Railroad News

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this week signed into law a bill that would prohibit New Jersey Transit from asserting sovereign immunity to escape rail worker lawsuits under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) and other federal rail statues.

The New Jersey Transit Corporation Employee Protection Act aims to reverse a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year that determined an injured rail worker could not sue NJ Transit under FELA because the agency is an "arm of the state" and therefore immune to federal lawsuits.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) board has elected Paul Smedberg as chairman.

He joined the board in 2016 as an alternate director representing the city of Alexandria, Virginia, and in January became a principal director representing the commonwealth of Virginia. Smedberg previously served as chairman and member of Virginia Railway Express' operations board.

Quintin Kendall is the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) new deputy administrator, the agency confirmed this week.

At the FRA, Kendall is responsible for providing executive leadership and guidance on policy, budget, administration, regulation implementation, communications, and stakeholder and government relations, according to his biography on the FRA’s website.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon’s (TriMet) board earlier this week adopted the fiscal-year 2020 budget, which includes $685.2 million for day-to-day operations and more than $300 million for capital projects.

For the seventh consecutive year, the budget does not include adult fare increases. To take effect July 1 and run through June 30, 2020, the budget will bolster security and fare enforcement, improve service and fund various system upgrades, TriMet officials said in a press release.

Today, Norfolk Southern Railway will begin rolling out its new precision scheduled railroad operating plan known as TOP21, the Class I announced yesterday in a customer service alert.

The new plan is designed to improve service performance for customers and provide network efficiencies, NS officials said in the alert.

Today, Norfolk Southern Railway will begin rolling out its new precision scheduled railroad operating plan known as TOP21, the Class I announced yesterday in a customer service alert.

The new plan is designed to improve service performance for customers and provide network efficiencies, NS officials said in the alert.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday announced a $60.76 million federal funding grant agreement (FFGA) with Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) for platform extensions at 28 stations along the Red and Blue lines.

The $128.8 million project will enable DART to operate longer trains to accommodate more riders, FTA officials said in a press release. The stations currently can only handle two-car trains, but the work will boost platform capacity to three-car trains.

Alaska Railroad Corp. (ARRC) and Alaska to Alberta Railway Development Corp. (A2A) have signed a master agreement of cooperation calling for the construction of a 1,500-mile connection between ARRC’s system and Canadian railroads that also would link to the lower 48 states.

The agreement for the proposed $13 billion project (CA$17 billion) was announced yesterday after approval by ARRC’s board.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) fiscal and management control board has awarded a nearly $30 million contract to Judlau Contracting Inc. to complete upgrades at four busy subway stations.

The work will be performed over a 16-month construction period at the Downtown Crossing, State, Haymarket and North stations, which register the highest passenger volumes in the MBTA's system. The project calls for replacing all signage; repairing walls, ceilings and floors; painting the interiors; cleaning and refinishing benches; replacing lighting; and cleaning in-station artwork.

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro) in Austin, Texas, registered total ridership of 2.6 million in May, up 11.8 percent from April's total and 11.5 percent from May 2018's mark.

The year-over-year increase is among the highest of transit agencies nationwide, Cap Metro officials said in a press release.

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) logged its strongest May on record, with 204,457 20-foot-equivalent container units (TEUs) handled in the month, authority officials announced yesterday.

Fiscal year-to-date TEU volume through May was up 9.7 percent, with 2,192,689 TEUs handled since the fiscal year began July 1, 2018.

Societe de transport de Montreal (STM) just completed a major train order and now has exercised an option to obtain additional trains over the next two years.

The agency recently received the 54th AZUR train from a Bombardier Transportation-Alstom consortium, capping off an order that was placed in October 2010. STM plans to obtain 17 more AZUR trains through a contractual amendment with the consortium.

GoTriangle President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Mann will leave the agency July 31, GoTriangle Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow announced yesterday.

Mann, who led the agency's efforts to build the now-defunct Durham-Orange light-rail project, joined the agency in 2015.

U.S. rail traffic fell 5.8 percent to 525,116 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending June 22 compared with the same week in 2018, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Railroads posted 257,836 carloads for the week, down 4 percent, and 267,280 intermodal containers and trailers, down 7.5 percent. Petroleum and petroleum products was the only commodity group that logged a traffic increase, rising by 2,644 carloads to 14,062 units total.

U.S. Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have introduced a bill that would mandate a minimum of two-person crews on all freight trains operating in the United States.

Known as the Safe Freight Act, the legislation is a companion bill to H.R. 1748 in the House.

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has announced the 293 winners of 2018 Jake Awards, which recognize regionals' and short lines' safety efforts.

To win a Jake Award, an ASLRRA member railroad must perform better than the Class II and III industry average for injury frequency rate, as reported by the Federal Railroad Administration during a calendar year. Of the 293 honorees, 265 will receive a Jake Award with Distinction, which recognizes reportable injury-free performance in 2018. A complete list of the Jake Award and Jake Award with Distinction winners is available here.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) earlier this week announced plans to eliminate the sale of paper magstrip tickets at four stations this summer as part of a phaseout of all such tickets by 2020.

BART is working toward a card-only fare payment system. The Clipper card system is reusable and accepted by nearly all transit agencies in the region, BART officials said in a press release.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) yesterday endorsed a bill that would increase congressional authority over tariff hikes such as those proposed by the Trump administration over the past year.

Introduced by U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), the Reclaiming Congressional Trade Authority Act would limit any new or additional tariffs imposed on national security grounds to 120 days unless approved by Congress.

Transport Canada yesterday announced the federal government and Canada Infrastructure Bank are committing CA$71.1 million to back VIA Rail Canada Inc.’s plan for high-frequency rail service in the busy Quebec City-Toronto corridor.

The funding will be used to establish a joint Canada Infrastructure Bank-VIA Rail project team and preserve the option of interoperability with regional transit providers in Montreal and Toronto, Transport Canada officials said in a press release.

The U.S. House yesterday approved H.R. 3055, a $383.3 billion package of fiscal-year 2020 appropriations bills that includes the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill.

The legislation funds federal departments, including transportation, from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2020.