Railroad News

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has chosen an STV-WSP USA joint venture to serve as its consultant on an acquisition of new heavy-rail vehicles and associated equipment.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) yesterday began an accelerated maintenance, cleaning and repair project along its Seventh Avenue Line, which is used by 1, 2, and 3 line trains.

The work is being carried out between 34th Street-Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Crews are working on weeknights between Oct. 16-19 and Oct. 23-26.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will host a public meeting on Nov. 8 to discuss transit-oriented development plans near the Red Line.

The agency is working on redevelopment concepts for properties near the line after the first phase of the Red and Purple Line modernization program wraps up.

USD Partners LP on Oct. 1 began operations of its heavier-grade crude-oil destination terminal in Stroud, Oklahoma, the company announced yesterday.

Retrofit work necessary to handle heavier grades of crude oil at the terminal was completed on time and under budget, company officials said in a press release. The terminal now provides a destination point for rail-to-pipeline shipments of heavy crude oil from the company's Hardisty terminal in western Canada.

China Railway Rolling Stock Corp.'s (CRRC) new rail-car plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, is expected to be completed by winter, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) announced late last week.

New rail-cars for the MBTA's Orange and Red lines will be manufactured at the 204,000-square-foot plant. Full rail-car production is slated to begin in April 2018, with the first units built in January 2019.

Amtrak has hired Timothy Griffin as executive vice president and chief marketing officer, the national passenger railroad announced yesterday.

Griffin will be responsible for marketing, passenger experience, product support and management, and business development for the Northeast Corridor, state-supported routes and long-distance services, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) last week issued a finding of no significant impact for New Jersey Transit's project to replace the Raritan River rail drawbridge.

NJ Transit this month will begin the final design plans, which are slated to be completed by the end of 2018.

CSX Corp. today reported third-quarter net income increased 1 percent to $459 million, or 51 cents per share, compared with $455 million, or 48 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.

Excluding a $1 million restructuring charge in this year's Q3 results, adjusted earnings per share remained at 51 cents.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has announced additions to its board and executive leadership committee.

Jacksonville Transportation Authority Chief Executive Officer Nathaniel Ford Sr. was named APTA's chair. He succeeds Doran Barnes, who serves as executive director of Foothill Transit in West Covina, California.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal joined Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) officials late last week in announcing record cargo volumes for fiscal-year 2017 and new infrastructure development plans.
 
In a review of the ports' work in FY2017, Deal announced growth of 8.3 percent in total tonnage across all terminals. Savannah handled 3.85 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs), while Brunswick moved 607,000 auto and machinery units. No other Southeast port recorded greater volumes for those commodities, Deal said in a press release. FY2017 covers the period from July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017.
 
In his state-of-the-ports speech, GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch announced two significant e-commerce developments: National furniture supplier Noble House will build a 630,000 square-foot facility that will serve the eastern United States, while home accessory company Best Choice will build 345,000 square feet.
 
Those plans are in addition to 3 million square feet of distribution center space completed within the last year and 5.2 million square feet now under construction, GPA officials said.
 
Lynch also outlined plans to accommodate record growth and expand new markets. Those plans include:
• a $128 million mega-rail project that will add track on terminal to better handle 10,000-foot-long trains. To start in the first quarter of FY2018 and conclude at 2020’s end, the project calls for adding 97,000 feet of new track, including 18 new working tracks, and bringing all switching operations to the Garden City Terminal;
• ground-breaking in FY2017 of the Appalachian Regional Port, an inland rail yard in Chatsworth. To be completed in fall 2018, the CSX-served inland port is designed to expand the GPA’s reach into Tennessee, northeast Alabama and portions of Kentucky; and
• the Savannah Harbor expansion project, which will deepen the outer harbor to 49 feet at low tide and 56 feet at high tide. The project also will deepen the inner harbor to 47 feet.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) next week will begin renovating its 30th Avenue and 36th Avenue Astoria Line stations.

The "top-to-bottom" renovations include structural repairs, improvements to mezzanines and platforms, waterproofing, and refurbishment of existing railings and stairs, NYCT officials said in a press release.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has granted conditional approval to the Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) to finish testing along the G Line commuter-rail route.

The agency still awaits approval from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which has state regulatory authority over grade crossings. Last month, the commission rejected RTD's application to complete testing of the line.

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 3:10 p.m. CDT.]

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has granted conditional approval to the Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) to finish testing along the G Line commuter-rail route.

The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) reached an all-time monthly high in August, which was 1.5 percent higher than the previous highest level reached just a month earlier in July, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported last week.
 
The TSI is based on the amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry.
 
The August 2017 index level of 130.7 was 6.7 percent higher than the August 2016 index, bureau officials said in a press release.
 
In addition, the most recent index exceeded the level of 130 for the first time, they said.
 
The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in for-hire freight shipments by mode of transportation in tons and ton-miles, which are combined into one index. The index measures the output of the freight transportation industry and consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has released a draft environmental impact statement for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's (SEPTA) King of Prussia Rail project.

The project calls for extending SEPTA's Norristown High Speed Line into King of Prussia from either the 69th Street or Norristown transportation centers.

GE has named Rafael Santana chief executive officer of GE Transportation effective Nov. 1.
 
Santana is currently president and CEO of GE Latin America. He will succeed Jamie Miller, who will become chief financial officer of GE on Nov. 1.
 
Santana has more than 17 years of experience at GE — including leadership positions in oil and gas, power, and transportation — before being named president and CEO of GE Latin America.
 
Prior to joining GE, Santana served in leadership roles at ExxonMobil and British American Tobacco.
 
In his current role, Santana worked with regional business leaders to make Latin America one of GE's largest and fastest growing regions, GE officials said in a press release.
 
"Rafael has deep roots in GE Transportation, having spent eight years in a variety of commercial and product management roles, as well as leading the Transportation team in Latin America," said GE Chairman and CEO John Flannery. "His experience helping teams navigate through this tough market, combined with his deep global, operational, services and industrial experience make him the perfect fit for this role."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie led a groundbreaking ceremony late last week to begin a long-awaited project to replace Amtrak's Portal Bridge.
 
The $1.5 billion project is designed to improve rail transportation between New York City and Newark, New Jersey. It is part of the $30 billion Gateway program to improve rail traffic on the Northeast Corridor.
 
The Portal Bridge is a two-track, 110-year-old swing span structure over the Hackensack River in Kearny and Seacaucus. It has a recent history of malfunctioning that causes rail traffic delays in the corridor.
 
"This project is vital to our economy and the safety of millions of local commuters and people from around the world who use mass transportation along the Northeast Corridor," Christie said in a press release.
 
The bridge is one of the heaviest used rail bridges in North America. New Jersey Transit carries 150,000 riders per day on nearly 400 trains, while Amtrak moves about 16,000 riders per day on more than 100 trains in both directions over the bridge. More than 58 million rail passengers use the bridge annually.
 
Engineering plans to replace the bridge with a north bridge and a south bridge were completed in 2013 and funded by NJ Transit, Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration.
 
The project involves the construction of two new fixed-span bridges about 53 feet above mean high water, more than double the height of the current bridge. The new structure will allow for higher train speeds and greater train capacity.
 
Early construction contracts worth $20 million have been awarded to move ahead with the Portal North Bridge project. Those contracts include construction of a finger pier, installation of new fiber optic cable poles, realignment of a transmission pole, construction of a steel bridge structure over the Jersey City Municipal Utility Authority water main, and construction of a retaining wall.
 
NJ Transit and the U.S. Department of Transportation provided funding for the early construction work. Local share funding for the balance of the bridge construction has been arranged through NJ Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
 
Plans to rebuild the Portal South Bridge will come at a later time, according to the press release.