Railroad News

6/12/2017    

Rail News: Mechanical

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 6/12/2017 Rail News: Passenger Rail
A rendering showing the Red-Purple bypass (at right), along with potential redevelopment concepts.Photo – Chicago Transit Authority

Rail News Home Short Lines & Regionals 6/12/2017 Rail News: Short Lines & Regionals
The Public Belt Railroad will continue to serve the port under a new agreement announced last week.Photo – New Orleans Public Belt Railroad

Rail News Home Short Lines & Regionals June 2017 Rail News: Short Lines & Regionals

— By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., EditorOn June 1, we announced that Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) President, Chairman and CEO Jack Hellmann is the 2017 recipient of our Railroad Innovator Award, which recognizes an individual’s outstanding achievement in the rail industry.
And I couldn’t be happier to reiterate the news, and to wax a bit about Jack, in this space.He joined G&W as the short-line holding company’s chief financial officer in 2000, and I first talked with him that year. Jack was new to rail (he’d worked in corporate finance) and he called, wondering if I had a few minutes to talk. He asked big-picture questions and nuanced ones. Politely, Jack also nudged me back on track when I got a little too parenthetical (as I tend to get) in my responses. Jack listened. Really listened. That stuck with me. So did his subsequent ascent at G&W.Jack Hellmann

Rail News Home Maintenance Of Way 6/9/2017 Rail News: Maintenance Of Way
Metro-North crews at work in 2015Photo – Metro-North's 'Mileposts' newsletter

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 6/9/2017 Rail News: Passenger Rail
A light-rail train at the Newton Road station in Norfolk, Va.Photo – Hampton Roads Transit

Rail News Home Intermodal June 2017 Rail News: Intermodal

Last month, the COSCO Development container ship became the largest ship to pass through the Panama Canal.Photo – Panama Canal Authority — By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Associate EditorIn early May, the Port of Virginia welcomed the COSCO Development container ship, the largest vessel to call on the U.S. East Coast to date. Over the course of the ship’s 30-plus-hour stop at the Virginia International Gateway terminal, crews loaded and unloaded almost 2,000 containers.The Development, which has a carrying capacity of more than 13,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), came to the terminal after passing through the recently expanded Panama Canal. The ship’s arrival ushered in a new era for the port, Virginia Port Authority (VPA) officials said last month.“For years, we have been talking about the ‘next generation’ of vessels and the ‘big-ship era.’ This is what we have been preparing for … the big ships are here,” said VPA Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director John Reinhart in a May 9 press release.Indeed, more than 1,200 “Neopanamax” vessels — ships with a carrying capacity of up to 14,000 TEUs — have passed through the Panama Canal since its $5.25 billion expansion project was completed in June 2016, according to the Panama Canal Authority. The project involved widening the waterway and adding two new sets of locks to allow larger ships to pass through.In the run-up to the opening of the widened Panama Canal, some observers forecast an uptick in Asian containerized traffic heading to the U.S. East and Gulf coasts due to larger ships arriving. While the overall market share of traffic calling on those ports has been growing compared to West Coast ports, the expanded Panama Canal is just one factor, trade experts and port leaders say.Going forward, though, the widened canal could spell future volume boosts for eastern ports and railroads. For now, intermodal stakeholders are working to remain nimble regardless of how trade patterns shake out.“There will be vessels of similar or equal size [as the Development] calling on Virginia with regularity and we are expecting to benefit from increased volumes,” said Port of Virginia spokesman Joe Harris in an email.From June 2016 through mid-May this year, the port’s overall TEU volumes are up 7 percent compared with volumes during the same period. In addition, the port’s rail volume for the same period grew 13 percent year over year.The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is raising the Bayonne Bridge to allow larger vessels to access its terminals.Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Rail News Home Passenger Rail June 2017 Rail News: Passenger Rail

MARTA CEO Keith ParkerPhoto – MARTA By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Senior Associate Editor
 
As a massive fire raged under a section of Interstate 85 causing a bridge to collapse in Atlanta on a Thursday night in late March, city and state officials gathered via conference call to hash out a transportation action plan for the hundreds of thousands of drivers whose commutes were thrown into disarray.
 
No one was hurt, but the incident shut down a 3-mile section of I-85 and cut off access to a major roadway through Atlanta. The city already was famous for its traffic gridlock prior to the March 30 bridge collapse. Now that a key thoroughfare was out of commission for at least several weeks, Atlantans were facing a transportation nightmare.
 
Among the leaders on that crisis-response phone call was Keith Parker, general manager and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), the primary transit service that operates the region’s rail and bus services. Parker first realized the I-85 situation's gravity when he saw the thick, black smoke billowing from the fire one-third of a mile from MARTA's headquarters.
 
Within an hour, Parker, the Georgia Department of Transportation and other state and city officials had crafted a transportation implementation plan that included increasing MARTA train and bus service.
 
"We were able to increase service by 10 p.m. that night," says Parker. "Along with that, we had a concerted and consistent communications plan in place. Throughout that evening, early the next day and throughout the next weekend, I and others were doing media interviews telling people to try MARTA."
 
In addition to conducting news media interviews, MARTA communications staff used the agency's website and social media platforms — including Parker's own Twitter account — to get the word out about how to use MARTA trains or buses. By the next morning, MARTA saw a steady increase in ridership.
 
"Our biggest challenge was how to accommodate all those new people," says Parker.
 
Finding room for all those cars
Besides adding trains and buses to routes, MARTA increased the number of parking attendants at stations and MARTA police officers throughout the system to help direct the rush of commuters who were new to MARTA. The rush of riders prompted another concern: Where to park all those extra cars? Even though the I-85 collapse occurred during spring break when traffic was down, MARTA's station parking lots and decks were at or near capacity.
 
MARTA opened up 1,600 spaces at under-utilized stations, but the agency needed even more room for parked cars. Parker and agency staff talked with local businesses and organizations to identify ways to expand parking capacity at or near stations throughout the system. AT&T was among those that offered to help, providing 750 additional spaces.
 
MARTA also encouraged commuters to carpool, use ride-sharing services and "Kiss-and-Ride" lanes to get to rail stations. The agency's buses provided free transfers to the rail stations. And to make it easier for commuters to bike their way to a MARTA train, the agency added bicycle racks and bike repair kiosks. Commuters also could get real-time station parking capacity updates via MARTA's website.
 
"We were able to greatly expand our capacity and reduce some of the frustration of new and regular customers," says Parker. "Those efforts worked very well."
 
MARTA's typical ridership is 400,000 to 430,000 daily riders. During the six-week I-85 closure, the agency experienced a system-wide increase of more than 11 percent, with an initial spike the day after the bridge collapse of nearly 25 percent, according to MARTA spokesman Erik Burton.
 
Quickly accommodating a flood of new customers was a challenge for MARTA, no doubt about it. But at the same time, Parker saw it as an opportunity to attract and keep new customers.
 
To entice new passengers to get on board, MARTA offered deals such as discounted monthly passes, a new weekend family pass and a Groupon offering $12 for a three-day unlimited Breeze Card — an $18 value.
 
"The feedback we received from new customers was that they had no idea it was so easy to use MARTA," Parker says. "That's been the refreshing part of the experience for our [new] customers. When they get on a MARTA train, they know they’ll be on time 97.5 percent of the time."
 
As of June 5, final data was unavailable to compare ridership before and after the bridge reopened the week of May 13. Still, agency officials believe MARTA will retain some of its new customers.
 
"Once those riders return to driving and experiencing the tough Atlanta traffic, we think they'll come back to MARTA," says Parker.Parker's advice: Be prepared
Key to MARTA's response to the I-85 crisis was having a plan at the ready. Agency staff regularly participate in crisis-response training and disaster-preparedness exercises.
 
"It's just a matter of time before a transit agency will be faced with something like this," says Parker. "The event could be inclement weather, a terrorist attack or a chemical spill that shuts down an area. Whatever the case, something eventually will happen to a transportation network that will make public transit critically important. You have to plan for that eventuality."
 
In addition to being prepared, transit agency leaders "have to continue to remind ourselves to communicate, communicate, communicate," Parker adds.
 
"There is a tendency to relax once the plan is in place," he says. "But the public has to be constantly reassured and re-informed about how things are going."
Keywords Browse articles on Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority MARTA Keith Parker Interstate 85 Georgia Department of Transportation disaster planning Contact Progressive Railroading editorial staff.

Rail News Home Short Lines & Regionals 6/8/2017 Rail News: Short Lines & Regionals
TNW Corp. has created a new logo to celebrate the company's 35th anniversary.Based in Dallas, the company launched service in 1982 as the holding company for the Texas North Western Railway to serve customers in the Texas panhandle near Sunray, with an interchange connection on the BNSF Railway Co.Today, TNW is the holding company for three short lines and three logistics centers in Texas and partners with a short line and port facility in Indiana."Through steady internal growth and a series of strategic acquisitions, we have built a solid foundation for continued success in the future," said Chief Executive Officer Paul Treangen in a press release. "As we continue to expand our operations and become more involved in economic development initiatives with the communities and commercial development entities in our market areas, TNW is well positioned for future opportunities.”TNW supplies rail-car storage, servicing, cleaning and repair services. It also operates logistics parks that include manufacturing, storage and agricultural facilities for on-site companies that use short lines to import raw materials, export finished products and maintain their daily operations.

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 6/8/2017 Rail News: Passenger Rail
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton signs a commemorative plaque at the 50th Street Station.Photo – Valley Metro

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 6/8/2017 Rail News: Passenger Rail
A rendering of the Hurontario line's Robert Speck stop in Mississauga, Ontario.Photo – Metrolinx/Infrastructure Ontario

6/8/2017    

Rail News: Mechanical