Railroad News

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) earlier this month introduced S. 3587, a bill that proposes to provide rail, intermodal and port projects a better chance of obtaining federal funding through a transportation infrastructure grant program.

The legislation seeks to improve the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects Program, which was created as part of Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act. The bill would remove the cap on Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grants for multimodal freight projects, and enhance the transparency and administration of the INFRA grant program to ensure the best projects receive funding.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) on Tuesday announced plans to add a stairway at Shady Grove Station in its fiscal-year 2020 capital program and eliminate the ”Grosvenor Turnback" service pattern Dec. 17 to double rush-hour service at four Montgomery County stations.

The new stairway is needed to ease platform congestion when trains arrive at Shady Grove Station, primarily during the evening rush hour, WMATA officials said in a press release. The stairs will improve platform egress by creating an additional way for customers to exit the station. Currently, all riders arriving at the station by train take several minutes to make their way to a single descending escalator or use an adjacent existing staircase to clear the platform.

The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) has appointed Kristina Holcomb deputy chief executive officer.

She joined DCTA in 2007 and most recently served as vice president of strategic planning and development. Holcomb now will oversee the execution of the agency’s strategic initiatives, including capital project planning and delivery, and help advance mobility efforts in North Texas. She also will lead DCTA’s regional transportation infrastructure planning, land-use strategy, and state and federal public policy.

A $21.6 million grant from California's Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (TCEP) will help advance a major on-dock rail yard expansion at the Port of Los Angeles, port officials announced yesterday.

The $34 million Terminal Island Rail Yard Enhancement Project is designed to reduce truck trips, tailpipe emissions and congestion on local streets and freeways, thereby improving safety, Port of LA officials said in a press release.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) will provide $700,000 to help Amtrak make safety improvements at a hazardous grade crossing in western Massachusetts.

Amtrak, which owns the line and is carrying out the project, will fund the remaining costs, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

United Rail Inc. announced it will implement precision scheduled railroading (PSR) on its short lines, starting with the Winamac Southern Railway in Kokomo, Indiana.

United Rail is the first short-line operator to implement PSR on short lines, company officials said in a press release.

After a long string of weekly carload gains, U. S. railroads registered a decline in the year’s 42nd week. For the week ending Oct. 20, the roads posted 265,776 carloads, down 0.7 percent compared with volume in the same week last year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

However, their weekly intermodal volume increased 1.6 percent to 289,330 units and total traffic inched up 0.5 percent to 555,106 units.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Managing Editor

Today, Union Pacific Railroad announced its third-quarter diluted earnings per share reached $2.15, representing a 43 percent year-over-year increase and an all-time quarterly record.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit's (DART) board has re-elected Sue Bauman as chair for fiscal-year 2019.

Bauman was appointed to the board in 2016 and was elected chair in 2017. She previously served as DART's vice president of marketing and communications until she retired in 2011, when she became an adjunct instructor at Richland College.

New Jersey Transit last week began a new accelerated training course as part of an effort to address a shortage of locomotive engineers.

The program reduces the training time for new engineers to 12 months from 20. For the program's inaugural run, NJ Transit is teaching 14 assistant conductors to become rail engineers.

Caltrain this month entered a new manufacturing phase for its first electric trainset.

Crews have begun preparing the first two car shells for interior installation, Caltrain officials said in an web update on the railroad's electrification plans.

Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI) has presented its Champion Award to the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Ronald Ries.

Established in 2010, the award recognizes individuals who advance OLI's community safety goals. In particular, the award honors someone who has "contributed significantly" toward any of the three "E's" of rail safety: eductaion, enforcement or engineering, OLI officials said in a press release.

Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Texas Pacifico Transportation Ltd. (TXPF) officials on Monday marked the start of reconstruction of the Presidio-Ojinaga international rail bridge in Presidio, Texas.

Located on the TxDOT-owned South Orient rail line, the bridge was severely damaged by fire in 2008 and 2009. The 391-mile rail line runs from the Texas-Mexico border at Presidio through San Angelo to just south of Coleman.

CN reported yesterday its third-quarter net income rose 18.4 percent to CA$1.1 million from CA$958 million in the same period a year ago.

Diluted earnings per share (EPS) in the quarter increased 21 percent to CA$1.54 over the Q3 2017 total. Adjusted net income climbed 11 percent to CA$1.1 million, while adjusted diluted EPS climbed 15 percent to CA$1.50, CN officials said in a press release.

Norfolk Southern Corp. this morning announced record third-quarter financial results, including operating net income of $1 billion — a 14 percent increase compared with the same period a year ago.

While announcing Q3 results, NS officials also shared plans to implement aspects of precision scheduled railroading (PSR) as part of a new operating plan, the details of which will be unveiled at the Class I's investor day event to be held in Atlanta in February 2019.

Steel casting firm Sivyer Steel Corp. has been acquired for $6.5 million in cash from a group of investors based predominately in the Quad Cities area. The company, which had been owned by FCF Partners LP of Milwaukee since 1999, will continue operations under the name Sivyer Steel Castings LLC. The company's primary assets include a 325,000-square-foot facility located on a 20-acre industrial campus along the Mississippi River, according to a Sivyer press release. Sivyer provides steel castings to manufacturers of industrial equipment in the passenger-rail, mining, military and oil and gas industries.

WSP USA has named Chris Ferguson central region transit and rail market lead. Based in Chicago, Ferguson will drive business development, synchronize teaming relationships, coordinate and communicate with clients and support technical projects. He has more than 10 years of transit and rail industry expertise, including with Class Is. Ferguson has also worked on projects for Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority, SunRail in Central Florida, the Utah Transit Authority and Rio Metro in New Mexico.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has opened a new $13 million plaza above its station in downtown Berkeley, California.

The structure features a new main entrance with a glass floor that illuminates from below at night and allows natural light into the station, agency officials said in a press release.