Railroad News

The Societe de transport de Montreal's (STM) board last week announced that Luc Tremblay will remain its chief executive officer until Dec. 31, 2022, following approval of a contract extension.

During his time at STM, Tremblay has overseen the agency’s extended service hours, the Montreal Metro Blue Line extension and an increase in universally accessible stations, STM officials said in a press release.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has named Gregory Elsborg vice president and chief information officer, the first person to hold that title at the agency.

Elsborg will be tasked with driving new business partnerships, growing DART's mobility-as-a-service options and leveraging technology to aid innovation, DART officials said in a press release.

South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) handled nearly 2.4 million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) in fiscal-year 2019, which represents an 8.8 percent increase over FY2018 container volume, port officials announced yesterday.

In its first full year of business, Inland Port Dillon handled 29,580 rail moves in FY2019, which ended June 30, SCPA officials said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday announced a total of $300 million in federal funding allocations to three transit-rail projects in California, Washington and Arizona. 

Through tje FTA’s Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program, which provides funding for major transit infrastructure capital investments, each of the following projects with be allocated $100 million: 

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The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) has hired Ashley Wieland to serve as the organization's president.

Wieland previously worked for the NRC in roles that covered operations, conference planning, government affairs and grassroots events.

The Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. (PATH) last week finalized an agreement with bike parking facility maintainer Oonee for placement of a 20-bike parking facility at the Journal Square Station in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Aug. 1.

The agreement is part of an effort to expand biking options for employees, riders and other patrons of the railroad's facilities. It will also generate revenue through a small subscription fee for users and paid advertisements on the facility exterior, PATH officials said in a press release.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) announced that later this month it will begin track improvements on the MAX light-rail near the Lloyd Center/NE 11th Avenue Station in Portland, Oregon. 

TriMet crews will replace some sections of curved track and switches, as well as upgrade signal components in the Rose Quarter area, located east of downtown Portland, TriMet officials said in a press release.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday announced that an MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) station will be built to serve the Elmont community in Long Island, New York, as part of a $1.26 billion project to redevelop Belmont Park into an arena and entertainment complex.

The $105 million cost of constructing the Elmont Station will be paid for in part by New York Arena Partners, which will provide $97 million, and the state, which will provide $8 million, Cuomo said in a press release.

Tomorrow, the U.S. Maritime Administration will hold a public scoping meeting to discuss the environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed Pier B on-dock rail support facility project at the Port of Long Beach, California.

The administration is preparing an EIS on the project, which calls for reconfiguring, expanding and enhancing the existing Pier B on-dock rail support facility located along Anaheim Street and the 710 Freeway.

Amtrak yesterday released its Sustainability Report for fiscal-year 2018, which states the railroad met its year-over-year targets for energy, fuel, recycling and emissions.

Sustainability efforts have become a consistent component of Amtrak projects, operations and strategic plans, said President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson in a press release.

The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA) next week will partially close the St. Charles streetcar line as crews begin replacing catenary poles. 

The poles must be replaced as a result of corrosion.

MTA Metro-North Railroad today restored regular service on the New Haven main line following the rebuilding of three of five main line tracks that had been out of service for nine days during replacement work on the Atlantic Street Bridge in Stamford, Connecticut. 

Connecticut Department of Transportation’s bridge project reduced the number of main line tracks available to Metro-North from five to two since the start of reconstruction on June 29, railroad officials said in a Metro-North press release.

Caltrain and the San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) in California have partnered with the Miles app to offer riders a rewards program to incentivize rail use.

Miles is an app-based platform that offers rewards — such as gift cars and tickets to local events — for choosing alternative and environmentally friendly modes of transportation. 

Last week, Amtrak began taking steps to officially rename the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia in honor of the late William Gray III, a former U.S. congressman who died six years ago.

Legislation calling for the name change was passed in 2014. Gray represented Pennsylvania's Second District in Congress from 1979 to 1991. He later served as president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will resume two-car train service on its Siemens S200 light-rail vehicles after retrofitting all single panel rear-doors with additional sensors.

Between November 2017 and April 2019, passengers were injured in three incidents involving the vehicles' rear doors. In the most recent incident, a passenger tried to hold open the rear door and fell into the trackway at Embarcadero Station in San Francisco.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP), a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, announced today that it has completed the sale of short-line operator Regional Rail LLC to 3i Group plc.

Based in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Regional Rail operates short lines and rail-related businesses in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region with more than 155 miles of track. The company was formed in 2007.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on train lengths showed that while the average train length has increased by 25 percent, there is little to no data being collected to measure the impact of longer trains on communities, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) announced last week.

DeFazio, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and others asked for the study in 2017 in response to an increase in constituent complaints about trains blocking grade crossings in their communities.