Railroad News

The U.S. House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials will host a Feb. 15 hearing on positive train control (PTC) implementation.

The committee anticipates it will receive testimony from Amtrak, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Railroad Administration, private rail operators, public transit agencies and labor organizations.

The Feb. 16 deadline to nominate candidates for Progressive Railroading's sixth annual Rising Stars Awards is only two weeks away.

The program recognizes up-and-coming leaders in North America's railroad industry. The magazine defines a Rising Star as someone under the age of 40 who is making a positive difference in his or her company, department or team.

U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) has introduced a bill to require a minimum of two-person crews on freight trains carrying crude oil or certain other types of cargo.

The bill aims to improve rail safety, and builds on an initiative Heitkamp introduced after a crude-oil train derailed, caught fire and exploded near Casselton, North Dakota, in 2013.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has begun testing new digital monitors featuring service information above the fare gates at San Francisco's Civic Center Station.

The screens provide real-time departure information, as well as updates on current service advisories or disruptions.

Carload Express Inc. yesterday announced the next steps in its corporate succession plan, which includes the appointment of Mark Rosner as president.

Jim Streett has been promoted to the role of chief executive officer, while Russell Peterson has been named chairman. Peterson most recently served as the company's CEO.

U.S. railroads moved 543,515 carloads and intermodal units in the week ending Jan. 27, marking a 4 percent increase compared with volume in the same week last year.

Intermodal volume grew 6.9 percent to 282,522 containers and trailers, while carload volume inched up 1.1 percent to 260,993 carloads, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) has awarded $51.9 million to seven passenger-rail agencies for various improvement projects.

The funds come from the new State Rail Assistance program established by Senate Bill 1. In April 2017, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill, which will provide $7.6 billion in new transit funding over the next 10 years.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. today opened a new office in Shanghai, China.

The office was opened to strengthen existing customer partnerships in Asia and continue to pursue new business, CP officials said in a press release.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation into what caused an Amtrak train to hit a garbage truck yesterday afternoon at a grade crossing in Crozet, Virginia.

The train was carrying Republican members of Congress on their way to a legislative retreat in West Virginia. One man — one of three in the truck — was killed and six other people were injured, according to local media reports.

BNSF Railway Co. will spend $3.3 billion on capital expenses this year, the Class I announced yesterday.

The investment is the same amount as last year's capital budget, according to a BNSF press release.

Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. (GREX) hosted an event held this week to honor the Snead family, which founded the company. The family became known in the rail and quarry industries in the 1940s, when Edwin Brazelton Snead founded Texas Crushed Stone. He also founded Georgetown Railroad in 1958 to haul limestone from Georgetown to Austin, Texas. His eldest son Ned went on to establish GREX. This week's celebration was hosted in the GREX Business Car 400, which also bears Brazelton Snead's name. The 1920s-era car recently was moved to a permanent location at the company's Georgetown headquarters, where the car will be used to host special events, customer meetings and charitable events.

Harsco Rail Europe has begun delivering 31 rail vehicles to Switzerland's national railroad Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB for the maintenance of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Harsco obtained the contract for the order in 2013. Last month, Harsco held a ceremony to mark the delivery of the first six of 13 base vehicles, which weigh 80 metric tons. The units can be powered by electricity alone or a combination of diesel and electric power. The base vehicles can be operated from the driver's cab, via remote control or from other wagons.

A nonpartisan business coalition was formed yesterday to advocate for extending passenger rail from Boston to Manchester, New Hampshire.

The New Hampshire Business for Rail Expansion has released a list of more than 50 businesses, organizations and individuals in support of the extension. The list includes Northwestern Mutual and University of New Hampshire.

Caltrain announced yesterday that it will be awarded $2.5 million from California's new State Rail Assistance Grant program.

The program was created by Senate Bill 1, the landmark statewide transportation legislation signed last year. Caltrain expects to receive close to another $4 million from the program next year, railroad officials said in a press release.

TNW Corp. has hired Luis Delgado to serve as market development manager.

Delgado will support marketing of TNW's three railroads and their respective logistics centers by contributing to the company's strategic planning and managing sales initiatives and programs.

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

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:40 p.m. CST.]

Texas Central earlier this week unveiled details of its planned bullet-train station in downtown Dallas.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy yesterday nominated Kevin Corbett to serve as executive director of New Jersey Transit.

The governor asked the agency's board to take up the nomination at its Feb. 4 meeting. If approved by the board, Corbett would succeed Steven Santoro, who earlier this month announced plans to resign.