Railroad News

Wabtec Corp. was selected to implement the positive train control (PTC) system for the New Mexico Rail Runner Express (NMRX), in an order worth $55 million. Under the contract, Wabtec will implement its Interoperable Electronic Train Management System, a PTC safety-overlay system, on NMRX, including all necessary wayside and communication design and dispatch upgrades. Wabtec will also provide full back office server support, as well as equipment and software upgrades to nine NMRX locomotives and nine cab cars. The contract schedule calls for NMRX PTC assets to be in revenue service by late 2020, according to a Wabtec press release.

Helaba completed the acquisition of the Land Transport Finance customer loan portfolio from DVB Bank SE. Personnel associated with the loan portfolio will also integrate into Helaba. As a result of the transaction, the company’s rolling stock rail finance segment has grown to a total volume of $2.2 billion, according to a Helaba press release.

Metro Transit-St. Louis is partnering with moovel to pilot a mobile ticketing application, allowing riders to purchase transit fare directly on a mobile device for select trips.

During the six-month pilot period, riders using the Metro Mobile app will be able to purchase round-trip MetroLink passes to St. Louis Cardinals baseball games and St. Louis Blues hockey games, according to a Metro Transit-St. Louis press release. 

Norfolk Southern Railway has recognized 58 of its chemical shipper customers with the Class I's 2018 Thoroughbred Chemical Safety Award.

The award is part of an NS initiative to promote safe rail-shipping practices in communities the railroad services, according to an NS press release.

Metrolinx, Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and Ontario government officials earlier this week unveiled six new light-rail vehicles to be used on the future Eglinton Crosstown Line that will run between the Mount Dennis and Kennedy subway stations in Toronto.

Metrolinx and its contractor, Crosslinx Transit Solutions (CTS), have been conducting low-speed testing of the vehicles at the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility, according to a Metrolinx blog.

Oregon's two U.S. senators are raising concerns with Union Pacific Railroad's reported plan to eliminate nearly 200 jobs from the Class I's Hinkle Rail Yard in Hermiston.

In a letter sent this week to UP Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Fritz, the senators wrote that the railroad's decision to reduce jobs at the yard and close the Hinkle supply warehouse and mechanical locomotive shop "will devastate this rural community by hamstringing the economic opportunities and stability of the entire region."

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) last week launched a fare evasion campaign to educate riders about the consequences of not paying fares.

The action follows a month-long investigation into fare evasion in which the Toronto Auditor General found that non-paying riders cost the TTC more than $60 million in 2018, according to a TTC press release. 

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) earlier this week removed 284 rail cars from service in order to inspect a door malfunction. The cars are back in service. 

After inspection, WMATA officials found that an electrical component “didn’t perform the way it was supposed to,” allowing a 3000-series rail-car door to open, unprompted, while the train was moving, The Washington Post reported. 

California has filed suit against the Trump administration for canceling a nearly $1 billion federal grant awarded in 2010 for the state's high-speed rail program.

State and California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) officials filed the suit May 21 in federal court in San Francisco, according to Reuters. The filing claims the U.S. Department of Transportation lacks authority to withhold the $929 million in federal funds previously awarded to the high-speed rail program.

President Trump yesterday awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor posthumously to the late Brent Thompson, a Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) police officer who was killed in 2016 while on duty.

Thompson, who was 43 at the time of his death, became the first DART police officer to be killed in the line of duty. He was shot by a mass shooter on July 7, 2016, during a protest against police. 

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)’s Fiscal and Management Control Board earlier this week awarded a $26.5 million contract to Fischbach & Moore Electric Group LLC to upgrade the signal system at the North Station terminal in Boston. 

Under the project, the contractor will replace the signaling in and around North Station with microprocessor technology contained within nine new signal houses that control the five major interlocking switching areas at the terminal, according to an MBTA project overview.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will replace Talgo rail cars similar to those involved in a fatal 2017 Amtrak derailment near Dupont, local news media reported yesterday.

WSDOT officials made the announcement a day after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the lightweight vehicles didn't meet current crashworthiness standards and were permitted to operate only through a "grandfathering agreement" with the Federal Railroad Administration.

U.S. railroads logged mixed traffic results for the week ending May 18, with carload activity up and intermodal down compared with volumes during the same week in 2018, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Total combined U.S. rail traffic for the week was 536,358 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.8 percent. Railroads registered a combined total of 267,006 carloads, up 2.2 percent, and a combined total of 269,352 intermodal containers and trailers, down 5.5 percent versus a year ago.

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TrinityRail Maintenance Services Inc., a subsidiary of Trinity Industries Inc., has selected a 2,230-acre site in Shell Rock, Iowa, to construct a new rail-car maintenance services facility by 2020's end. Factors in the site's selection included its co-location with the Iowa Northern Railway Co., optimal access to the Class I network and strategic access to the upper Midwest, according to a company press release.

Balfour Beatty has completed construction of a 2.3-mile extension of the Regional Transportation District of Denver's E, F and R light-rail lines. Known as the Southeast Rail Extension during construction, the project adds three new stations: Sky Ridge, Lone Tree City Center and Ridgegate Parkway.