Railroad News

In its first public statement since more than 3,000 of its train conductors and rail-yard workers went on strike earlier this week, CN today advocated for voluntary binding arbitration to help settle the collective bargaining impasse between the Class I and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC-CTY).

In a statement posted on the company's website, CN President and Chief Executive Officer JJ Ruest said the company has offered to present its arguments to a neutral arbitrator to end the contract dispute, and hopes the TCRC-CTY will do the same.

Canadian Pacific has entered into an agreement to acquire Central Maine & Quebec Railway (CMQ) from Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC (FTAI), the companies announced yesterday.

CMQ owns 481 miles of rail lines primarily in Quebec and Maine. The acquisition will provide CP customers with seamless access to ports in Searsport, Maine, and to Saint John, New Brunswick, via Eastern Maine Railway Company (EMRY) and New Brunswick Southern Railway (NBSR), thereby preserving and enhancing competition, CP officials said in a press release.

Kansas City Southern has completed global deployment and roll-out of the CloudMoyo Operational Testing System (OTS) across all of its rail subsidiaries' locations in Mexico and the United States. The OTS combines the Microsoft Azure Cloud platform and advanced analytics to create configurable master test plans designed to confirm safe operating practices and compliance with Federal Railroad Administration regulations and Mexico law and regulations. The platform indicates potential opportunities for safety improvement, and also aids in effective plan development, CloudMoyo officials said in a press release.

Canadian Pacific (CP) will deploy the BlackBerry Radar asset monitoring solution across 2,000 domestic intermodal chassis at its Vaughan Intermodal Terminal in the Toronto area, Blackberry Ltd. announced. BlackBerry Radar provides near real-time information and analytics on location, motion, mileage, utilization and dwell and turn times of chassis, containers, trailers, rail cars and equipment. Collected data is transmitted and stored on a cloud platform. The information provided is designed to help CP improve asset utilization, reduce costs and improve service performance for customers, BlackBerry officials said in a press release.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is soliciting public comment on a draft of its four-year Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) through Dec. 17.

The draft 2020-2023 program features more than 1,200 multimodal transportation improvement projects using $3.4 billion in federal funds.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) will no longer accept fare tokens across its rail and bus systems as of Nov. 30. 

Over the last year and a half, the agency has been preparing for the elimination of tokens on its system in favor of its reloadable TAP fare cards. In May 2018, all token purchases ended and were phased out at third-party vendors, LA Metro officials said in a press release.

The North Carolina Railroad Co.'s (NCRR) board has elected William Bell chairman.

Bell succeeds Michael Walters, who had served as NCRR chairman since 2017 and will remain on the board, railroad officials said in a press release.

New Jersey Transit yesterday increased weekday peak period service on the Newark light-rail Broad Street extension to allow trains to operate every 10 minutes.  

The service increase follows positive customer feedback on a trial of the enhanced service conducted this past summer during Amtrak trackwork at Penn Station in New York City, NJ Transit officials said in a press release.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) subsidiary Freightliner was named Rail Freight Operator of the Year at the 2019 Global Freight Awards, the United Kingdom's awards program that recognizes freight-sector excellence.

Freightliner has received the award 12 times since the "readers' vote" was introduced in 2005.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) Fiscal and Management Control Board earlier this week approved a $30 million contract with Keolis Commuter Service to complete work on the second and third phases of the Franklin Line’s double-track project.

The project calls for adding double track along the Franklin commuter-rail line from the Norwood Central Station to Franklin Station, ultimately creating a complete double-track line from South Station in Boston to Franklin, Massachusetts. The second track will enable passing freight trains to travel without stopping, which will improve commuter-rail service reliability, MBTA officials said in a press release.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao yesterday announced "significant" plans to improve grade crossing safety, including a proposed rulemaking that would require states to draft safety plans for public crossings nationwide.

Chao issued her statement as part a grade-crossing safety summit hosted by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

By U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.)

Valley Metro crews next month will begin installing special track to enable the Tempe Streetcar in Tempe, Arizona, to cross over the area's existing light-rail system.

The work will occur at two locations along the 3rd Street streetcar route at Mill Avenue and Ash Avenue, and require single-tracking on portions of the light-rail route.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has named Brian Fransen as national division coordinator of the union’s safety task force (STF). He succeeds Carl Fields, who retired Oct. 17.

The STF assists federal agencies in the investigation of rail accidents, helping to determine probable causes and make safety recommendations, BLET officials said in a press release.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) board is planning to sell corporate naming rights later this month for the future Innovation Center Station on the Silver Line extension in Fairfax County, Virginia, according to a local news report.

A Fortune Global 500 company currently in negotiations to lease a headquarters location adjacent to the station has expressed interest in being the corporate sponsor of the station, according to documents prepared for the WMATA board and obtained by the WTOP-FM radio station.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) has completed a three-station, $88 million renovation project on the 145th Street Station in Manhattan and the 167th Street and 174th-175th Street stations in the Bronx.

The modernization included upgraded turnstile areas, a reconfigured fare-control area, and installation of security cameras, LED lighting and signage.

The Railway Association of Canada (RAC) yesterday announced CN and Metrolinx as winners of the association's Environment Awards for 2019.

The Environment Awards are presented every two years with winners selected from RAC member submissions.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) last week announced it has suspended most of Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) pre-revenue operations on the 10-mile BART Silicon Valley Berryessa extension in California to create a “more practical” work plan.

Since June, VTA and BART have been working on starting passenger service on the extension before year's end. The work has involved efforts by both agencies to complete final systems modification testing, BART’s system acceptance testing and BART’s pre-revenue operations.

CN announced today that Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Technology Officer Michael Foster will leave the company on Nov. 29.

He plans to move back to the United States to be close to his family and to pursue other career opportunities, CN officials said in a press release.