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Mar
01

BNSF slates $95 million for Minnesota projects

BNSF Railway Co. has budgeted $95 million for capital expenditure projects in Minnesota this year, the Class I announced earlier this week.

Most of the railroad's capex plan in the state will focus on replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast, BNSF officials said in a press release.

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Feb
28

PATH adds Sprint to complete cellphone service coverage

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 2/28/2019 Rail News: Passenger Rail
Port Authority-Trans Hudson's riders will now have coverage from all major U.S. cellphone service providers at PATH stations in New York and New Jersey. Last week, the agency added Sprint to the three other major cell service providers —Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile — in expanding its service across all stations and platforms. Cell service from the other providers started in December 2018. The Sprint access completes the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's effort to install cellular connections in all PATH underground stations, port authority officials said in a press release. PATH serves more than riders on weekdays and 150,000 on weekends.Connectivity is available on platforms and throughout stations, but not while passengers are on trains in tunnels between stations. 

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Feb
28

TSB: Broken axle led to CN coal train derailment

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has found that a broken axle on a freight car led to the January 2018 derailment of a CN train near New Hazelton, British Columbia.

The incident occurred when a CN train moving west at 29 mph experienced a train-initiated emergency brake application near New Hazelton. A subsequent inspection determined that 27 gondola cars loaded with coal derailed, with some of the product spilling into a nearby waterway.

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Feb
28

TSB: Broken axle led to CN coal train derailment

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has found that a broken axle on a freight car led to the January 2018 derailment of a CN train near New Hazelton, British Columbia.

The incident occurred when a CN train moving west at 29 mph experienced a train-initiated emergency brake application near New Hazelton. A subsequent inspection determined that 27 gondola cars loaded with coal derailed, with some of the product spilling into a nearby waterway.

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Feb
28

MTA adjusts fares, tolls as part of reforms

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 2/28/2019 Rail News: Passenger Rail
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board (MTA) yesterday adopted a slate of  fare and toll changes following reform initiatives revealed earlier in the week by MTA, as well as reform proposals announced by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The MTA's base subway, bus and paratransit fares will remain unchanged at $2.75, while yielding a "much needed" MTA revenue of 4 percent, which is below the rate of inflation, MTA officials said in a press release.But as of April 21, the 30-day unlimited ride MetroCard will increase 5 percent to $127, and the seven-day  unlimited-ride MetroCard will increase 3.1 percent to $33. Those increases along with other fare and toll changes are expected to produce an additional yearly revenue of $336 million, according to MTA.  For more information on the fare and toll changes, click here

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Feb
28

ASLRRA names Oelsner AVP data and technology

Rail News Home Railroading People 2/28/2019 Rail News: Railroading People
The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has appointed Fred Oelsner assistant vice president of data and technology. He began his duties Feb. 26.Oelsner is a former associate at ASLRRA’s lobbying partner, Chambers, Conlon & Hartwell LLC. In his  new role, he will focus on managing and utilizing industry data initiatives, as well as managing information technology systems. His hiring follows ASLRRA's selection of Chuck Baker as the association's new president earlier this year.  Baker was formerly a partner at Chambers, Conlon & Hartwell.

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Feb
28

BNSF unveils capex projects for Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska

BNSF Railway Co. yesterday rolled out more of its state-by-state capital expenditure plans for 2019, announcing $445 million worth of projects slated for Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

In Kansas, the Class I will invest $165 million to replace and upgrade rail, ties and ballast. The maintenance program will include 560 miles of track surfacing and/or undercutting work, as well as the replacement of 30 miles of rail and 120,000 ties. In addition, BNSF plans to begin a multiyear project to install double track on portions of the Emporia Subdivision, which operates between Wellington and Kansas City.

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Feb
28

BNSF unveils capex projects for Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska

BNSF Railway Co. yesterday rolled out more of its state-by-state capital expenditure plans for 2019, announcing $445 million worth of projects slated for Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

In Kansas, the Class I will invest $165 million to replace and upgrade rail, ties and ballast. The maintenance program will include 560 miles of track surfacing and/or undercutting work, as well as the replacement of 30 miles of rail and 120,000 ties. In addition, BNSF plans to begin a multiyear project to install double track on portions of the Emporia Subdivision, which operates between Wellington and Kansas City.

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Feb
28

NJ Transit to restore full service of Atlantic City Rail Line in May

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 2/28/2019 Rail News: Passenger Rail
New Jersey Transit will resume full service of the Atlantic City Rail Line (ACRL) and the Princeton Branch (Dinky) on May 24 after being closed since September 2018 for positive train control installation and maintenance inspections, the agency announced today.ACRL and Dinky have been subject to temporal service adjustments, including use of shuttle buses as an alternative service. In January, New Jersey Assemblymen Vincent Mazzeo and John Armato wrote to NJ Transit officials asking for a reopen date. The details of the line closures were not previously disclosed leading to the frustration of many commuters who have “endured crowded daily bus rides and length commutes for months on end,” they wrote. “We understand that providing this timeline is so important to our customers’ ability to get their lives back to normal,’’ said New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner and NJ Transit Board Chair Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti. “We know that customers were inconvenienced by the service disruptions to the ACRL and the Dinky and I’m pleased that those disruptions will be ending soon.'’ 

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Feb
28

U.S. rail traffic down a bit in Week 8

A dip in intermodal volume led to a 1.1 percent decline in total U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Feb. 23 compared with the same week a year ago, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

U.S railroads moved 522,630 carloads and intermodal units during the week. Of that, carload volume was 256,954 units, up 2 percent, but intermodal volume was 265,676 containers and trailers, down 3.9 percent compared with 2018's levels.

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Feb
28

Amtrak to provide matching funds for Southwest Chief route

Rail News Home Amtrak 2/28/2019 Rail News: Amtrak
Amtrak will use the newly available federal capital funding to continue needed work on the next route segment of the Southwest Chief in New Mexico.Photo – amtrak.com

Amtrak will provide a $3 million matching grant to help upgrade track on its Southwest Chief route in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, the railroad announced yesterday.

The announcement follows the passage of the federal government's fiscal-year 2019 Appropriations Act, which included funding for Amtrak and intercity passenger rail.

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Feb
27

Rail supplier news from RailWorks, Cubic, TRIG, STV, Sassar and KAI (Feb. 27)

RailWorks Corp., a rail track construction and maintenance company, announced it will restructure its leadership team into two divisions: large projects and track maintenance and service group. Led by John Young, the large projects division will focus on large-scale track construction and signal projects for railroads and transit operations. Young has over 20 years of experience in heavy civil works projects for the U.S. Army and several contractors. Led by 30-year railroad industry veteran Richard Carney, the track maintenance and service group division will be responsible for growing the company's regional and maintenance business, as well as the maintenance of way division. Promotions following the restructure include Jason Lauffer from vice president of business development to chief strategy officer, and Glenn Hartick to vice president of procurement. Chris Maynard joins RailWorks subsidiary HSQ Technology as senior vice president. Maynard has 20 years of experience in IT at Siemens Mobility. 

Cubic Corp., Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s technology service provider, appoints Kevin Eagan to senior vice president and chief digital officer. In this role, Eagan will oversee the new contactless fare payment system — coming to New York City subway riders in March — that is designed to replace metro fare cards by 2023. Eagan has 30 years of executive leadership experience at IBM and Microsoft in new product development, IT modernization and creation of digital business models.

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Feb
27

WSDOT, Sound Transit to expand small business mentoring program

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 2/27/2019 Rail News: Passenger Rail
Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) partnered to begin their mentorship program between small businesses and transportation companies this spring.Launched in July 2018 under the Mentor Protege Program name, WSDOT and Sound Transit will rename the effort to the Capacity Building Mentorship Program.Now in partnership with Sound Transit, the program is designed to foster mentorships among successful large enterprises and emerging small and diverse businesses, according to a WSDOT press release.The program will be geared toward construction and transportation firms, providing opportunities for participates to improve their business practices, grow their firms and develop relationships with other companies.In fall 2017, WSDOT hired THOR Cos., a minority-owned construction company, to develop, support and implement WSDOT's mentorship program. This program is part of WSDOT's diversity roadmap and one of the highlighted efforts of Gov. Jay Inslee’s subcabinet on business diversity. 

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Feb
27

Cap Metro inks contractor to build downtown Austin station

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (Cap Metro) board recently approved a $36.8 million contract with Jay-Reese Contractors Inc. to build a new downtown MetroRail station in Austin, Texas.

Construction on the station — which will be situated on the Red Line running between Austin and Leander — is slated to start in April. Completion is scheduled for early 2021.

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Feb
27

LIRR trains collide after car drives around lowered gates

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) today has reopened for service one of two tracks through Westbury, New York, that had been closed last night following a fatal collision involving two trains and a motor vehicle.

The incident occurred during rush hour when two LIRR trains traveling in opposite directions crashed into a car that had driven around lowered gates and onto the tracks. Three people who were in the car were killed and at least seven passengers on the trains were injured, according to The New York Times.

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Feb
27

BNSF unveils $105 million capex plan for Montana

Rail News Home BNSF Railway 2/27/2019 Rail News: BNSF Railway
Consisting mostly of planned maintenance, the plan calls for replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast.Photo – BNSF Railway Co.

BNSF Railway Co. yesterday announced it will invest $105 million this year on capital expenditures in Montana.

Consisting mostly of planned maintenance, the plan calls for more than 840 miles of track surfacing and/or undercutting work, as well as the replacement of 55 miles of rail and close to 110,000 ties. 

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Feb
27

BNSF unveils $105 million capex plan for Montana

Rail News Home BNSF Railway 2/27/2019 Rail News: BNSF Railway
Consisting mostly of planned maintenance, the plan calls for replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast.Photo – BNSF Railway Co.

BNSF Railway Co. yesterday announced it will invest $105 million this year on capital expenditures in Montana.

Consisting mostly of planned maintenance, the plan calls for more than 840 miles of track surfacing and/or undercutting work, as well as the replacement of 55 miles of rail and close to 110,000 ties. 

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Feb
27

Watco announces Roach's retirement, changes at Chicago Ferro Terminal

Watco Cos. LLC announced yesterday that Allan Roach, senior vice president of global strategy, will retire from full-time duties on Thursday.

Since joining Watco in 2005, Roach's main focus has been on improving and developing the company's marketing and business development teams. He has led or influenced many of the company's growth initiatives, Watco officials said in a press release.

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Feb
27

Rail groups ask Congress to oppose lifting truck weight, size limits

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) and American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) joined other organizations earlier this week in asking Congress to oppose legislative language that would increase maximum truck size or weight limits on federal highways.

In a Feb. 25 letter, the organizations also called on lawmakers to oppose legislative language that would allow bigger trucks in individual states through pilot programs.

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Feb
27

New York's Cuomo, de Blasio propose restructuring of MTA

Rail News Home Passenger Rail 2/27/2019 Rail News: Passenger Rail
Gov. Andrew CuomoPhoto – Cuomo's office

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio yesterday unveiled a 10-point plan to reorganize the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and create "dedicated and sustained" funding streams for the agency.

The proposal includes the governor and mayor's endorsement of congestion pricing.

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