Railroad News

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

The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) today approved rail and gate expansion projects aimed at increasing capacity at its Garden City Terminal in Savannah.

The board approved $42.27 million in expenditures as part of GPA's $128 million Mason Mega Rail Terminal. The project not only will expand the Port of Savannah's on-dock rail capacity by 100 percent, but position Savannah to rapidly increase service to an arc of inland markets from Memphis to Chicago, port officials said in a press release.

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has called for a dedicated regional source of capital funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) aging infrastructure.

LaHood made the recommendation as part of his report on the agency's funding and governance. In March, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed LaHood to head an independent review of WMATA.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and Massport have applied for three federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grants for capital projects that would include upgrading the New England Central Railroad's capacity.

The grant proposals are part of Massachusetts' efforts to improve the state's freight transportation system, state officials said in a press release. The three INFRA applications involve:
• MassDOT's proposal to upgrade more than 31 miles of rail and 20 bridge structures on the Massachusetts portion of the New England Central Railroad, a regional rail corridor between Connecticut and Canada. The line serves several key employers in Massachusetts. The upgrade will allow shippers and receivers to use full carrying capacity of each rail car in order to lower their costs.
• Massport's request of $63.33 million to complete the Revitalize New England’s Maritime Gateway Project. Of the grant request, $57.93 million would be used to fund design and construction of Berth 10 and the GateVision operating system, and $5.4 million would fund design and construction of the Cypher-E Freight Corridor.
• MassDOT's request of $33 million in funding to complete the Interstate 495 Corridor Improvement Program.

Metra's board has approved a 2018 operating budget that includes fare increases and service cuts to help close a $45 million funding gap.

Under the $797 million budget, the cost of a one-way ticket will increase 25 cents in all zones, beginning in February. Service on a number of weekday trains will be curtailed or eliminated on the North Central Service, SouthWest Service and Rock Island Line routes.

STV served as the lead designer for California's Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) District's commuter-rail system, which began revenue service in late August. As part of a design-build team led by a Stacy & Witbeck/Herzog joint venture, STV provided engineering services for all rail, civil and structural improvements for SMART's 43-mile initial operating segment connecting the Sonoma County Airport to San Rafael, California. The firm also oversaw the rehabilitation or replacement of 41 miles of track and designed the boarding platforms for 10 stations, STV officials said in a press release. STV also incorporated "gauntlet tracks," which overlap with the main line to give wider freight trains more clearance to pass safely through passenger platform areas.

PTSI Transportation has completed its digital Route Learning System™ for New Jersey Transit's Newark light-rail line. The system is an operations training program used to teach the physical characteristics of a railroad to operating employees, rail or transit police and first responders. The Route Learning System consists of digital maps and charts, as well as a video of the railroad taken from the engineer's/ operator's perspective. The tool can be used in a training center, taken home for personal study or viewed on a screen in the operating cab to "enhance situation awareness," PTSI officials said in a press release.

California state and high-speed rail officials yesterday unveiled a plan to assume federal environmental responsibilities for the state's high-speed rail project.

The move is aimed at streamlining reviews and approvals of the environmental documents needed to advanced the high-speed rail program and related rail projects, California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHRSA) officials said in a press release.

Ceres Solutions Cooperative Inc. has been awarded a $350,000 state loan for a rail project that's part of a feed-mill expansion in White Cloud, Michigan.

The company obtained the loan from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Office of Rail's Freight Economic Development Program (FEDP), which provides low interest loans to rail-served businesses in the state.

Western Forest Products Inc., a Canadian forest products company, announced this week that it would close its Englewood logging train on Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

The company will shut down its train operation and ship logs by truck to save money and increase competitiveness, according to a Western press release.

The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority earlier this week issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) seeking a design-build team for the alignment of its light-rail project between Glendora and Montclair, California.

The $1.5 billion project involves extending the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro) Gold Line through communities in the San Gabriel Valley and into San Bernardino County.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) on Wednesday released its proposed $3.4 billion capital budget for 2018, which includes funds to advance LaGuardia Airport's "AirTrain" project.

The proposal also allocates money for planning activities for an extension of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) system to the Newark Liberty International Airport Station, PANYNJ officials said in a press release.

Hallador Energy subsidiary Sunrise Coal LLC has signed a side-track agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway to construct a truck-to-rail coal loading facility.

Known as the Princeton Loop, the facility will be located 6 miles west of Princeton, Indiana, on Highway 64. When completed in spring 2018, the facility will primarily serve utility coal plants that NS serves, according to a Hallador press release.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced this week that Sumitomo Corp. of Americas will work with Siemens to fulfill a $371 million multi-state contract to supply 137 single-level passenger rail cars.

Caltrans' contract amendment replaces Nippon Sharyo with Siemens to fulfill the delayed order. Under the contract's original terms, Sumitomo subcontracted with Nippon Sharyo of Japan to build the cars in Rochelle, Illinois.

By Simon Hughes

The construction industry is one of the oldest in the United States and can chart its history to the creation of the earliest skyscrapers and railroads. Despite this longevity, it’s constantly evolving. Every year there are new developments and technologies in the industry that spawn new acronyms; in recent years, CAD, BIM and P3, to name a few, have surfaced.

Transport Canada officials will address fatigue management in the rail industry, Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced this week.

A notice of intent will be published in the Canada Gazette for the first part of a proposed approach to incorporate up-to-date fatigue science in current requirements, Transport Canada officials said in a press release.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) officials are considering potential changes to three rail stations to improve access to the Maryland Transit Administration's future Purple Line light-rail route.

WMATA is mulling the changes at the request of Maryland state officials, agency officials said in a press release. At WMATA's station in Bethesda, Maryland, the agency would build a new south entrance that will connect with street level and the Bethesda Purple Line station.

Amazon will open a new distribution facility at the Tradepoint Atlantic multimodal industrial park near Baltimore.

The new fulfillment facility — Amazon's fourth in Maryland — will be located in Sparrows Point at Tradepoint Atlantic, the site of a former steel mill that closed in 2012.

Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) new "Fleet of the Future" rail cars failed to perform in a recent test run conducted by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

U.S. railroads handled 538,739 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending Nov. 4., marking a 0.8 percent decrease compared with traffic in the same week last year.

Total carloads for the week were down 1.7 percent to 266,652, while intermodal volume inched up 0.01 percent to 272,087 containers and trailers, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported yesterday.