Railroad News

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) today initiated a "safety stand-down" that resulted in a temporary suspension of mechanical inspections of the transit system's newest rail cars.

WMATA's action is in response to a safety concern raised by ATU Local 689, which represents the agency's operators, clerical and maintenance workers. The concern involved procedures for inspecting ground brushes, which are part of the train's undercarriage that return negative electrical current to the rails, WMATA officials said in a press release.

Loram Maintenance of Way Inc. has acquired substructure maintenance company HyGround Engineering. The acquisition is aimed at enabling Loram to better record and diagnose issues with ballast, sub-ballast, subgrade and drainage. In addition, the acquisition will pair HyGround's expertise in track geotechnics with Loram's ballast maintenance equipment to provide customers effective substructure maintenance management programs, Loram officials said in a press release. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

HDR has acquired Maintenance Design Group (MDG). Founded in 1995, MDG has designed upper-level work platforms for light-rail facilities. The firm employs nearly 40 professionals at offices in Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Houston, Baltimore and Nashville, Tennessee. For more than a decade, HDR and MDG have worked together to serve transit clients, including the Kansas City Streetcar, said HDR President and Chief Operating Officer Eric Keen in a press release. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) has finished a series of accessibility improvements at Metrolink's Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo Station in California.

Working in partnership with Metrolink and the cities of Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo, OCTA designed and constructed two ramps that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

New Jersey Transit employees have donated clothing and supplies to employees of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO), the Houston transit agency that experienced ervice disruptions due to Hurricane Harvey earlier this month.

Collections took place at employee work locations last week, NJ Transit officials said in a press release. Members of the NJ Transit Police Department delivered the items to Houston METRO.

Southwest Gulf Railroad Co. (SGRR) officially broke ground on the Medina Line, which is designed to increase the short line's customers access to Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway Co. lines in Texas and beyond.

The 9-mile line in Medina County, Texas, also will provide access to U.S. Route 90, railroad officials said in a press release.

Port Tampa Bay's board yesterday approved a public-private partnership agreement that will determine how to pay for a $60 million expansion of the Big Bend Channel.

The other partners involved in the agreement include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Florida Department of Transportation, Tampa Electric Co. and Mosaic Co., a global fertilizer company and one of the port's largest tenants, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has appointed John Bilich chief security officer, the agency announced yesterday.

A former commissioner of operations for the New York City Police Department (NYPD), Bilich joined PANYNJ in March 2015 as first deputy chief security officer.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has written a preliminary report on the Aug. 22 collision between two Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) trains.

The incident occurred when a SEPTA electrically powered single-car train struck an unoccupied SEPTA single-car train that was stopped at a passenger platform at the 69th Street Transportation Center on the Norristown Line in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

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

The exhibition hall for Railway Interchange 2017 officially opened Sunday.

Broward County's board of commissioners in Florida has approved a $31.4 million contract to purchase five streetcars from Siemens Industry Inc.

The units will be used on a planned  2.8-mile mile system in Fort Lauderdale, the Sun Sentinel reported Sept. 16. The board authorized purchasing five Siemens S70 vehicles for the Wave Streetcar, which is slated to open in early 2021. Construction on the $195 million project is expected to start in 2018.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) on Sept. 26 will issue $574 million worth of bonds, most of which have been deemed "sustainable," the agency announced yesterday.

Proceeds from sustainability bonds are used exclusively on projects that have environmental or social benefits.

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) has submitted to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) a "recovery plan" for its proposed 20-mile passenger-rail system, Pacific Business News reported yesterday.

The plan includes an updated financial plan for the project, which faces a $3 billion funding shortfall, according to the newspaper. The FTA previously asked HART to create a plan outlining how it will cover that shortfall.

The new Ray-Mont Logistics transload facility in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, welcomed its first unit train carrying agricultural products on CN's rail line, the Class I announced yesterday.

The new facility is located on Ridley Island, next to the recently expanded Port of Prince Rupert Fairview Container Terminal and connected to CN's network.

Union Pacific Railroad is consolidating six major business units and four subsidiaries as part of a restructuring of its marketing and sales organization to address "evolving customer needs," the Class I announced late last week.

The business units are being consolidated into four: agricultural products, energy, industrial and premium.

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

The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) yesterday presented the 19th annual Dr. William W. Hay Award for Excellence to BNSF Railway Co. and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) for a five-year passenger-rail improvement project.

Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway has begun a fleet-wide installation of Railhead Corp.'s Locomotive Digital Video Recorder (LDVR) HD system. The installations include forward- and inward-facing cameras, which are aimed at improving the quality of accident investigations and provide training tools to improve operator safety and compliance, Railhead officials said in a press release. The combination of LDVR, cameras and management software are expected to help Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway reduce maintenance and operating costs, improve efficiency and mitigate risk.

Avtec Inc. and Alcon Engenharia de Sistemas have been selected to provide a comprehensive dispatching solution for PAULISTA Metropolitan Trains Co.'s Line 13 commuter-rail route in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Avtec's solution will consist of seven Scout™ Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) consoles integrated with radio infrastructure. The technology is aimed at providing dispatchers with a reliable communications system to ensure safety, track control and operational efficiency, Avtec officials said in a press release. Slated to begin operations in 2018, the 7.6-mile Line 13 will connect downtown Sao Paulo to the Guarulhos International Airport.

TransLink over the weekend continued making upgrades at the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain Station in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The agency ran trains on a single track around the work area to make way for construction crews. TransLink will single-track trains again on Sept. 30.