Railroad News

The Port Authority of Allegheny County has postponed implementation of a cashless, proof-of-payment system for its light-rail network in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The decision is the result of several factors, including a delay in the delivery of additional "ConnectCard" machines that dispense the new fare cards and tickets at system stations.

CIT Group Inc. announced last week it reached an agreement to sell its European rail leasing business unit NACCO to German firm VTG Aktiengesellschaft for $890 million.
The deal includes NACCO’s fleet of 14,000 freight cars and its car investments made between Jan. 1, 2017, and the transaction’s closing date that could total $160 million.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter pending customary closing conditions.

The Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority (RPTA) board has elected Suzanne Klapp chair.

Klapp serves as vice mayor of Scottsdale, Arizona. She began her first term on the Scottsdale City Council in January 2009 and was re-elected to a second term that began in January 2013.

In late May, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) members ratified their first-ever labor contract with the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad LLC (WNYP).
 
The four-year contract governs about a dozen WNYP workers and runs through Dec. 31, 2021. The pact establishes hourly wage rates, overtime pay, and health and welfare benefits. It also provides due process protections for BLET members that define a process to be followed when disciplinary charges are levied due to an alleged rule violation, union officials said in a press release.

Prior to the contract ratification, there were three pay rates for both locomotive engineers and conductors at WNYP. The new pact transitions wage scales to a single engineer hourly rate and a conductor hourly rate by 2021. Over the term of the contract, wage increases will range from 15.91 percent to 28.44 percent for engineers, and from 15.91 percent to 33.75 percent for conductors, BLET officials said.

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) has received $4.5 million from the Salt Lake County Council to double track a portion of its S-Line streetcar route, the agency announced late last week.

The move will enable UTA to run streetcars every 15 minutes along the 2-mile route, agency officials said in a press release.

Caltrain's board on July 6 will solicit public feedback on proposed changes to fares and parking rates.

Under the proposal, the cost of traveling within one of Caltrain's zone would remain the same, but fares for additional travel would increase by 25 cents per zone.

The probable cause of a BNSF Railway Co. ethanol train derailment two years ago in South Dakota was related to the railroad’s decision to defer track maintenance and continue operating high-hazard flammable unit trains on the Aberdeen subdivision, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced last week.

The incident occurred Sept. 19, 2015, when the train derailed at a small bridge near Lesterville, S.D. The train was hauling three locomotives, 96 loaded tank cars and two hopper cars filled with sand, according to the NTSB report.

Sound Transit has begun building light rail in the center lanes of the Homer M. Hadley floating bridge across Lake Washington. The work on Interstate 90 is part of the agency's 14-mile East Link light-rail extension project.

Constructing light rail across a floating bridge marks a world-first achievement, Sound Transit officials said in a press release. The track on the bridge was engineered to compensate for six ranges of lake motion, according to the agency.

Northern Plains Railroad (NPR) has launched a new logo as it celebrates its 20th year in business serving customers in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Launched in 1997, NPR first operated out of a small office in Devils Lake, N.D., where it served the surrounding area on the former Soo Line/Canadian Pacific Railway "wheat lines," NPR officials said in a press release.

Amtrak last week provided an update on its infrastructure renewal work at Penn Station in New York City.

Engineering crews recently completed projects that include:
• renewal of 125 feet of station track 7 at east end limits, including the replacement of 600 railroad ties;
• total switch replacement in several sections within tracks in the "A" interlocking on the station's west side;
• wood, timber and rail replacement within the "JO" interlocking on the station's east side;
• replacement of 96 block ties in Line 1 of the East River tunnels;
• replacement of block ties within station tracks 2 and 10; and
• positioning of equipment in New York and New Jersey in preparation for the extensive summer work in July and August.

Transport Canada recently proposed new regulations aimed at lowering the risk of terrorism on the Canadian rail system.

Published in the Canada Gazette last month, the regulations would apply to freight trains that transport dangerous goods such as flammable or radioactive materials.

The North County Transit District (NCTD) on Wednesday will kick off a revenue service demonstration with its positive train control (PTC) system.

Herzog Technologies Inc. is implementing the technology for the San Diego-area commuter railroad.

The Kansas City Streetcar Authority (KCSA) late last week received approval from the Kansas City Council to purchase two additional streetcars.

Transdev North America has named Yann Leriche chief executive officer. He will oversee all Transdev subsidiaries and operations in the United States and Canada, including contracts for streetcar, light-rail, bus and paratransit services. Leriche will remain head of global on-demand transportation business lines, as well as lead global development for autonomous vehicles. For the past three years, Leriche has served as the global chief performance officer for the Transdev Group. As CEO, he succeeds Mark Joseph, who was CEO for the past 16 years. Transdev's contracts include a $38 million agreement with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority to operate the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar system.

For The Greenbrier Cos. Inc.'s fiscal-year 2017 third quarter ended May 31, the company reported net earnings of $32.8 million, or $1.03 per diluted share, versus $35.3 million, or $1.12 per diluted share, during the same period last year. Greenbrier logged quarterly revenue of $439.2 million, a decrease from $612.9 million in third-quarter FY2016. The new rail-car backlog as of May 31 was 31,000 units with an estimated value of $3.1 billion. That marked growth from Feb. 28, when the company reported a backlog of 22,600 units estimated at $2.44 billion. Since the beginning of the year, Greenbrier's leaders have observed sustained and increasing rail-car loadings across commodity types, as well as decreasing rail velocity. Both are "positive indicators for the near-term demand environment," said Chairman and CEO William Furman in a press release. Meanwhile, Greenbrier announced that former Kansas City Southern CEO David Starling was elected as an independent director on the company's board. Wanda Felton also was elected to the board. Felton previously served as first vice president and vice chair of the Export Import Bank of the United States.

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) project yesterday began a series of "preview rides" to offer locals a chance to try the new rail system.

The preview trips will continue July 1 and 4. On those days, SMART will offer three trips each.

U.S. Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) have introduced legislation aimed at improving security on transit rail and buses.

The lawmakers introduced the Securing America's Facilities, Equipment, and Rail: Taking Responsibility for American National Security in Transit (SAFER TRANSIT) Act to address "constantly evolving" security threats against transportation systems, they said in a jointly issued press release.

Kansas state and Watco Cos. LLC officials yesterday marked the opening of a new transload facility in Great Bend.

Great Bend was selected for the site in 2015 and construction began in July 2016. The facility is served by Watco Cos.' Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad.

City of Ottawa, Ontario, officials have signed a $349 million variation agreement with Rideau Transit Group Partnership (RTG) for the rolling stock and onboard equipment needed for extensions to the city's O-Train light-rail system.