Railroad News

The Ports of Indiana has named Vanta Coda II chief executive officer effective July 1. He will succeed Rich Cooper, who is retiring after 16 years leading the organization.

Coda has 25 years of experience in maritime and multimodal operations on the Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico and Ohio River. Most recently, he served as executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, which is the busiest port district on the Great Lakes, according to a Ports of Indiana press release.

New York & Atlantic Railway (NYAR) and liquid propane gas provider Paraco recently conduced tank-car response training programs for more than 100 first responders in Nassau and Suffolk counties, New York.

The training featured classroom and hands-on instruction inside a boxcar designed for educational purposes. Attendees learned how to operate hatches and valves, along with how to respond in the event of a tank-car problem, according to a press release issued by NYAR parent Anacostia Rail Holdings Co.

Restoring Amtrak service along the U.S. Gulf Coast would help provide a major economic boost to local communities in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, according to a recent report by the University of Southern Mississippi.

University researchers evaluated the economic impact of increased spending on tourism, the number of jobs created and expenditures related to rail construction and operations.

The Trump administration's decision to issue tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports will undermine recent economic progress, National Retail Federation (NRF) officials said today.

"These tariffs won't reduce or eliminate China's abusive trade practices, but they will strain the budgets of working families by raising consumer prices," said NRF President and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Shay in a prepared statement.

New Jersey has agreed to provide up to $600 million to replace the century-old Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River.

New Jersey Transit's board on Wednesday approved the financing agreement with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which will issue bonds to generate the funding. The bonds will be paid back over a 30-year term from the state's transportation trust fund, NJ Transit officials said in a press release.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has advanced to the second phase an unsolicited proposal for a privately funded aerial tram between Los Angeles Union Station and Dodger Stadium.

Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies LLC made the proposal. In the coming weeks, Metro will ask for more detailed information about the firm's business model, service design and the "value its project would bring to Angelenos," Metro officials said in a press release.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and other state and local officials earlier this week attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Oshkosh Transload Terminal.

Watco Terminal and Port Services has a contract with the city of Oshkosh to operate and maintain the facility, which is located in the Southwest Industrial Park.

Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) board has approved a $2.3 billion budget for fiscal-year 2019 that dedicates $1.4 billion for capital improvements on core infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay area.

BART's capital spending plan includes $402 million in revenue from the voter-approved Measure RR, which allowed the agency to issue general obligation bonds to pay for major system repairs. That money will go toward track replacement, guideway structure rehabilitation and station modernization projects.

Compiled by Michael Popke

New York Air Brake has appointed Ulisses Camilo president and chief executive officer. He will succeed Michael Hawthorne, who was tapped to lead Bendix Commercial Vehicle Commercial Systems LLC, a sister company within the Knorr-Bremse Group. Camilo has worked in the rail industry for nearly two decades. Most recently, he served as managing director of the rail and transit sector for Atkins NA, an SNC-Lavalin company. He also has held senior leadership roles at Faiveley Transport NA, Parsons Transportation Group, Vossloh NA and Alstom Transportation.

SRT Transportation Solutions has agreed to manage, market and operate Contractors Cargo Cos.' CCRX 40010 20-axle Schnabel rail car. The unit features a custom 40-foot, 850,000-pound capacity deck insert to extend its utility, SRT officials said in a press release. The company manages and maintains speciality rail cars in Siemens' fleet, along with FD rail cars.

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has tapped several companies to provide grant-writing expertise to member short lines.

The expertise aims to aid short lines in writing grant applications for programs available from the U.S. Department of Transportation, ASLRRA officials said in a press release.

The Orange County Transportation Authority's (OCTA) board on Monday approved a $1.3 billion budget for fiscal-year 2019, which begins July 1.

The budget provides funds to advance major projects funded through Orange County's Measure M sales tax, including the proposed OC Streetcar line. The budget also includes $101 million for rail services and capital improvements, OCTA officials said in a press release.

U.S. rail traffic growth continued in the week ending June 9, with railroads logging 561,061 carloads and intermodal units, a 4.2 percent increase compared with the same week last year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Total carloads for the week rose 2.8 percent to 271,641 units, while intermodal volume climbed 5.6 percent to 289,420 containers and trailers compared with the same week in 2017.

Oregon is the latest state to have its transit-rail safety oversight program certified by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

Under federal law, states with transit-rail systems have to get their safety oversight programs certified by April 15, 2019. To achieve certification, a state must establish a safety oversight agency that's financially and legally independent from the transit agency it oversees.

CN this year will spend CA$320 million to strengthen and expand its infrastructure in Alberta and CA$210 million in Quebec, the Class I announced this week.

The investments are part of CN's CA$3.4 billion capital expenditures program for 2018, CN officials said in press releases.

The Chicago Infrastructure Trust (CIT) has selected business magnate Elon Musk's Boring Co. to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a new high-speed tunnel between downtown Chicago and O'Hare International Airport.

Known as the Chicago Express Loop, the new system will feature "electric skate" vehicles that will whisk passengers through underground tunnels at speeds up to 150 mph, according to The Boring Co.'s website.

BNSF Railway Co. has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation for a two-year extension to the federally mandated positive train control (PTC) deadline due to interoperability delays with other railroads, the Class I announced yesterday.

BNSF announced in December 2017 that it had installed and was operating under PTC on all mandated subdivisions ahead of the Dec. 31, 2018, deadline. However, BNSF will require an extension due to the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) current interpretation of the PTC law.

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) this week launched a $6 million project to add a section of double track along the S-Line streetcar.

The agency plans to install the track between the 300 East to 500 East stops in South Salt Lake. After the project is completed, UTA will be able to run streetcars every 15 minutes instead of every 20, according to an agency press release.