Railroad News

Pacific Harbor Line (PHL) has promoted Stephane Perri to vice president.

Perri's rail career spans 20 years, starting with PHL in April 2000 as an assistant locomotive engineer. In 2005, he advanced to assistant trainmaster and subsequently  moved through management posts, PHL officials said in a press release.

Regional Transportation District of Denver’s (RTD) board earlier this week approved a contract for Paul Ballard to be the agency’s interim general manager and chief executive officer. Ballard will begin his role by Feb. 26.

Under the contract, Ballard will receive an annualized salary of $350,000, and relocation expenses with be covered by the agency, RTD officials said in a press release.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) yesterday retired the last remaining R-42 subway cars from service, ending a 51-year run. 

The R-42 units were built by St. Louis Car Co. and delivered to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) starting in 1969. Eventually, the NYCT subway fleet totaled 400 R-42 rail cars, NYCT officials said in a press release.  

While U.S. freight railroads' traffic slump continued during the week ending Feb. 8, Canadian and Mexican railroads reported traffic increases, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

U.S. railroads logged 485,329 carloads and intermodal units for the week, down 6.6 percent compared to the same week last year. The railroads hauled 232,116 carloads, down 4.2 percent, and 253,213 intermodal containers and trailers, down 8.8 percent.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) earlier this week announced it has rated the Hudson River rail tunnel rehabilitation project a "medium-low" priority, a designation that serves to delay the project's eligibility for federal funding under the Capital Investment Grant program.

Last year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), Amtrak and New Jersey Transit submitted a revised application for funding, including a proposal to lower the project's cost by $1.4 billion and decrease its reliance on federal funds to less than 50 percent. The revised application was part of an effort to increase the project's FTA rating above "medium low." The tunnel project's cost is estimated to be about $12 billion.

New York Air Brake LLC (NYAB) appointed Greg Dalpe senior vice president of sales and marketing. Dalpe succeeds Jason Connell, who was named president and chief executive officer of Knorr Brake Co. last month, NYAB officials said in a press release. Dalpe joined NYAB in 2015. Previously, he served as operations director and VP of operations. Prior to joining NYAB, he was a divisional quality manager and director of operations at ONEX Corp.

Terracon Consultants Inc. has acquired Skelly and Loy Inc. Terracon will maintain the existing corporate structure of Skelly and Loy and add the firm to its national network. As a result of the merger, Skelly and Loy Chair Sandi Loy Bell has retired, and President John Gunnett announced plans to retire after the companies are integrated, Skelly and Loy officials said in a press release.

Amtrak Northeast Regional routes in Virginia logged a record ridership of 100,511 passengers in December 2019, a 27 percent increase from the December 2018 level.

The holiday season helped drive the ridership increase, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) yesterday received approval from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to enter the final engineering phase of the the South Shore Line’s double-track project in northwest Indiana as part of the FTA’s Capital Investment Grant program.

NICTD’s double-track project calls for installation of a second mainline track on 26 miles of the South Shore Line from Gary to Michigan City. The project also includes station improvements, parking expansion, construction of nine new platforms and closure of 21 grade crossings.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) earlier this week raised the rating on New Jersey Transit’s proposed Portal North Bridge replacement project to "medium-high" priority, effectively making it eligible for federal funding. 

In September 2019, NJ Transit submitted to the FTA a revised financial plan based on federal recommendations to allocate more local money to the project and keep costs in check, NJ Transit officials said in a press release.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) yesterday revealed three joint ventures have been selected to submit design-build proposals to bring MTA Metro-North Railroad service to New York Penn Station by 2024.

Qualified design-build entities are: Halmar International LLC/RailWorks Corp. joint venture with Ove Arup & Partners P.C. as the lead designer; the Skanska ECCO III Penn Station Connectors JV led by designer AECOM USA Inc.; and the Tutor Perini/O&G JV with Parsons Transportation Group of New York Inc. as the lead designer. 

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration has allocated a $10.5 million grant to the Duluth Seaway Port Authority to help fund the construction of a new rail-served warehouse.

The grant will help fund the construction of a 56,000-square-foot warehouse at the Clure Public Marine Terminal, along with rehabilitation of 1,775 lineal feet of deteriorating dock walls at Berth 10 and 11, port authority officials said in a press release.

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) officials yesterday announced the agency has moved closer to receiving a $1.3 billion federal grant to help fund the third and final phase of its Purple Line subway extension.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has sent the full-funding grant agreement to Capitol Hill for a 30-day review period, the last step before the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and LA Metro sign the agreement, LA Metro officials said in a press release.

CN announced yesterday it will shut down significant parts of its Canadian rail network imminently unless protest blockades on its rail lines are removed.

The blockades are disrupting passenger-rail travel as well as Canadians' ability to move goods and enable trade, CN officials said in a press release.

[Editor's note: The headline of this article originally posted on Feb. 11 was updated Feb. 12 at 2:56 p.m. CT)

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) crews working on the Purple Line Extension project expect tunneling between the planned Wilshire/La Brea Station and Wilshire/Fairfax Station to be delayed until March.

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) crews working on the Purple Line Extension project expect tunneling between the planned Wilshire/La Brea Station and Wilshire/Fairfax Station to be delayed until March.

Cross passage excavation, tar sands and methane pockets have slowed tunneling progress, delaying breakthrough of one tunnel boring machine to the Wilshire/Fairfax Station.

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) board last week declared a "climate emergency" and recommitted to reducing the agency's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

VTA joins over 1,300 local governments in 25 countries in declaring a climate emergency, including Santa Clara County and the cities of Cupertino and San Jose, in which VTA serves. 

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) last month signed a three-year contract to license its GoPass mobile ticking application to Trinity Metro. 

While the GoPass app previously included Trinity Metro service, the new agreement offers added features to riders in Fort Worth, Texas, including integrated on-demand service requesting and bike-share location information, DART officials said in a press release.

The Railway Association of Canada (RAC) has filed with Transport Canada the association's latest locomotive emissions monitoring (LEM) report, which shows a decline in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity and criteria air contaminants despite increases in freight- and passenger-rail traffic.

The report is part of the Canadian railroads' efforts to help improve fuel efficiency and reduce transportation-related emissions.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has launched a scholarship fund to provide financial aid and career development opportunities to economically disadvantaged youth who want to attend college and pursue construction and engineering-related careers.  

The CTA Elevating Futures Scholarship Fund will award $250,000, or 10 scholarships, to Chicago Public Schools students who plan to pursue a four-year college degree in construction management, civil engineering or industrial or systems engineering, CTA officials said in a press release.