the surfaces that mimic the high touch point on mass transit trains and stations, EPA officials said in a press release.

CSX Corp. has named James Wainscott to its board.

Wainscott is the retired chairman, president and chief executive officer of AK Steel Holding Corp. He joined the company in 1995 as vice president and treasurer, was appointed chief financial officer in 1997 and became president, CEO and board member in 2003. In 2006, he was named AK Steel's chairman.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHRSA) tomorrow will release a draft environmental impact report and statement (EIR/EIS) for a 49-mile segment of the state’s high-speed rail project between San Francisco and San Jose. 

The segment would provide service between the Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco and the San Jose Diridon Station along the Caltrain corridor primarily on a shared, two-track configuration.

U.S. freight-rail traffic declined 2.4 percent to 437,989 carloads and intermodal units during the week ending July 4 compared with the same week a year ago, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Carload volume decreased 12.7 percent to 192,767 units, while intermodal volume rose 7.7 percent to 245,222 containers and trailers during the week.

India’s Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corp. (UPMRC) issued a letter of award valued at $275 million to Bombardier Transportation to build and deliver 201 rail cars and a signaling solution for the Agra-Kanpur Metro projects. Bombardier will provide the Agra Metro and Kanpur Metro 67 Bombardier Movia metro three-car trainsets and the Bombardier CITYFLO 650 rail control solution. UPMRC has an option of an additional 51 cars.

Affiliates of Paceline Equity Partners LLC, a private equity manager, acquired railroad maintenance-of-way equipment lessor R.E.L.A.M. Inc. Paceline affiliates also acquired the affiliated rail infrastructure and track maintenance services businesses, Acme Construction Co. Inc. and Timiny RR Construction Inc. The companies will operate with 1435 Rail Inc., a lessor of railroad MOW equipment that was acquired by Paceline affiliates in late 2019. John Roberts will serve as R.E.L.A.M.’s chief executive officer. He previously served stints at Marmon Crane Services Inc. and Railserve Inc.

Calgary Transit last week launched a mobile ticketing application for its rail and bus riders in Calgary, Alberta.

The new app, My Fare, allows CTrain light-rail riders to purchase tickets and passes from their smartphones. Riders will then ‘activate’ the ticket prior to entering a fare restricted area at a CTrain station, and present the proof of payment to a Calgary Transit Peace Officer when requested. 

Metra in Chicago yesterday unveiled a dashboard reporting ridership trends so riders can better plan trips based on social distancing.

Released as a test starting with weekday trains only, the dashboard indicates the average number of riders per train car over a five‐day period.