Railroad News

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) last week announced nearly $60 million in grants would be awarded to eight projects in seven states to test automated driving systems (ADS) on the nation's roadways.

The grants are aimed at projects that will generate safety data that will be used to inform rulemaking and foster collaboration among state and local governments and private partners, USDOT officials said in a press release.

A Georgia Southern University undergraduate team won the Intermodal Association of North America's (IANA) ninth Intermodal EXPO Academic Challenge held in California, the association announced this week.

Each of the participating teams responded to a case that focused on analyzing volume trends from the intermodal and over-the-road perspectives. Georgia Southern's win was its first victory in the annual competition, IANA officials said in a press release.

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. 

U.S. and Canadian residents took more trips on public transportation in second-quarter 2019 than during the same period last year, according to American Public Transportation Association (APTA) data.

Released this week, APTA's Transit Ridership Report showed a 0.46 percent increase across all modes of public transportation in the second quarter, including a 1.44 percent increase on heavy-rail systems and a 3.54 percent increase on commuter-rail systems, APTA 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.

Former CN President and Chief Executive Officer Claude Mongeau has been elected to serve on Norfolk Southern Corp.’s board, NS Chairman, President and CEO James Squires announced yesterday.

Mongeau was CN’s top executive from 2010 to 2016. On the NS board, he will be an independent director and serve on the compensation and finance committee and the risk management committee.

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.