Railroad News

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Senior Associate Editor

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has appointed Darrin Lambrigger director of construction management.

He had been serving as acting director of construction management since June 2017. As part of the role, he oversees construction of Port of Long Beach projects, including the $1.5 billion Middle Harbor redevelopment program, which calls for a major on-dock rail yard expansion.

Texas Central Partners officials are striking back at comments made last week by SNCF America Inc. about the private Texas-based company's plans to build a Dallas-to-Houston bullet train service.

In a statement issued in response to the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) draft environmental impact statement on Texas Central's proposal, SNCF officials claimed the project would "doom Texas' passenger-rail future." SNCF is the national operator of France's passenger rail service and a global operator of high-speed rail.

Watco Cos. LLC will soon provide stevedore and terminal services directly for customers at its Greens Port Industrial Park at the Houston Ship Channel in Harris County, Texas.

Effective April 1, Watco will provide the services for bulk customers and, on May 1, for breakbulk commodities, company officials said yesterday in a press release.

Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario have awarded a CA$254.5 million contract to EllisDon Transit Infrastructure (EDTI) to design, build and finance station improvements along GO Transit's Stouffville rail line.

The project includes upgrades to tracks, platforms and amenities at the Milliken, Agincourt and Unionville GO stations on the line. In addition, the project calls for a rail overpass bridge as part of a grade separation at Steeles Avenue in Toronto's Scarborough area.

This year's Railroad Day on Capitol Hill — held last week in Washington, D.C. — attracted a record attendance of nearly 700 rail industry representatives, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announced yesterday.

ASLRRA hosted the event, which is held annually to offer rail industry representatives a chance to meet with members of Congress and their staffs to discuss legislative issues of interest to their companies and associations.

The Virginia General Assembly has passed a bill that will provide $154 million annually for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

The amount is Virginia's share of the $500 million that WMATA has said it needs to address its capital needs, according to a press release issued by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC). Commission officials hope that Maryland and Washington, D.C. — WMATA's other two jurisdictions — will pass legislation to cover the balance.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Managing Editor

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) late last week unveiled eight winners of the MTA Genius Transit Challenge, a competition that called for new ideas to fix New York City's subway system.

The winners were collectively awarded $2.5 million in prize money for their submissions. MTA held the competition as soaring ridership continues to strain the subway system's aging infrastructure.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) last week released its 2018 customer charter, which includes a pledge to boost streetcar service.

As part of the charter, TTC will add service on up to 20 bus and streetcar routes to help reduce overcrowding during peak capacity. The agency also plans to roll out two-hour, time-based transfers to make multiple short-distance trips more affordable.

The nation's major retail container ports handled 1.73 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEU) in January, a 0.2 percent increase from December and 1.8 percent increase from January 2017, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

February's numbers are estimated at 1.66 million TEU, up 13.7 percent year over year. However, March is forecast at 1.53 million TEU, down 1.8 percent from the same month last year.

BNSF Railway Co.'s 2018 capital expenditure program will include $90 million for maintenance projects in Minnesota.

The largest component of this year's capital plan in the state will be replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast, the Class I announced in a press release.

The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) late last week reopened the Metro SubwayLink network in Baltimore following emergency rail repairs that closed the entire system.

Trains began serving passengers on March 9, three days ahead of schedule, MTA officials said in a press release. Last month, the agency closed the subways due to unexpected rail wear throughout the system.

The cost to build California's planned high-speed rail system has soared from $64 billion to $77.3 billion, according to the California High-Speed Rail Authority's (CHRSA) 2018 business plan.

Key cost drivers include increased contingency funding for future risks and "escalation" tied to schedule adjustments, CHSRA officials said in the plan.

The U.S. Department of Transportation late last week announced the 41 recipients of nearly $500 million in discretionary grant funding for road, transit, maritime and rail projects through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program.

The list included more than $100 million in grants for rail-related projects. More than 64 percent of the funding was awarded to rural projects, a "historic number" that demonstrates the Trump administration's interest in supporting rural communities, USDOT officials said in a press release.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Editor

About seven months after he’d been nominated, longtime railroader Ron Batory was sworn in as the 14th administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Feb. 28.

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 2:35 p.m. CST.]

Canadian Pacific has placed an order for more than 400 of Thermo King's SLXi-DRC refrigeration units. The single domestic reefer containers provide room for an extra pallet row to increase cargo capacity. The units use R-452A — a next-generation refrigerant — to help meet sustainability goals, Thermo King officials said in a press release. CP and Thermo King previously performed a four-month field test of an SLXi-DRC unit to verify its performance in CP's rugged environment and climate. The railroad's purchase marked the largest, single domestic reefer container order in Canadian history, Thermo King officials said.