Railroad News

Norfolk Southern Corp. today reported first-quarter 2020 railway operating revenue fell 8 percent to $2.6 billion compared to first-quarter last year, driven by an 11 percent decline in total volume.

Operating expenses during the quarter were $2.1 billion, which included a $385 million non-cash charge related to locomotives marketed for sale and/or disposed of as part of the Class I's introduction of a precision scheduled railroading operating model.

Hainesport Holdings formed Technical Rail Services (TRS), a new waste-by-rail company for the transportation of construction and demolition debris, municipal solid waste, contaminated soil and wastewater residuals. Neil Rogers joined TRS as president. Rogers has 20 years of experience in the rail industry, most recently as rail operations director for Epic.

Cisco announced its intent to acquire Fluidmesh Networks. Fluidmesh delivers wireless backhaul solutions for mission critical applications, including for high-speed rail and mass transit. The acquisition will accelerate Cisco’s industrial Internet of Things business and broaden reach to key customer segments, company officials said in a press release. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal-year 2020.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) announced earlier this month it will hold its 25th Annual AAR Research Review online June 22-23.

Transportation Technology Center Inc. (TTCI) teams will deliver the industry's key research from the past year. A webinar format is being used for the event so that social distancing requirements will not be an obstacle to sharing industry research, AAR officials said in an email.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last week added 70 locations where employee temperatures are being tested daily, up from seven locations when the program began in March.

More than 3,500 employee temperatures are being checked each day as part of efforts to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. 

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Fiscal and Management Control Board yesterday amended its contract with the Cubic | John Laing consortium for a new fare collection system. 

The amended $935.4 million contract — an increase  of $212.1 million in project costs compared to the contract approved in 2018 — includes both the full capital cost of an upgraded fare system and a 10-year stream of operations and maintenance payments.

Michael Leue has begun his tenure as chief executive officer of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA).

The ACTA's board in March chose Leue to lead the authority, which oversees the dedicated section of railway from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles. Leue has more than three decades of experience in leadership, management and design for ports, railroads and transportation agencies throughout the United States and internationally, ACTA officials said in a press release.

Class Is employed 127,867 workers as of mid-March, up 0.18 percent since mid-February, but down 11.78 percent compared with March 2019's employment level, Surface Transportation Board data shows.

Four of six employment categories logged month-to-month decreases. They were: professional and administrative, down 0.66 percent to 10,746 employees; transportation maintenance of equipment and stores, down 0.49 percent to 22,062; transportation (other than train and engine), down 0.19 percent to 5,306; and executives, officials and staff assistants, down 0.11 percent to 7,568.

CN yesterday posted "solid" first-quarter 2020 financial and operating results, despite experiencing rail blockades and the start of a global pandemic and recession during the period.

The Class I reported revenue remained flat at CA$3.5 billion during the quarter compared with the year-ago period. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) rose 31 percent to CA$1.42, while adjusted diluted EPS increased 4 percent to CA$1.22, compared with Q1 2019.

Pacific Ethanol Inc., a producer and marketer of low-carbon renewable fuels and high-quality alcohol products in the United States, earlier this month closed on its agreement to sell its 74 percent ownership interest in Pacific Aurora LLC to Aurora Cooperative Elevator Co. for a total valuation of $52.8 million.

"Aurora Cooperative is pleased to protect these local destination and rail markets for our farmer owners by gaining full ownership of these ethanol plants, elevator and rail assets," said Chris Vincent, Aurora Cooperative's president and chief executive officer, in a press release.

Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) board last week amended the agency’s transit-oriented development (TOD) policy to support affordable housing. 

The policy amendments allow for a land discount of up to 60 percent from fair market value for projects on BART property with affordable housing. 

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) last week announced plans to expand two major projects this summer as the agency logs historically low ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic.    

Under the expanded plan, WMATA will combine work to demolish and reconstruct platforms at four Orange Line stations with a separate project on the Silver Line to connect Metrorail to new "phase II" stations, which are being constructed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. 

The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) awarded Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) two grants to help fund light-rail system improvements. 

The Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) grants include $23.6 million to purchase eight light-rail vehicles, and $3.9 million to construct a new light-rail access tunnel on the north side of the multimodal Sacramento Valley Station (SVS) Transit Center.

Duos Technologies Inc. has been awarded a $1.8 million contract to provide its Rail Inspection Portal (rip®) to an undisclosed rail operation. The installation is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter this year.  Duos believes this order is indicative of an increasing trend in the railroad industry of automating rail-car mechanical inspections, which have historically been conducted manually, company officials said in a press release.

Union Pacific Railroad has deployed RADWIN’s portfolio of Point-to-Point and Point-to-MultiPoint wireless connectivity solutions to help monitor and manage hundreds of remote rail yards through video surveillance networks.

Law enforcement leaders of the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks (CABT) have asked nation's governors to ensure that truck weight limits will return to lower "safe" levels after the coronavirus pandemic crisis passes.

In response to the pandemic, Congress granted governors the authority to temporarily grant increases in weight limits for trucks operating on U.S. interstate highways in their states. The authority is limited to 120 days and only applies to trucks transporting relief material, according to CABT.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) yesterday approved the installation of lights and other upgrades at five grade crossings in the state. 

The PUCO approved construction authorization from the Ohio Rail Development Commission directing Norfolk Southern Railway to upgrade active warning devices at the South Lincoln Avenue/CR 444A crossing in Columbiana County and the South Charleston Street/State Route 41 crossing in Springfield by April 22.