Railroad News

MTA Staten Island Railway (SIR) yesterday began a comprehensive repair and rehabilitation project at its Richmond Valley Station.

Crews will repair the station's concrete structure, structural steel beams and columns, platforms, staircases and platform canopies, according to an SIR press release.

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) is soliciting stakeholders' opinions on rail regulations and guidance materials related to implementation of the new Transportation Modernization Act.

The legislation, which amends the Canada Transportation Act, introduces new measures related to freight rail. The agency issued a discussion paper that explains the regulations and guidance under review.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns to Amtrak leadership about the railroad's interest in maintaining its Southwest Chief route and long-distance passenger service.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) led the group in writing to Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson about the lawmakers' concerns that Amtrak is considering withholding funding for the Southwest Chief route until additional financial investments in the route's infrastructure are made.

Suzanne Silverman has joined the New York City office of Denver-based Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell LLP as a partner.

R. J. Corman Railroad Switching Co. LLC has opened a new rail-car switching and track maintenance location in Montgomery, Alabama, for SABIC, a global chemical and plastic company. The new site will provide opportunities for future construction and car repairs, R. J. Corman officials said in a press release. The company will deploy 12 employees to switch about 1,000 rail cars each month at the plant. R. J. Corman's switching services include the movement of cars at the facility, and to and from the interchange point with CSX.

Thales has acquired Danish company Cubris, which provides driver advisory systems (DAS). The systems enable secure real-time information exchanges between railroads and locomotive engineers to help optimize train driving and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, according to a Thales press release. DAS also will help pave the way for autonomous trains, company officials said. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) last week staged and videotaped a train hitting a remote-controlled car at a grade crossing as part of a campaign to educate the public about railroad safety.

The car, fitted with crash dummies, did not get over the crossing before the train smashed into it, NCDOT officials said in a press release.

In the first quarter, VIA Rail Canada Inc. served 1,089,500 passengers, marking a 12.4 percent increase over the same period in 2017.

The railroad posted an 11 percent increase in passenger revenue, which grew to $73.5 million for the quarter.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), the Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Highway Administration are preparing environmental documents and engineering concepts for the Assembly Street railroad separation project in south-central Columbia.

The project area consists of 1.2 square miles and is bound by Blossom Street to the north, Pickens Street and Norfolk Southern Railway's line to the east; the NS line 3 miles southeast of Rosewood Drive toward Andrews Yard and South Beltline Boulevard; and Catawba Circle/Heyward Street/Dreyfuss Road/Assembly Street to the west, SCDOT officials said in a press release.

The Port Authority of Allegheny County in fall will begin a two-year project to rehabilitate 55 Siemens-built light-rail vehicles.

Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC-1), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, joined representatives June 4 from Geismar-Modern Track Machinery (Geismar-MTM) and industry stakeholders for a tour of Geismar's new Beaufort manufacturing facility.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Rail Division's BeRailSafe program, in partnership with N.C. Operation Lifesaver, conducted a staged train crash May 30 in Star, N.C.

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners late last week approved an additional $204 million to cover the increasing costs of Metro Transit's Southwest light-rail project.

Last month, Metropolitan Council Chair Alene Tchourumoff told project leaders that the line's cost had grown $145 million to just over $2 billion due to freight-rail negotiations, additional environmental analysis and higher steel and labor costs.

R. J. Corman Railroad Switching Company, LLC, has announced the launch of a new location in Montgomery, Ala. for global chemical and plastic company SABIC.

Amtrak has issued a request for proposals seeking to rebuild its current diesel fleet or purchase a minimum of 50 to 75 next-generation locomotives.

The effort is aimed at replacing Amtrak's aging national network diesel locomotive fleet used on long distance and some state-supported routes, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) this week joined representatives from Kiewit Infrastructure Co. and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) for a tour of the Milwaukee Streetcar's operations and maintenance facility.

The tour group viewed the rail and station construction that Kiewit completed for Milwaukee's 2.5-mile streetcar system known as The Hop. NRC Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Matt Bell organized the tour, which was led by Kiewit Project Manager Mike Ethier and NRC board member and Kiewit employee Dave Landreth.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) this week released a report detailing the agency's strategies behind passage of its November 2016 ballot initiative.

The report documents Metro's three-year process of developing and building support for the Measure M sales tax increase in Los Angeles County. The measure, which was approved by more than 70 percent of LA County voters, provides a no-sunset transportation sales tax that's slated to generate $120 billion in revenue over the next four decades.

The National Railway Labor Conference (NRLC) last week announced that an arbitration board has ruled that the pattern health-care terms adopted by the freight railroads and nine unions in national bargaining should apply to the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWE) and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART-Mechanical Division).

The two unions previously agreed to the other terms of the pattern agreement, which now covers 137,000 of the 145,000 employees in the current bargaining round.

IRIS USA Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of injection-molded plastic products, has purchased a 34-acre site along the Reading & Northern Railroad in an industrial park in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

The company will soon begin construction on a 500,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution plant. Reading & Northern assisted in locating the future plant along its network in the Humboldt Industrial Park, railroad officials said in a press release.