Railroad News

The National Retail Federation (NRF) yesterday praised the new trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

NRF officials had expressed concern over the past year about the future of trade between the three nations, as negotiations to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) grew tense.

Metra later this month will close the ticket office at the 103rd Street Beverly Hills Station on the Rock Island Line due to declining on-site ticket sales.

In August, the station sold 1,472 tickets, the lowest number at stops along the Rock Island Line, according to the railroad. Each day, the 103rd Street Beverly Hills Station serves about 750 riders.

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) later this week will replace the Buckram Road Bridge, which carries Oyster Bay Branch trains between stations in Locust Valley and Oyster Bay, New York.

The project calls for raising the bridge clearance by nearly 4 feet to reduce truck strikes. The work also is aimed at improving public safety by improving roadway sight-lines, LIRR officials said in a news release.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has released the final environmental impact report for its Division 20 portal widening and turnback facility near LA Union Station.

The project is aimed at improving turnaround times for Red and Purple line subway trains at Union Station, and creating more space in the subway car rail yard.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency yesterday introduced new locomotives to the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service at L.A. Union Station.

Manufactured by Siemens in Sacramento, the 14 Charger locomotives have received the Tier IV emissions certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, making the Charger one of the cleanest diesel-electric passenger locomotives in operation, state and local transportation officials said in a press release.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon's (TriMet) board last week recommended that the Portland-area Metro Council adopt the locally preferred alternative for the Southwest Corridor light-rail project between Portland and Tualatin.

The preferred route would run 12 miles between downtown Portland and the Bridgeport Village shopping complex in Tualatin. The preferred option would include 13 stations, along with up to seven park-and-rides. It also would allow for 2 miles of shared transitway for future express bus service, TriMet officials said in a press release.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner yesterday joined other public officials and rail industry representatives at a ceremony to mark the funding of the 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project in Chicago.

The $474 million project is a linchpin in the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program, which aims to eliminate a chokepoint at a critical South Side Chicago junction for freight and passenger trains.

The Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) has teamed up with ride-sharing service Lyft and car-sharing service Zipcar in an effort to tackle the first-and-last-mile challenge of moving riders to and from transit stations without the use of their cars.

Participants who enroll and are selected to participate in RTD's new Ditch Your Car Program will receive various incentives toward the cost of using those services to travel the distance between their homes and workplaces to a train or bus stop. The incentives include credits for using Lyft, Lyft scooters and Zipcar, as well as a one-month RTD pass.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has begun a "hiring blitz" for engineers to manage a slew of major rebuilding projects.

The agency is recruiting engineers to rebuild much of BART's system after voters in November 2016 approved the $3.5 billion Measure RR bond measure.

Milwaukee will launch service on its new streetcar service, dubbed The Hop, on Nov. 2, Mayor Tom Barrett announced late last week.

City officials will host a grand opening ceremony Nov. 2 in Cathedral Square Park in downtown Milwaukee. The park is adjacent to the streetcar's eastbound and westbound platforms on Kilbourn Avenue in the downtown.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City has appointed Patrick Warren chief safety officer.

He'll work with MTA agencies on improving work practices and investing in new technology and equipment, MTA officials said in a press release.

North American railroads' growing interest in precision scheduled railroading has the potential to improve flagging service levels, according to a new report by Moody's Investors Service.

Last month, Union Pacific Railroad became the latest Class I to adopt precision scheduled railroading principles as part of a new operating model. Under UP's new Unified 2020 plan, the company will roll out precision scheduled railroading in phases across its network starting today.

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) and city and county of Honolulu late last week issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a public-private partnership (P3) to help finish the area's planned 20-mile transit-rail system.

The chosen bidder would complete the City Center guideway and stations, as well as the Pearl Highlands Transit Center and Garage. The bidder also would sign a long-term operations and maintenance agreement for HART's rail system.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is relaunching the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) after a more than year-long hiatus.

The committee will be re-established with a new charter, which will go into effect two years from the date it's filed with Congress, according to a notice published in the Federal Register.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) has chosen an LTK Engineering Services-Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. joint venture known as C2K Partners to provide post-award consulting services for the new R211 subway cars. C2K will provide technical and program management support to NYCT during the design, manufacturing, delivery, testing and acceptance of the new cars, which will feature expanded doors aimed at reducing delays and speeding the boarding process. The R211 cars also will be equipped with monitoring systems that will transmit information about performance to the wayside, which will help crews examine trains before equipment failure, according to a C2K press release. The contract's value was not disclosed in the press release. In January, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board approved a $1.4 billion contract with Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. for 535 of the R211 units.

Spanish rail-car maker CAF has selected Teleste Corp.'s on-board solutions for metro projects in the Philippines and Italy. The order includes 30 metro units for Manila and 12 units for Naples. Deliveries are slated to start in 2019, Teleste officials said in a press release. The deployment will include a passenger information system and Ethernet network for Manila metro trains, and a passenger information system and closed-circuit television systems with an Ethernet network in Naples.

TNW Corp. this week unveiled a new design for the short-line and logistics company's locomotive fleet.

The new design features the railroad's classic red, black and gray colors divided by a wavy line of white and black. Because Texas Rock Crusher Railway (TXR) is part of the community in Brownwood, Texas, the city's logo was painted on the locomotive, company officials said in a press release.

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Dorval Carter Jr. yesterday announced the start of construction to modernize the nearly 50-year-old Jefferson Park Blue Line Transit Center Terminal.

The $25 million rehabilitation project includes new bus and rail station canopies, new LED lighting and additional security cameras. Crews also will repair and refinish all station and platform surfaces, CTA officials said in a press release.

In August, tie production jumped 20.2 percent to 1,695,000 units and purchases rose 16.8 percent to 2,247,000 units compared with July levels, according to the Railway Tie Association's (RTA) latest market report.

On a year-over-year basis, production fell 15.2 percent and purchases dropped 10.7 percent.