Railroad News

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) last month released a draft study of the potential benefits and costs of a passenger-rail service that would connect western, central and eastern Massachusetts. 

Community leaders, stakeholders and residents expressed a desire for a passenger-rail link to improve multimodal transportation options in Massachusetts towns west of Worcester, MassDOT officials said in the study’s executive summary.

Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad LLC (FGA) recently completed construction of a new rail bridge in Marianna, Florida.

The new open-timber bridge over Borden Street replaces an older structure. The project was completed over two months for a cost of $175,000 through a partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation and with support from the city of Marianna, FGA officials said in a press release.

Jaguar Transport Holdings has acquired five short lines and a railroad construction and maintenance company from The Western Group, the companies announced yesterday.

The railroads being acquired are Cimarron Valley Railroad in southwest Kansas, northern Oklahoma and eastern Colorado; Washington Eastern Railroad in eastern Washington; Texas and Eastern Railroad, with operations between Rusk and Palestine in Texas, along with the Texas State Railroad; Southwestern Railroad in southern New Mexico; and Oregon Eastern Railroad in eastern Oregon.

U.S. railroads logged a 2% increase in combined carload and intermodal traffic during October compared with the same month a year ago, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Although carload volume declined 6.6% to 912,722 units during the month compared with October 2019, intermodal volume climbed 10% to 1,169,874 containers and trailers. Traffic for the month totaled 2,082,646 carloads, containers and trailers.

The Greenbrier Companies Inc. reported fourth-quarter fiscal-year 2020 revenue of $636.4 million, down from $762.6 million in Q3 FY2020. Greenbrier attributed the decrease to fewer deliveries and lower activity levels in the wheels, repair and parts segment, according to Greenbrier’s financial report. Net earnings attributable to Greenbrier for FY2020, which ended Aug. 31, were $49 million, or $1.46 per diluted share, on revenue of $2.8 billion. Greenbrier also released its second annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report, which details Greenbrier’s accomplishments during fiscal years 2019 and 2020. The report highlights the company’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and establishes goals for the next two years. Those goals include increasing steel utilization efficiency to 93.3% in 2021 and allocating more than 50% of annual charitable contributions to underserved communities by 2022.

Bombardier Transportation launched a digital service for predictive maintenance. The Bombardier EBI Sense combines internet of things and cloud and machine learning with data collection and analytics to predict rail equipment failures and schedule maintenance. Meanwhile, Bombardier Transportation signed a letter of intent with the Reich Brothers real estate firm to lease about 240,000-square-feet of space at a former Caterpillar plant in Kendall County, Illinois. The company would potentially use the space to manufacture bi-level rail cars for Metra, if it is awarded a contract, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) last week launched its Ventra fare card on iPhone and Apple Watches to provide some riders a contactless, tap-and-go fare payment option.  

The new feature allows CTA train and bus riders who use an iPhone or Apple Watch to add a Ventra Card to their device and tap the device at a Ventra fare reader to enter the CTA system. 

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) next week will began seeking rider input on the agency’s Forging Ahead plan to preserve transit access for riders who depend on it as the agency prepares to cut low-ridership services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Nov. 9, the MBTA will announce which services will be prioritized and protected and which will have proposed changes in service. MBTA will host virtual meetings on the proposed changes in December.

Amtrak's random drug testing program doesn't test many employees in safety-related positions because the railroad limits the program to minimum federal requirements, Amtrak's Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported last week.

The OIG assessed the extent to which Amtrak's 11,356 employees involved in safety-related work are at risk for prescription opioid impairment or misuse, as well as the railroad's efforts to detect and deter risk. The inspector found that Amtrak's random drug testing program is limited to those in safety-work positions that are regulated under the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), such as locomotive engineers, conductors, maintenance-of-way employees and train dispatchers.

Reading & Northern Railroad officials announced this week that the first rail cars have been unloaded at a new rail-truck transload facility, which is located at the North Star BlueScope Steel (NSBS) mill in Delta, Ohio.

The announcement caps a multiyear effort to convert shipments of anthracite from truck to rail, Reading & Northern officials said in a press release.

The Denton County Transportation Authority’s (DCTA) board last month approved a contract with Rio Grande Pacific Corp. (RGPC) and subcontractor Stadler U.S. Inc. to provide operations and vehicle maintenance services for the A-Line commuter-rail service in northern Texas. 

Under the contract, which went into effect Oct. 31, RGPC is responsible for signaling, dispatching, maintenance of tracks and operations and communications. Stadler is responsible for maintaining DCTA’s rolling stock of 11 GTW DMU trains.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper last week appointed Michael Fox to the North Carolina Railroad Co.’s (NCRR) board.

Fox will fill the remainder of the unexpired term previously held by Nina Szlosberg-Landis.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) yesterday announced they've reached a tentative labor agreement with the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway (NYS&W).

The contract would govern rates of pay and work rules for about 45 members.

Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) officials yesterday provided more details on the Newington Road Bridge project in Fairfax County, which will be funded in part by a $14.4 million federal grant awarded last week.

The $37 million project calls for replacing the existing, substandard two-track railroad bridge with a new, publicly owned two-track structure over Newington Road in Lorton, Virginia, and a new two-track rail bridge for use by CSX trains. The result will be a four-track structure that separates passenger and freight service, and provides continuity of corridor operations for both types of service while construction is underway, DRPT officials said in a press release.

New Jersey Transit is seeking developers to design and build transit-oriented development (TOD) projects on NJ Transit properties located in Jersey City and Woodbridge.

The agency is accepting statements of qualifications and expressions of interest in developing 2 acres on Communipaw Avenue in Jersey City, near the Liberty State Park Hudson-Bergen light-rail station; and 12 acres  located adjacent to the Metropark Station on the Northeast Corridor Line. 

Edmonton, Alberta, officials last week selected Marigold Infrastructure Partners as the preferred contractor to design, build and partially finance the city’s nearly 8.7-mile Valley Line West light-rail line.

Marigold Infrastructure Partners is a team consisting of Colas, Parsons, Standard General, Francl Architecture, Fast & Epp and Stantec. 

Canadian Pacific set a new record for shipping Canadian grain and grain products in October at 3.04 million metric tons (MMT) moved, the first time CP exceeded 3 MMT in a month.

The achievement exceeds the highest-ever record for a month, set in April 2020, by 6.9%. It also represents a 14.2% increase from the previous October record of 2.66 MMT set in in 2019, CP officials said in a press release.