Railroad News

Juan Reyes has been appointed chief counsel of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), according to a press release issued by Seyfarth Shaw LLP, a law firm where Reyes has served as partner.

As the principal legal adviser to the FRA, Reyes will manage a legal department of 50 attorneys and provide executive direction to the general law and safety law divisions, Seyfarth officials said.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has returned to service the first round of rail cars that were refurbished as part of the agency's recent subway improvement plan.

Before the R-160 cars re-entered service on the E line, crews replaced each trainset's "master controller," which is the system responsible for braking and accelerating the trains.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has begun considering a series of public-private partnerships to deliver new transportation projects faster than expected.

The partnerships, which will be established through competitive bids, could help accelerate three projects funded by the Measure M sales tax, Metro officials said in a press release.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has appointed Fredric Ehlers as chief information officer.

A 32-year railroad veteran, Ehlers will continue serving as vice president of information technology, a position he's held since 2013. Based in Atlanta, Ehlers also will continue reporting to Executive Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer Cynthia Earhart, who previously served as CIO.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) on Sunday began upgrading commuter-rail overhead wire and tracks between the Fern Rock Transportation Center and Glenside Station.

The agency's in-house crews are carrying out the work, which will take place on three consecutive Sundays beginning Oct. 1.

Pacific Harbor Line Inc. (PHL) and Progress Rail yesterday hosted Port of Long Beach and American Association of Port Authorities officials for a look at the EMD24B switcher locomotive that PHL will lease for use on its line.

Progress Rail's EMD24B has been completing its California Air Resources Board verification testing with PHL, and the companies announced that as a result, PHL has confirmed it plans to lease the unit, according to a Progress Rail press release.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last week launched a new performance dashboard to keep riders informed about the status of the agency's subway system.

The tool provides data about major incidents, customer wait times, subway car performance and station environment standards. The dashboard is designed to improve communication with the millions of riders who use MTA New York City Transit's subways each day, MTA officials said in a press release.

The Port of Portland will receive a $1.25 million federal grant to upgrade marine terminal security systems.

The port will use the grant to rebuild key components of the security systems at terminals 4 and 6, port officials announced in a press release.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHRSA) has finished investing $2.55 billion worth of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds by the required Sept. 30 deadline.

The agency released a report that details how it spent the ARRA funds. A little more than $2 billion went toward construction of the Central Valley segment.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) reduced its structural deficit by 65 percent in fiscal-year 2017 compared with the previous year's deficit, the agency announced yesterday.

The MBTA's deficit was $30 million in FY2017 versus $86 million in FY2016. In addition, core operating expenses for the most recent fiscal year were $6 million less than they were in the prior year.

Port of Oakland Commissioners last week approved an $11 million rail-spur project that would connect Union Pacific Railroad tracks with Cool Port.

Cool Port is a 280,000-square-foot distribution center now under construction on 25 acres of Port of Oakland property. BNSF Railway Co. also will have access. 

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) yesterday marked its 70th anniversary.

The agency was created by the Illinois Legislature to consolidate several privately owned companies that operated transit lines in the Chicago area. Before the CTA was created, those struggling companies competed with each other for riders, according to an announcement on the agency's website.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) has appointed Floun'say Caver as deputy general manager of operations.

Caver fills the position vacated by Michael York, who retired last week. Caver joined GCRTA in 2000 and left in 2002 to earn a doctorate degree from the University of Texas at Dallas. He returned in 2006 as GCRTA's manager of budgets.

Ending funding of Amtrak long-distance routes would disproportionately affect low income households in rural communities across the country, according to a report released today by the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP).

NARP's "Dismantling a National Transportation Network" report was issued in response to President Donald Trump's fiscal-year 2018 budget proposal earlier this year that called for cutting funding to certain long-distance routes in Amtrak's national network.

The Kansas City Streetcar Authority (KCSA) late last week approved advancing to the next phase of technical work for a streetcar extension to the Missouri River.

The next planning phase will focus on completing conceptual design for the project, KCSA officials said in a press release. Other efforts will include survey work and utility location, estimating costs, performing an environmental assessment and conducting public outreach.

The U.S. Coast Guard last week lifted draft restrictions at the Port of Corpus Christi, although recovery efforts continue at the port after it was impacted by Hurricane Harvey in late August.

The full 47-foot draft of the ship channel is open to vessels, and the daylight-only transit restriction was removed. Vessel traffic remains one way on the Corpus Christi Ship Channel; all other restrictions have been lifted, port officials said in a press release.

The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority's board has awarded a $2.6 million utility relocation design-bid-build contract to W.A. Rasic Construction Co. Inc. for a 12.3-mile light-rail project between Glendora and Montclair, California.

The contract is the first of two to be procured as part of the $1.4 billion Glendora-to-Montclair segment, which will extend the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro) Gold Line route through communities in the San Gabriel Valley and into San Bernardino County.

The Federal Transit Administration  (FTA) has awarded $8.4 million in critical grant funding to Puerto Rico to help its public transit systems recover from Hurricane Maria.

The funding was in addition to $40 million provided by the Federal Highway Administration to help restore service on roads and bridges damaged by Hurricane Maria. Those funds supplement the $2.5 million in emergency funds awarded to the territory for damage after Hurricane Irma.