Railroad News

With California's population projected to grow by 21 million by 2050, rail transportation will be vital to the state's efficient movement of freight and people, a new research report concludes.

Titled "Rail and California Economy," the report presents case studies and analysis of freight- and passenger-rail transportation on land use, freeway congestion and the movement of commodities, and those factors' effects on the state's economy.

CN has hired Andrea Waldock Niethold to serve as the Class I's director of government affairs in Washington, D.C.

Waldock Niethold brings a wide range of transportation policy experience to her new role, CN officials said in a press release.

The Port of Manatee has already set an annual record in container volume, with two months remaining in the current fiscal year, the Florida port announced earlier this week.

During the 10-month period between Oct. 1, 2016, and July 31, 2017, the port logged 32,901 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs), significantly more than the Florida Gulf port's full-year high mark of 30,432 TEUs set in fiscal-year 2010, port officials said in a press release.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. reported second-quarter operating revenue rose 7.8 percent to $540.4 million, while operating income increased 16.2 percent to $101.3 million compared with the same quarter in 2016.

G&W's adjusted operating income in the quarter rose 13.3 percent to $107.4 million compared with $94.7 million in Q2 2016, according to a G&W press release.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday warned rail workers of the risks of working on tracks using only a watchman or lookout to provide the train-approach warning.

Issued yesterday, Safety Alert No. 066 was prompted in part by the deaths of two rail workers who died after being struck by a train while working on track in South Dakota. The NTSB investigation into the January accident found that the sight distance used by the worker serving as the lookout was about half the distance required by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

Darrell Krueger, 35

Job description: Krueger is a mechanical engineer. He tests and evaluates many parts of the railroad, from alternative fuels to hand tools. He also works on derailment investigation and cause-finding.

Education: Auburn University, B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering

Strobel Energy Group has signed a contract to design and construct an ethyl acetate facility in Nebraska that will be served by BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad.

Strobel officials announced late last week that the company has signed an engineering, procurement and construction agreement with Prairie Catalytic LLC, a subsidiary of Greenyug LLC, to design and build the commercial scale bio-ethanol-to-ethyl acetate facility in Columbus, Nebraska.

Ferrocarril Mexicano S.A. de C.V. (Ferromex) will use digital services to monitor locomotive performance under a new long-term service agreement between the railroad and GE Transportation.

The agreement — which brings digital services to freight rail in Mexico for the first time — provides data on the health status and performance of the railroad's 100 Evolution Series locomotives, according to a blog posted on GE Transportation's website.

Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and Chief Executive Officer Edward Hamberger yesterday testified before the Surface Transportation Board's (STB) regulatory reform task force on proposed regulatory measures.

In prepared remarks, Hamberger reiterated AAR's call for the STB to promote and defend the economic regulatory structure Congress established through the Staggers Act, which deregulated aspects of railroad pricing and routing.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman Joseph Lhota yesterday unveiled an action plan aimed at stabilizing and improving MTA New York City Transit's subway system.

The plan's initial phase will focus on the key drivers of nearly 80 percent of the major incidents that cause delays on the system. Those incidents include problems with signals, track and power, MTA officials said in a press release.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has reopened the Illinois Medical District Station's Damen Avenue entrance, the agency announced yesterday.

The development marked a milestone in CTA's $23 million renovation of the Blue Line station, which serves more than 940,000 riders each year and provides access to four major hospital systems.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao yesterday announced the appointment of David Horner and Steve McMillin to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) board.

Effective yesterday, the appointments come at a critical time for WMATA, Chao said in a press release.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's (PANYNJ) board yesterday approved a $134.5 million plan to replace two aging substations on the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail system.

Located in Jersey City and Harrison, New Jersey, the nearly 50-year-old substations sustained extensive damage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

A 6 percent increase in carload volumes helped drive Kansas City Southern to a record second-quarter revenue of $656 million, up 15 percent over the same period a year ago, the Class I reported today.

KCS posted an all-time record quarterly operating income of $239 million, an increase of 9 percent from second-quarter 2016, according to a KCS press release. Diluted earnings per share increased 14 percent to $1.27 compared to a year ago.

Winnie Chang, 31

Job description: Chang began her railroading career in August 2014 as a leadership fellow in the rotational management program at the PANYNJ. In April 2016, she applied for a permanent position in the Port Authority-Trans Hudson’s (PATH) rail planning and logistics group, where she now manages the impact of external real estate developments on the PATH system.

Education: New York University, Tisch School of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts degree; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Master of Science in Transportation and Master of City Planning

U.S. railroads moved 540,005 carloads and intermodal units during the week ending July 15, a 3.8 percent increase compared with the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported yesterday.

Total carloads for the week added up to 262,869 units, a slight increase of 0.3 percent compared with the same week in 2016. U.S. railroads' intermodal volume rose 7.4 percent to 277,136 containers and trailers compared to a year ago.

The League of Railway Industry Women (LRIW) has extended its nominations deadline to Aug. 11 for the 2017 Outstanding Woman of the Year Award, which is co-sponsored by Progressive Railroading.

For two decades, the LRIW has been recognizing women who have made significant contributions to the rail industry through leadership, dedication and vision. Women working in the North American rail industry are eligible to receive the award.

U.S. Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) earlier this week joined R. J. Corman Railroad Services LLC representatives to tour a trackwork project on the Louisville & Indiana Railroad (L&I).

The 106-mile short line has contracted R. J. Corman to perform improvements that will enable the railroad to increase rail-car weight capacity to 286,000 pounds. From 2015 through 2017, 94 miles of continuous-welded rail and more than 80,000 ties will be installed.

Rail Construction Equipment Co. has rebranded itself as RCE Equipment Solutions Inc. The new name reflects the company's "growth and diversification goals," RCE officials said in a press release. Although the company has been primarily focused on rail maintenance equipment, RCE within recent years has received several requests for custom equipment design projects outside the rail market. RCE Equipment Solutions will serve as the umbrella company for three different divisions: RCE Rail, which continues to cater to the rail market; RCE Energy, which develops machinery for the energy sector; and RCE Engineering. Meanwhile, RCE's facility in Rockford, Illinois, is undergoing an "extensive" expansion, company officials said. To support the additional products, the company added 11,000 square feet of production space and 6,000 square feet of additional engineering and support space.

In Alstom's first fiscal quarter, the company booked $2.18 billion worth of orders compared to $1.03 billion for the same period in its last fiscal year. The quarter runs from April 1 through June 30. In addition, Alstom logged sales of $2.13 billion, up 6 percent. The company's orders this year include two contracts for almost 100 light-rail vehicles in Canada, a fleet modernization project in the United States and a metro system contract in Vietnam. By 2020, Alstom expects its sales to grow by about 5 percent each year.