Railroad News

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Ideally, when people see a problem, they do something about it before things get out of hand. But we don’t live in a perfect world, or work in a perfect industry, and sometimes it takes a crisis to shock people into acting.

It still may be summer, but it's not too early for Kansas City Southern to roll out the 2019 schedule for its 19th annual Holiday Express train.

The six-car festive train will depart Nov. 27 from Shreveport, Louisiana, on this year's tour, which will stop in 20 communities in five U.S. states on 25 dates. The route will end Dec. 22 at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.

G3 last week marked the opening of its new high-efficiency grain elevator on a CN line in Maidstone, Saskatchewan.

Similar to the company's other modern grain elevators across western Canada, the new facility features fast truck-unloads and a railway loop track that can load a 150-car train, G3 officials said in a press release.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) yesterday announced that India Birdsong will become the authority’s next chief executive officer and general manager, effective Sept. 16.

GCRTA’s board yesterday unanimously approved Birdsong’s contract, which has been under negotiation since early July after a 10-month nationwide candidate search. 

On the 50th anniversary of a deadly train collision in Connecticut, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other government officials yesterday called on railroads to finish the job of implementing positive train control (PTC) to prevent similar collisions and other fatal rail incidents.

The NTSB issued its first PTC recommendation as a result of its investigation into the August 1969 accident, which killed four people and injured 43 others. The accident occurred when two Penn Central commuter trains collided just north of the Hoyt Street crossing on the New Canaan branch near Darien, Connecticut.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this week signed an executive order to require New Jersey Transit to share its rail performance metrics with the public on a monthly basis. 

Beginning in November, NJ Transit is required to release a progress report of its performance metrics starting with data from October. The reports will also include historical information dating to 2017, according to a press release issued by Murphy’s office. 

Katie Sanders, 39
Assistant Vice President of IT operations and systems development
Union Pacific Railroad

Nominator’s quote: “Katie balances tactical support protocols with forward thinking innovation. She participates on industry committees for PTC that establish interoperability maintenance procedures and tools amongst roads.” — Beth Whited, Union Pacific Railroad

TransLink yesterday announced that beginning Sept. 3 it will add six new trains to its SkyTrain network in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The addition of 24 new cars in service will increase passenger capacity by 9 percent on the Millennium Line and by 5 percent on the Expo Line during peak times, TransLink officials said in a press release. 

The New Orleans Regional Planning Commission (RPC), in partnership with the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA), this week will host its final three open houses to gather public input on New Links, a proposed redesign plan for public transportation in greater New Orleans. 

The study's goal is to develop recommendations for a network redesign that aims to improve the public transit across the Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard parishes, according to the project webpage. 

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has partnered with the Walsh-Fluor Design-Build Team joint venture to host career fairs in pursuit of a diverse workforce for CTA’s largest capital improvement project, the Red and Purple Modernization (RPM).

The career and networking fairs are designed to deliver training and job opportunity information to  disadvantaged workers and communities throughout Chicago, and lead to a more diversified workforce on the RPM and other CTA construction projects, authority officials said in a press release. 

Steven Bradbury, general counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) since November 2017, is being tapped to serve as the department's acting deputy secretary, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) reported.

Bradbury's new duties as acting deputy are in addition to his current duties as general counsel, according to the AASHTO Journal.

A Pennsylvania state subcommittee on railroads will hold a hearing later this month on whether a second daily service should be added to Amtrak's Pennsylvanian train schedule.

At the Aug. 28 hearing, experts are expected to discuss the potential for freight and passenger-rail service in western Pennsylvania, particularly in Blair County.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) yesterday announced a $25 million funding package to begin renovation of Amtrak’s train station in Providence, Rhode Island.

The project will be financed with a $12.5 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration, and will be matched by $7.25 million from Amtrak and $5.25 million from Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT), according to a press release from Reed's office.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) should consider the small business perspective when proposing new regulations, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) Senior Vice President Jo Strang told the Small Business Administration's Office in preparation for a hearing on national regulatory fairness.

Strang, who oversees safety and regulatory policy for ASLRRA, commented on behalf of the nation's 603 short lines. She urged the department to consider small business needs as required under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act when considering rulemakings.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) yesterday resumed regular service on the MAX light-rail’s Blue, Green and Red lines following the completion of track work near the Rose Quarter Transit Center in Portland. 

The work included curved track replacement, two switches and track upgrades, and installation of a new machine for a third switch, TriMet officials said in a press release. 

Valley Metro last week completed streetcar track installation on Mill Avenue between University Drive and Rio Salado Parkway in Tempe, Arizona, marking the installation of nearly half of the streetcar’s track in the city. 

The Tempe Streetcar is scheduled to open in 2021 with 3 miles of track, 14 stops and two connections to Valley Metro’s rail service, agency officials said in a press release.