Railroad News

On Aug. 26, global infrastructure investor First State Investments (FSI) announced it reached an agreement with investment manager Steel River Infrastructure Partners to acquire Patriot Rail and Ports, which owns 12 short lines operating across 14 states. Terms were not disclosed.

“The short-line sector, providing essential transportation services to industrial regions in the United States, is a strong fit with First State’s long-term infrastructure investment strategy and mandate,” said John Ma, director of the Sydney, Australia-based FSI infrastructure team, in a prepared statement.

Trinity Industries Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Timothy Wallace will retire after the company's board identifies a successor, Trinity officials announced in a press release. The board will consider internal and external candidates. Wallace has worked for Trinity for 44 years and became CEO and president in 1999. 

PowerRail Inc. was awarded a multiyear $1.9 million contract from New Jersey Transit to manufacture passenger rail car journal adapter boxes. PowerRail division Cooper Bearings specializes in new and remanufactured bearings and journal boxes for locomotives, passenger rail cars and light-rail vehicles, PowerRail officials said in a press release. 

The North County Transit District's (NCTD) board has requested funding from the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to support the purchase of two trainsets for the Coaster commuter-rail line in San Diego.

NCTD needs the additional trainsets in order to increase from 22 to 42 Coaster trips during weekdays. An increase would mean trains would arrive every 30 minutes during peak periods and every 60 minutes during non-peak periods, NCTD officials said in a press release. 

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has approved a recovery plan for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit's (HART) passenger-rail project, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) announced yesterday.

Approval of HART's plan was key to receiving $744 million in federal funding that the FTA was withholding until it was confident in HART's plan for containing costs and minimizing further delays in the city's construction of a 20-mile elevated passenger-rail system.

R. J. Corman Railroad Co. announced today it has finalized a long-term agreement to lease and operate a short line from the City of Childersburg Local Redevelopment Authority, CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway.

The newly formed R. J. Corman Railroad Co./Childersburg Line is a 13.32-mile line in Coosa Pines, Alabama, southeast of Birmingham, company officials said in a press release.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) are soliciting public comment on the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and other draft documents related to the proposed Long Bridge project.

A public hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 22 and public comments on the documents will be accepted until Oct. 28, according to an FRA announcement.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's (VTA) board today will consider a tentative labor contract with members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265.

VTA staff will recommend the board approve a three-year ATU labor agreement, which was ratified on Aug. 29. Alternatively, the board may instruct staff to continue negotiations, according to the labor contract agreement.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday announced it had removed three safety recommendations from its "Most Wanted List" of transportation safety improvements after the board's concerns that led to the recommendations were adequately addressed.

The three listed items were related to pipeline safety, which the NTSB said were improved through recommendations that called for better inspection programs, records and documentation of natural gas systems, as well as procedures to mitigate risks identified during management of change operations.

MTA Long Island Rail Road earlier this week resumed service of 14 trains that were previously canceled or rerouted during Amtrak’s infrastructure renewal project at New York Penn Station in New York City.

The repair and rebuild work reduced LIRR’s train activity at the station to 260 daily trains during rush hour. On Sept. 3, the LIRR restored its number of trains operated during rush hour to 274, a 5.4 percent increase, LIRR officials said in a press release.

Total U.S. freight-rail carload and intermodal traffic declined 5 percent to 2,145,235 units in August compared with the same month last year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

U.S. railroads logged 1,055,386 carloads last month, down 4.6 percent. August was the seventh straight month that carloads have fallen on a year-over-year basis, AAR officials said in a press release.

Plasser & Theurer has named Daniel Siedl chief operating officer and Winfried Budenbender chief technical officer. Most recently, Siedl led site development and process optimization. Prior to joining the company, he was managing director of ROBEL Bahnbaumaschinen GmbH in Germany. Budenbender previously held management positions in various companies in the technical sector, Plasser & Theurer officials said in a press release.

Alstom announced it has equipped the Wuppertal Suspension Railway in western Germany with its Atlas ETCS train control system under a contract with WSW mobil GmbH. The system includes interlocking and a radio block center, as well as an interface to the computer-aided operation control system. The entry into service marks the completion of Alstom’s first full train control and signaling contract in Germany, Alstom officials said in a press release.

VIA Rail Canada Inc. logged a 6.4 percent increase in ridership and a nearly 5 percent increase in passenger revenue in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.

Total passenger revenue in the quarter grew to CA$94.3 million, an increase of CA$420,000, compared with the previous year’s quarter. Total revenue reached nearly CA$100 million, according to VIA Rail’s financial report.

CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway issued advisories yesterday for service that will be affected by Hurricane Dorian.

CSX is anticipating the storm will impact portions of its network in Florida today, and in Georgia and the Carolinas today and tomorrow. As a result, freight moving through affected areas may be delayed or rerouted, CSX officials announced on Twitter.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (LA Metro) board last week awarded a $25.9 million contract to KDG+DE Construction Support Services to provide construction support for the Airport Metro Connector (AMC) 96th Street Transit Station project. 

The award marks the first time LA Metro has selected a woman-led consultant group to work on a large project, authority officials said in a press release.