Railroad News

California's high-speed rail project ranks among the top rail projects for sustainability in North America, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) announced this week.

The project received five stars for sustainability from the GRESB Infrastructure Assessment, a benchmark for environmental, social and governance policies, practices and performance of infrastructure investments.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Fiscal and Management Control Board earlier this week awarded a $279 million contract to Hyundai-Rotem for 80 new commuter-rail bilevel coaches.

Funded by the state, the additional coaches will increase seating capacity by over 14,000 seats daily, support the South Coast Rail expansion project that will restore service between Boston and southeastern Massachusetts in 2023, and replace aging, single-level coaches, MBTA officials said in a press release. 

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and local officials last week broke ground on the 26-mile Silver Line that will provide regional-rail service between Plano, Texas, and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport starting in December 2022. 

The $1.1 billion project involves construction of passenger-rail connections and service that will serve and link to major employment, population and activity centers in DART’s northern service area, agency officials said in a press release. 

The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) yesterday was awarded the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement (AEP) from the National Procurement Institute Inc. (NPI) for the fourth consecutive year.

The AEP award is given annually to public and nonprofit organizations that demonstrate  innovation, professionalism, productivity and leadership in procurement functions. Recipients are scored based on standardized criteria, DCTA officials said in a press release. 

The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) announced yesterday it marked its busiest month ever for containerized trade in August, handling a 16.5 percent increase in container volume compared to the same month last year.

Last month, the authority handled 437,750 20-foot-equivalent units (TEU), up 62,000 TEUs from August 2018 levels, authority officials said in a press release.

Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI) and Operation Lifesaver Canada are joining forces this week to observe rail safety in North America and launch a campaign to raise public awareness of the safety concerns at grade crossings.

The campaign, called #STOPTrackTragedies, features videos with the personal stories of people — victims, friends and family members, locomotive engineers and first responders — who are affected by grade crossing or trespassing incidents. One video will be released each day over the course of Rail Safety Week, which runs through Sept. 28.

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The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) yesterday presented its 21st annual Dr. William W. Hay Award for Excellence to New Zealand’s KiwiRail for the Main North Line earthquake recovery project.

The League of Railway Women (LRW) yesterday announced Pam Arpin, assistant vice president of customer and corporate services at Canadian Pacific, has been chosen the Railway Woman of the Year.

LRW President Tanis Peterson and Progressive Railroading Publisher Kirk Bastyr presented the award to Arpin at Railway Interchange in Minneapolis.

Schneider announced last week it has added rail dray service to its lineup of intermodal solutions.

The trucking, intermodal and logistics company's new service will focus on the initial and end moves of intermodal transportation, getting freight from shipper to ramp and ramp to receiver "safely and seamlessly," Schneider officials said in a press release.

The Societe de transport de Montreal (STM) logged a significant reduction in rider-caused service disruptions in 2019's first half.

Service disruptions of five or more minutes caused by riders trespassing on tracks declined 45 percent. Thirty-six percent fewer disruptions were caused by passengers holding open doors; 17 percent fewer from items dropped on the tracks; and 7 percent fewer disruptions resulted from an injured or sick passenger, STM officials said in a press release.

Metra has joined the national effort to raise public awareness of safe behavior near railroad tracks, as the United States and Canada observe Rail Safety Week in North America, Sept. 22-28.

Throughout the week, Metra and its rail and law enforcement partners will distribute rail safety information and conduct rail crossing enforcements at stations throughout the Chicago region.

The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) earlier this month awarded a three-year transit service operation and fleet maintenance contract to Transdev Services Inc.

Transdev was selected to operate and maintain transit service for RTA’s streetcar, bus, ferry and paratransit services for about $79 million annually.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) will establish a short-line department at the national division level, union officials announced last week.

The new department will expand the union's ability to organize new members in the United States. The department also will better serve current members from "very small divisions" that work for short lines by providing assistance from the national division during contract negotiations and with other matters.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last week announced that seven MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) stations and four MTA Metro-North Railroad stations will be made accessible under the American with Disabilities (ADA) Act following approval of the New York agency's 2020-2024 capital plan in October.

Currently, 105 of LIRR’s 124 stations are ADA-accessible, with an additional three stations — Nostrand Avenue, Murray Hill and Floral Park — undergoing construction to make them accessible.  

The California Debt Limit Allocation Committee's board last week approved the issuance of $300 million in tax-exempt, private equity bonds as part of Virgin Trains USA's proposal to build a high-speed passenger-rail line from Las Vegas to Southern California.

The board's vote followed a committee staff recommendation that the company, which is backed by Fortress Investment Group's private equity funds, receive half of its bond request now, contingent on it submitting an economic development plan, Bloomberg reported last week.

U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) this week visited Ashland Railway’s Mid-Ohio Rail Terminal transloading facility and Mansfield Railport warehouse in northcentral Ohio.

Balderson joined other local officials to learn more about the short line’s operations and impact on the region, Ashland officials said in a press release.