Railroad News

Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer William Flynn told a congressional panel last week that he eliminated a provision in an Amtrak request for proposals (RFP) that would have allowed certain information technology (IT) work to be done overseas.

In response to questions during a House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) subcommittee hearing held last week, Flynn said T&I Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio and other lawmakers recently brought the RFP provision to his attention.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) awarded VisioStack Inc. two contracts for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects to improve safety at grade crossings, VisioStack officials said in a press release. The USDOT awarded a Phase II SBIR for the company’s Aerial Crossing Inspection System (AXIS), and a Phase I SBIR to create an autonomous system to assess inventory at crossings using forward-facing video. AXIS is a grade crossing inspection system that uses unmanned aerial vehicles and machine learning.

Duos Technologies Inc. has been awarded a $1.3 million initial contract by an existing Class I railroad to upgrade its scope of work at an existing Railcar Inspection Portal (rip®) for the purpose of instituting increased automated mechanical inspections. The contract will be executed over the next few months with completion expected before year's end. The contract includes future payments through 2022 for recurring service, maintenance and spare parts components in addition to the base contract value, Duos Technologies officials said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has awarded $700,000 to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) to develop a travel rewards research pilot project.

LA Metro is partnering with the Harvard School of Business, the Duke Center for Advanced Hindsight and private sector technology and mobility partners to identify and test the most effective incentives to persuade travelers to skip driving and instead choose transit, ride sharing, walking, bicycling or telecommuting. 

The FBI found no criminal activity was involved in a July train derailment in Tempe, Arizona, that resulted in the release of hazardous material and a subsequent fire, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced yesterday in a preliminary report.

Twelve rail cars derailed July 29 as the Union Pacific Railroad train traveled over a wood trestle leading to a steel superstructure bridge that crosses Tempe Town Lake. No train crew members were injured.

Travero, a logistics solutions company affiliated with Alliant Energy, announced yesterday that construction is underway at Logistics Park Cedar Rapids (LPCR) in Fairfax, Iowa.

Scheduled to open in September 2021, LPCR is being built on a 101-acre site. When completed, it will include a 259,000-square-foot, rail-served warehouse for customers to distribute, consolidate or store goods, Travero officials said in a press release.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Sept. 14 will begin issuing $50 fines to riders who refuse to wear a mask on New York City's subway and commuter trains, the agency announced yesterday.

The policy was announced in response to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive order directing MTA to develop a plan to bolster mask compliance.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday announced it has awarded the the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grants totaling a combined $29.2 million to advance rail projects. 

The FTA awarded KCATA a $14.2 million grant to fund the Kansas City Streetcar’s Riverfront Extension. The project will extend the existing downtown streetcar line about a half mile from 3rd Street and Grand Boulevard to the base of Grand Avenue Bridge on the Berkley Riverfront in Kansas City, Missouri. 

The Societe de transport de Montreal (STM) on Oct. 13 will begin refurbishment and universal accessibility work at the Pie-IX metro station.

The CA$81 million project will include the installation of four elevators, entrance expansions, refurbishment of mechanical rooms, construction of a new staircase, improved lighting and additional signage. 

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) and Selma, California, officials yesterday launched a website to ramp up recruitment efforts for the first cohort of the Central Valley Training Center program. 

The training center provides pre-apprenticeship classes and hands-on construction industry training for Central Valley residents interested in working on California’s high-speed rail project, CHSRA officials said in a press release.

Sound Transit in Seattle is seeking public input on proposed changes to rail service in 2021, as well as feedback on how service changes related to COVID-19 pandemic have affected riders. 

Sound Transit is planning for what service should look like beyond March 2021. Considerations include where services are most needed, where demand might increase and which passengers depend most on services, Sound Transit officials said in a press release.

The Port of Long Beach, California, (POLB) reported its best August in its 109-year history, marking a strong start to the peak shipping season, port officials reported yesterday.

Dockworkers and terminal operators moved 725,610 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container cargo during the month, a 9.3 percent increase compared with August 2019's level. Imports surged 13 percent to 364,792 TEUs and exports climbed 1 percent to 16,177 TEUs. Empty containers shipped overseas climbed 8.5 percent to 234,642 TEUs.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) earlier this week reopened the Vienna and Dunn Loring rail stations following a summer-long closure to rebuild and modernize the stations. 

All 91 WMATA stations are now open for the first time since the agency implemented station closures as part of its pandemic response in March. 

Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc. (GWCI) has announced that subsidiary Huron Central Railway will cease operations by the end of the year.

GWCI's board met last month to confirm the decision, after discussions with federal and Ontario provincial governments failed to produce an agreement about a company proposal to "collectively invest" in the railroad's infrastructure, GWCI President Rick McLellan said in a press release.

For the first time since early 2020, U.S. railroads logged an increase in freight-rail traffic during the week ending Sept. 5, with total volumes driven by a spike in intermodal units, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Total U.S. rail traffic for the week was 509,637 carloads and intermodal units, up 8.6 percent compared with the same week last year, AAR officials said in a press release.

Amtrak anticipates it will need up to $4.9 billion in federal funding to operate and continue to invest in its rail network, President and Chief Executive Officer William Flynn yesterday told lawmakers during a congressional hearing on the railroad's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest dollar amount, which includes $2.8 billion in federal supplemental funding, is necessary to help Amtrak address the financial crisis it faces as a result of the pandemic, Flynn said.

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

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Transit Wireless completed work to allow cellular voice and data connection in the MTA New York City Transit’s L Line subway tunnel under the East River, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last week. 

The telecommunication company, in partnership with MTA, launched full connectivity in the Canarsie Tunnel so that AT&T customers are now able to use their phones and other devices between 1st Avenue and Bedford Avenue on the L Line. 

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) officials yesterday unveiled a planning tool that displays an estimate of train capacity so riders can better plan their trips and maximize social distancing practices while riding. 

The LIRR TrainTime mobile app provides the median ridership of the past seven trips of a specific train, at any station. The app then categorizes that train on a scale from “most crowded” to “least crowded.”