Railroad News

The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) last week approved $52,520 in rail-safety grants for crossing improvements in Tonasket and Yakima County.

The UTC approved a $44,000 grant from the Grade Crossing Protective Fund at the request of Cascade and Columbia River Railroad.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) later this month will begin replacing a mainline interlocking on the Red Line.

To complete the work, WMATA will suspend service between the Silver Spring and Fort Totten stations from Nov. 25 through Dec. 10.

Port Everglades handled a record 1,076,893 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in fiscal-year 2017, which ended Sept. 30.

The figure marks a 4 percent increase over the previous fiscal year, and a 1.5 percent over the previous containerized cargo record set in FY2015. The growth was steady throughout the year, but it reached record levels in December and March, Port Everglades officials said in a press release.

Transport Canada plans to incorporate data on rail surface conditions into its track inspection protocols following a safety recommendation from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) earlier this year.

Transport Canada has requested data on rail surface conditions from CN and Canadian Pacific, and both railroads have agreed to provide the information to the department on an ongoing basis.

MTA Metro-North railroad earlier this week used a Sperry Rail car to perform ultrasonic rail testing on the Upper Harlem Line. The unit performed the testing on a section of track between stations in Southeast and Wassaic, New York. The railroad used the equipment to detect defects and metal fatigue inside the steel rails. The Sperry Rail car is designed to identify issues before they become major problems, Metro-North officials said in a press release.

Keolis and the Institute for Data Valorisation have formed a strategic partnership aimed at supporting the development of "innovative urban mobility solutions" through the use of Big Data. As part of the agreement, both parties will collaborate on joint research and development projects, with an initial focus on Quebec. The projects eventually will expand to other areas where Keolis is present, company officials said in a press release. As a result of the partnership, Keolis will gain a better understanding of the way passengers move and how to best plan public transit networks, company officials said.

The Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) last month surpassed the billion-dollar mark for payments made to small businesses for contract work through the agency's FasTracks transit expansion program.

Beginning in 2005 with an award to Jacobs Engineering Group to manage the project, FasTracks contracts have benefited more than 600 small and disadvantaged firms, and 2,200 subcontractors, RTD officials said in a press release.

The South Carolina Ports Authority's (SCPA) board this week approved a $69.5 million contract for the purchase of six ship-to-shore cranes to handle growing container volumes and big ships calling at the Port of Charleston.

Manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Ltd., the five cranes will offer 169 feet of lift height. They will be delivered to the Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. Terminal, which is under construction, SCPA officials said in a press release.

Three Anacostia Rail Holdings railroads this fall conducted railroad hazmat training for more than 260 members of Indiana and Minnesota fire department and emergency response organizations.

Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad, Louisville & Indiana Railroad and Northern Lines Railway conducted the training sessions in September and October in Michigan City, Franklin and Columbus, Indiana, and St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Despite weaker carloadings in several major commodity groups, rail-car demand was relatively stable in the third quarter, according to Economic Planning Associates Inc.'s (EPA) latest "Outlook for Rail Cars" report.

After a strong start, rail traffic moderated in the quarter, primarily because of a significant slowing in grain exports, weak light vehicle production and a continued decline in petroleum loadings, the report states.

Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) partners yesterday submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation seeking a $160 million Infrastructure For Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant for several freight- and passenger-rail projects.

The grant would help leverage private and public dollars for the program's 75th Street Corridor improvement project and Argo Connections project. The federal funds sought in the INFRA application would cover only one-third of total costs, but would close a funding gap that would enable the projects to quickly proceed to construction, CREATE officials said in a press release.

Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and Chief Executive Officer Edward Hamberger has been named one of the nation's top lobbyists in 2017 by The Hill, a national political newspaper.

AAR's top executive since 1998, Hamberger was included on the list of lobbyists serving associations.

North Carolina Railroad Co.'s (NCRR) board last month elected Michael Walters as chairman. He succeeds Franklin Rouse.

Walters has served on the railroad's board since 2015 and chaired its Audit and Finance Committee since 2015. He also serves on the boards for Forestry Mutual Insurance Co. and the North Carolina Forestry Association.

American Honda Motor Co. moved nearly 48,000 vehicles through the Port of Brunswick, Georgia, during its 2017 fiscal year.

That figure marks a nearly threefold increase over the previous fiscal year, Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) officials said in a press release. Honda moved 34,700 more vehicles in FY2017 than it did in FY2016.

Ontario has closed its request for proposals to design and build a new Kipling Station in Toronto.

The move marks the start of the project's next phase of procurement, Ontario Ministry of Transportation officials said in a press release.

Amtrak has appointed Christian Zacariassen chief information officer, the railroad announced yesterday.

As CIO, Zacariassen will be responsible for all information technology (IT) business systems, including strategy, technology investment portfolio governance, systems development, infrastructure, IT operations and information security.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has directed New York City-area transit agencies and passenger railroads to step up security after a man killed eight people and injured nine others in what authorities have said was an act of terrorism in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has increased security patrols and surveillance across all its agencies, according to a press release issued by Cuomo's office.