Railroad News

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has appointed Catherine Rinaldi president of MTA Metro-North Railroad.

She has served as the railroad's acting president since July 2017. Before that, she was Metro-North's executive vice president.

By Richard Kloster and Rob Hart

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) yesterday announced it will expand its "GoLink" on-demand shuttle service to provide "last-mile access" for light-rail riders in southern Dallas and Plano, Texas.

Starting Feb. 26, the agency will roll out three new southern Dallas zones for the shuttle service. The Inland Port zone will cater to a largely unserved industrial and commercial area out of the light-rail stop on the University of North Texas at Dallas campus.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) is considering delaying a planned 2018 fare hike for at least another year to complete a comprehensive fare study.

The agency's operational planning and infrastructure committee recommended putting the fare increase on hold after yesterday's meeting of the full GCRTA board.

Siemens will provide the power infrastructure for the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) light-rail system's latest expansion, officials announced.

BNSF Railway Co. will spend $110 million this year on network maintenance projects in Oklahoma.

The Class I's Oklahoma capital expenditures program in 2018 will primarily focus on replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast, according to a BNSF press release.

BNSF Railway Co. will spend $110 million this year on network maintenance projects in Oklahoma.

The Class I's Oklahoma capital expenditures program in 2018 will primarily focus on replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast, according to a BNSF press release.

As with is previously announced plans for Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Montana and Washington state, the focus of the state programs will be on maintenance.

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The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending February 17, 2018.

As of mid-January, Class Is in the United States employed 144,329 workers, down 0.75 percent since mid-December's employment figure and down 2.76 percent compared with mid-January 2017's level, according to the Surface Transportation Board.

Five of six employment categories reflected workforce decreases in mid-January compared with mid-December. Those categories were executives, officials and staff assistants, down 3.62 percent to 7,830 employees; transportation (train and engine) down 1.29 percent to 59,684; maintenance of way and structures, down 0.99 percent to 32,132; transportation (other than train and engine) down 0.78 percent to 5,581; and maintenance of equipment and stores, down 0.12 percent to 26,564.

Sound Transit has chosen Siemens to supply 13 traction power substations and two medium-voltage substations for the Northgate and East Link light-rail extensions.

The company also will provide a cross-passage tunnel tie station on the extensions and upgrade an existing substation it supplied in 2008.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has certified an emissions-reduction system for one of the North Carolina Department of Transportation's (NCDOT) passenger locomotives.

Known as a blended after-treatment system (BATS), the technology uses catalytic reduction to chemically remove diesel engine emission pollutants from the locomotive's exhaust before it's released into the air.

In 2017, 1,090 railway accidents were reported to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), a 21 percent increase over 2016 but close to the five-year average of 1,028, the board reported yesterday.

There were 77 rail-related fatalities in 2017 — 11 more than the previous year and two more than the five-year average, according to the TSB's preliminary statistics report on transportation occurrences.

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