Railroad News

Carlos Rojas has been named chief of police for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART).

Rojas brings 27 years of extensive experience and leadership in community policing. Rojas comes to BART from the Santa Ana Police Department, where he served his last five years as chief. He is an advocate and educator in community oriented policing practices, having taught the practices to national police forces in Central America and mentored college students.

Pennsylvania's State Transportation Commission approved more than $40 million through two state programs to help fund freight rail projects across the state.

 

4/24/2017    

Rail News: Rail Industry Trends

4/24/2017    

Rail News: Mechanical

4/24/2017    

Rail News: Union Pacific Railroad

4/24/2017    

Rail News: Union Pacific Railroad

Rail News Home Union Pacific Railroad 4/24/2017 Rail News: Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad plans to spend $26.8 million on infrastructure projects in Nevada this year.The Class I's projects in the state are expected to include $22.7 million to maintain railroad track and $1.8 million to maintain bridges, according to a UP press release.Key projects planned in 2017 include:
• replacing 60,854 ties on the rail line between Elko and Winnemucca at a cost of $7.5 million;
• replacing 15,406 ties on the line between Sparks and Floriston, Calif., at a cost of $2.2 million; and
• replacing 12,190 ties on the line between Verdi and Reno at a cost of $2.1 million."Union Pacific's targeted investments fund projects that strengthen our railroad tracks, increase safety and minimize delays as trains travel through communities across Nevada," said Wes Lujan, UP's vice president of public affairs in the western region.From 2012 to 2016, UP spent more than $244 million to strengthen its infrastructure in Nevada. Contact Progressive Railroading editorial staff. More News from 4/24/2017

4/24/2017    

Rail News: Passenger Rail

Metra and Union Pacific Railroad (UP) joined state, county and local officials and members of the community in Maywood, Ill. to break ground on a $100-million project to remove two critical bottlenecks along the UP West Line.

Metra says the bottlenecks can be the source of delays for both freight and commuter trains.

4/24/2017    

Rail News: MOW

After five years of service for the California High-Speed Rail Authority Chief Executive Officer Jeff Morales announced that he will step down from his position early this summer after the Board of Directors is expected to select a replacement.

 

4/24/2017    

Rail News: CSX Transportation

4/24/2017    

Rail News: CSX Transportation

Rail News Home CSX Transportation 4/24/2017 Rail News: CSX Transportation
E. Hunter HarrisonPhoto – Progressive Railroading file photo

4/24/2017    

Rail News: High-Speed Rail

4/24/2017    

Rail News: Safety

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. announced the beginning of a major project to renovate the historic Quincy Loop station.

CTA says the project will make the 120-year-old station fully wheelchair accessible, while preserving its renowned historic appearance. The $18.2-million project is the largest renovation in nearly 30 years for Quincy, which was built in 1897 and is one of CTA's oldest rail stations.

Now that Harriet the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) completed her second tunnel at the Leimert Park Station for the Crenshaw/LAX Line, the Los Angeles County Transportation Authority (LACTMA) has announced her retirement.

Since she began digging the twin tunnels last year, Harriett, a 950-ton, 400-foot-long TBM advanced an average of 60 feet a day through soil and rock under Crenshaw Boulevard. Installation of rail tracks has begun in the southbound tunnel. The 8.5-mile light rail line is scheduled to open in fall 2019.

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-6), joined representatives from Cembre, Inc., and a local railroad for a tour, public policy discussion and a rail cutting demonstration at Cembre's Edison facility.

The event was coordinated by the Railway Engineering-Maintenance and Suppliers Association (REMSA). REMSA said the group discussed the private, independent nature of America's freight railroad network. The group focused in on recent regulatory initiatives issued by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on reciprocal switching and commodity regulation. REMSA said the group was "concerned that these efforts would lead to reduced capital investment in freight rail which is critical to supporting high-paying rail supply jobs in New Jersey and throughout the United States."

Rail News Home CSX Transportation April 2017 Rail News: CSX Transportation

Tony Hatch is an independent transportation analyst and consultant, and a program consultant for Progressive Railroading’s RailTrends® conference. By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Everybody’s talking about CSX and Hunter Harrison. And why not? Hunter's track record at the Illinois Central, CN and CP speak (volumes) for itself, which is why shareholders have flocked to CSX. While we await full news on the so-called “Hunterization Plan” for CSX, we’ll get only hints from the quarterly results and the annual meeting — look for a full-scale meeting on targets and forecasts in late summer or early fall. But we should remember that in the battle for freight rail pre-eminence in the southern and eastern United States, as well as in the duel for the winning philosophy for railway management (and long-term ROI) — indeed, for the whole soul of the “Railroad Renaissance” — there are two participants. And in post-Staggers history, Norfolk Southern isn’t used to being the “other guy.” So, with honor challenged must come a response.
 
NS CEO Squires draws down on the latest threat. It has been a (pleasant) surprise to see NS CEO Jim Squires out in public in early spring making the case for his railroad at Southwest Association of Rail Shippers (SWARS), where he gave perhaps the best speech of his career (to date). As he did in the quarterly earnings call, Squires noted that NS had gotten beyond its mostly self-imposed service challenges of 2014, and in the face of the changing traffic mix (the secular devastation of coal, as well as the impact of the 2015-16 “freight recession”), still had produced its best operating ratio (OR) ever (68.9, down 360bps). The railroad is well on its way to realigning resources and selling off non-core coal (and other) lines. And NS is continuing to reinvent itself from a rail/customer service perspective, with five points of focus:1. Improving service quality, the most important part of the railroad's efforts, moving to get above its 2013 peak.
2. Re-invigorate its vaunted (historically “best in class”) industrial development effort.
3. Improve the customer service “experience” through digitization/infromation technology.
4. Accelerate pricing responsiveness — which does not mean reducing price!
5. Improve the interline experience — taking a leadership role and extending NS's influence on the supply chain (hence, the appearance at SWARS).I'd add two more points:6. Use PTC, now that it will be implemented on schedule, as a platform for service and productivity, and customer responsiveness improvements.
7. Focus on carload (merchandise/manifest/industrial products) business, under Mike McClellan as he outlined at RailTrends 2016.
 
An Affair of Honor. But upon reflection, what we are really hearing from NS, if we listen hard enough, is a challenge accepted: It is clear to everyone in the North American freight-rail that E. Hunter (“Shane”) Harrison coming to CSX means, among other things, that the already quick pace of change would increase as EHH is — as I have always said, by dint of reputation and record as well as by the force of his mighty intellect and will — a de-facto change agent.Just as important, it also means that the investment community expects great things from CSX, starting with rapid OR improvement. CSX will be compared with themselves to measure the pace of change — but also, as ever, with NS, which means pressure (I suspect a high percentage of calls into Norfolk from the financial and media communities are about events to come in Jacksonville). After all, CSX shares are up about four or five times that of the market year to date, and four times that of the average freight railroad — including their “comp” and rival NS. 
 
So, one thing we agree on is that change is coming (and has already started). Would this come at the expense of the customer experience? Would the 1,000 headcount reduction in Jacksonville include muscle as well as “fat”? Will NS be perceived as “falling behind” if CSX should improve productivity at a pace similar to what happened at CP? 
 
Fire back! How should NS respond to the challenges, real and perceived? By trying to “out-Hunter” Harrison? Or, should NS present another model, a growth model based on, say, ROIC improvement as much as it is on OR improvement? We are beginning to get a hint: Should they go to CSX’s erstwhile customers and say there is an option? CN did so in Canada, for example. How does one handle the financial community?
 
A duel of two philosophies. In many ways, this can be boiled down to a duel of two philosophies — an operational excellence model (“precision railroading”) versus a strategic network (more blended) model. One is OR-obsessed; the other more growth (and with it op/capex) focused. Is one way better than the other? Or can this cat be skinned two ways?Jim Squires and his team have offered up, in their own reflective if not fiery way, a challenge to the investment community — and to rail shippers. Let’s see now what CSX says and does when Hunter steps off that noon train with his handlers, rapier at the ready.The coming four years (EHH’s contractual term) will be fascinating — a test of precision railroading below the northern border, and also of operating, marketing and financial philosophies in the East. Who in the end will emerge victorious? Or, like D'Artagnan joining the Musketeers, will each influence the other to combine values — and shippers and shareholders of both win?Tony Hatch is an independent transportation analyst and consultant, and a program consultant for Progressive Railroading’s RailTrends® conference. Email him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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