Railroad News

Pin Oak Terminals officials on Monday held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the company's new petroleum and liquid storage terminal at the Port of South Louisiana.

Announced in October 2015, the project involved a $600 million capital investment in storage terminals, docks and related infrastructure along the Mississippi River's east bank at Mount Airy, Louisiana.

Mattagami First Nation has filed a lawsuit against CN for damage caused by two train derailments near Gogoma, Ontario, in February and March 2015

The derailments spilled millions of liters of crude oil that damaged the local environment and watershed. The spills have had a "catastrophic" impact on the Mattagami First Nation's territory, First Nation officials said in a press release.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) late last week reminded transit agencies and railroads about ways to protect their systems from terrorist attacks.

The TSA's message followed the release of a recent video from terrorist group Al-Qaeda that focused on threats to U.S. rail systems by homegrown violent extremists, TSA officials said in an emailed statement.

President Donald Trump yesterday signed an executive order aimed at speeding up the federal permitting process for construction of transportation, water and other infrastructure projects while still protecting the environment.

The order also requires agencies to work together "more efficiently" by requiring one lead agency for each major infrastructure project, Trump said, according to a transcript of his comments. Agencies will be held accountable if they fail to streamline the permitting process.

The Metropolitan Council on Monday reached agreements with BNSF Railway Co. and the Twin Cities & Western Railroad to permit light-rail operations along the same corridor as freight operations.

The pacts will enable the council to begin seeking federal funding for its planned $1.9 billion Southwest light-rail project, the Star Tribune reported earlier this week.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has appointed Luis Manuel Ramirez general manager and chief executive officer, Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced yesterday.

Ramirez will succeed interim General Manager Steve Poftak on Sept. 12. Ramirez most recently ran his own strategic and turnaround business consulting firm, Massachusetts Department of Transportation officials said in a press release.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Monday wrote its second letter to CSX President and Chief Executive Officer E. Hunter Harrison to express the agency's continued concern over the "widespread degradation of rail service" across the Class I's network.

Late last month, the STB wrote to Harrison about reported disruptions in rail service that resulted from changes to CSX's operating plan. Harrison began implementing the plan after taking over as CSX's leader earlier this year.

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

Matthew Walicki, 34

Job description: As practice lead for freight-rail facilities, Walicki oversees and manages the design of railroad buildings and support facilities, including administration offices, car repair shops, locomotive service buildings and secondary containment. Walicki also oversees all transportation work for AECOM's Norfolk Southern Railway account, including the railroad’s pipe and wire program. Walicki also performs design-related work for NS' bridges and structures.

Education: Bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering and architectural engineering from Drexel University

Bombardier Transportation has obtained two contracts to provide its driverless Innovia Monorail 300 system to two new rapid transit lines in Bangkok. The company will design and supply the mechanical and electrical elements for the lines and deliver a combined total of 72, four-car Innovia trains, which are equipped with the Cityflo 650 automatic train control technology for driverless operations. The new trains are expected to serve more than 400,000 daily passengers, according to a Bombardier press release. A Bombardier-Puzhen joint venture will manufacture the units in China.

Linfox Logistics has formed a consortium with Australian freight-rail operator Pacific National to purchase Aurizon's freight haulage and end-to-end freight forwarding assets on Queensland's northern line. The acquisition is aimed at enabling Linfox to improve the scale and scope of its own freight forwarding services, Linfox officials said in a press release. Pacific National will work with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to gain clearance for the acquisition of other assets of Aurizon Queensland Intermodal.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) over the weekend closed a portion of its Line 1 Yonge-University subway route to continue testing and emergency response training for a new automatic train control (ATC) system.

During the closure, crews tested the new ATC system between the Spadina and Wilson stations and performed other essential work for the opening of the Line 1 extension to Vaughan, Ontario, later this year.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) on Sept. 2 will begin installing positive train control (PTC) on the Needham commuter-rail line.

To facilitate the work, the agency will shut down the lines on weekends through Nov. 18. A public information meeting about the construction will be held Aug. 24.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR), in partnership with grassroots advocacy organization GoRail, yesterday honored U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) with the Railroad Achievement Award.

DeFazio was recognized for his longstanding, bipartisan leadership on issues that affect freight and passenger railroads, AAR officials said in a press release.

The Gateway Program Development Corp. (GDC) has issued a request for information (RFI) from private-sector leaders who have planning ideas for the Hudson Tunnel and the final section of the Hudson Yards concrete casing projects.

Specifically, the RFI is seeking ideas that will help inform the planning for procurement and delivery — including potential design, construction and solutions — of the projects, GDC officials said in a press release.

The Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) will present the 2017 Silver Kingpin Award to Robert Huffman at this year's Intermodal EXPO in California next month.

The Silver Kingpin recognizes an individual's long-term contributions to intermodalism. Huffman will be honored for a 41-year career that began in 1972 at Conrail and ended at Norfolk Southern Railway in 2013, when he retired as vice president of intermodal.

The Metropolitan Council will work toward a 2018 construction start on the $1.9 billion Southwest light-rail in the Minneapolis area, local media reported late last week.

In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), Met Council chair Alene Tchourumoff said she hopes that construction will have started by the time Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton's term ends in early 2019.

Norfolk Southern Corp.'s board has appointed Cynthia Earhart as executive vice president and chief financial officer effective today.

Earhart succeeds NS Vice President and Controller Thomas Hurlbut, who has served as interim CFO since Aug. 1, following the retirement of Marta Stewart.

Going into 2017 the rail-car fleet outlook was promising. Most freight segments were showing improvement and much of the lost 2016 volume was expected to be recaptured. Many of the fleet surpluses had begun to decline and utilization was on the rise. And while the new car order rate remained subpar, deliveries were still projected to be almost 40,000 units — a respectable number.

The Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) Ventra fare payment app has been downloaded more than 2 million times, the agency announced late last week.

Launched in November 2015, the app has been used to buy almost $250 million in fares, CTA officials said in a press release. Riders can use Ventra to buy trips on CTA, Metra and the Pace bus system.