Railroad News

Southern California transit agency Omnitrans has hired Erin Rogers as deputy general manager.

Rogers has nearly three decades of transit industry experience, including 10 years as assistant general manager for the Orange County Transportation Authority.

In September and October, average weekday ridership in TransLink's Northeast Sector was 25 percent higher than the same months in 2016.

The sector comprises the cities of Coquitlam, Port Moody and Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, as well as the villages of Anmore and Belcarra. The ridership jump followed the opening of the 6.8-mile Evergreen Extension of the Millennium SkyTrain line in December 2016.

Brightline, the new privately financed and operated express rail service in southern Florida, will begin "simulated service" between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale as soon as this week, the railroad announced on Twitter.

Although an exact date was not specified, the tweet stated that Brightline will run up to 10 trains a day on the route.

R. J. Corman Railroad Group yesterday announced a partnership with the Kentucky Labor Cabinet to create an apprenticeship program aimed at the recruitment and retention of new employees.

The program will start early next year, as R. J. Corman and the Labor Cabinet develop a curriculum, company officials said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has released a final supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the second phase of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro) Purple Line subway extension.

The report covers the segment that would run between the future Wilshire/La Cienega Station, downtown Beverly Hills and Century City. In particular, the document provides additional details on the Century City/Constellation Station, as well as potential public health and other impacts for the planned subway alignment.

U.S. intermodal rail traffic is on pace to set a new annual record this year, with strong gains in November and last week marking the best intermodal week in history, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) announced yesterday.

U.S. railroads logged 1,369,160 containers and trailers in November, up 3.8 percent, or 50,029 units, from the same month last year. Although U.S. railroads' carload traffic slipped last month 0.9 percent to 1,307,521 units, the combined total of intermodal and carload activity rose 1.5 percent to 2,676,681 for the month compared with November 2016, AAR officials said in a press release.

The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) yesterday announced the appointment of Mark Miller and Dianne Costa to its board.

Miller, who serves as vice president of Hillwood Properties, will represent the city of Flower Mound, Texas. He was appointed to the board in June, DCTA officials said in a press release.

The San Mateo County Transit District (SMCTD) has launched a public engagement and education campaign to share information about solutions to the county's growing traffic problems.

Known as "Get Us Moving," the campaign also is designed to gather community feedback about proposed solutions.

CDPQ Infra has extended through Jan. 31 the tender process for a proposed 41-mile light-rail system in Montreal.

The company will launch a "period of intensive discussions" with the qualified consortiums for the project's engineering and construction contract, CDPQ Infra officials said in a press release.

A June 2016 train collision near Carvel, Alberta, occurred after one of two trains ran through a restricted speed signal, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) announced in a report issued yesterday.

The report highlights a number of safety risks, including the absence of physical fail-safe defenses to ensure that signals are consistently recognized and followed, TSB officials said in a press release.

Metrolink yesterday marked the completion of a 1-mile extension to downtown San Bernardino, California.

The commuter railroad's San Bernardino and Inland Empire/Orange County lines have been extended from their terminus at the San Bernardino Santa Fe Depot to the recently finished San Bernardino Transit Center.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) and GoRail yesterday honored House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) with the Railroad Achievement Award for his leadership on rail issues.

Shuster was recognized for understanding the critical importance of safe and efficient rail operations across the nation's 140,000-mile rail network, AAR officials said in a press release.

U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) on Monday introduced legislation that calls for reforming the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) Metro system.

The "Metro Accountability and Reform Act" would substantially increase funding for WMATA, but on the condition of "making fundamental changes necessary to meet reasonable benchmarks of a functional mass transit system," said Comstock in a press release.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) yesterday marked the completion of Americans with Disability Act (ADA) accessibility improvements at its 40th Street subway station in Philadelphia.

The agency has installed two new elevators that provide direct access from the street to the subway level. The $9.23 million improvement project also included upgrading doors, gates and employee facilities.

Bi-State Development and the St. Louis County Department of Public Health last week unveiled Links 2 Health, a new mobile health van that will visit four Metro Transit centers once a week to help improve North St. Louis County residents' access to health care services.

The Links 2 Health van's weekly visits include the Rock Road MetroLink Station in Pagedale, Missouri. Health screenings and assessments — such as blood pressure and diabetes testing — will be offered free of charge to adults 18 years and older.

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority's (HART) board yesterday named Jeffrey Seward interim chief executive officer.

He'll succeed Katharine Eagan Kelleman, who has been appointed CEO of the Port Authority of Allegheny County. Kelleman's last day at HART will be Jan. 5.

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) has begun installing new switches near the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn.

The work is aimed at making operations more efficient by allowing trains to access the Atlantic Yards directly from the terminal, LIRR officials said in a press release.