Railroad News

The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) last week allocated $19,900 from its Grade Crossing Protective Fund to pay for safety improvements at a grade crossing in Newport, Washington. 

The funds will be used to install an accessible pedestrian surface at a crossing located at the intersection of Pine Street and Pend Oreille Valley Railroad tracks. The project must be completed by Dec. 31.

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott today suspended some Amtrak service to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Under the suspension, the Ethan Allen Express route, which runs between New York City and Rutland, Vermont, will not provide service north of Albany, New York; and the Vermonter route between Washington D.C. and Saint Albans, Vermont, will go only as far as Connecticut, NBC 5 News reports.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined earlier this week that an Archer Daniels Midland Co. rail tank car, while stationed at a CSX rail yard in Fredericksburg, Virginia, released denatured ethanol — a flammable hazardous material — from undetected cracks in the bottom of the tank car's shell.

About 68 gallons of the material leaked from the DOT-111 tank car, which was loaded with more than 28,690 gallons. The incident occurred Nov. 2, 2016.

The Port of Virginia yesterday instituted a critical cargo initiative to identify and prioritize import cargo moving across Virginia that is critical to fighting the coronavirus pandemic. 

The initiative allocates the equipment and port personnel necessary to ensure containers containing personal protective equipment for the medical industry and COVID-19 test kits are processed and moved to the container’s destination rapidly, port officials said in a press release.

U.S. freight-rail traffic tumbled 8.6 percent to 459,966 carloads and intermodal units during the week ending March 21 compared with the same week in 2019, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Impact of the coronavirus pandemic may be influencing rail traffic patterns, as railroads logged 224,048 carloads, down 5.4 percent, and 235,918 intermodal containers and trailers, down 11.4 percent during the week.

RR Mergers & Acquisitions announced the sale of Allpress & Moore Railroad Signal Contractors to CDL Electric Co. Allpress & Moore provides engineering, wiring, testing and construction for grade crossings. CDL Electric installs and maintains railroad signals.

Stucki Roller Bearing (SBR), a division of A. Stucki Co., opened a second facility in Lincoln, Nebraska. The 50,000-square-foot facility will house manufacturing, distribution and office space to support the company’s reconditioned bearings business for freight car, locomotive and transit applications.

A Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) study conducted at the San Jose State University and published earlier this month has found that sexual harassment experienced by riders on trains and buses leads to reduced use of public transportation.

About 63 percent of the 891 student transit riders surveyed indicated they had experienced some form of sexual harassment while riding the train or bus over the past three years. The study defines sexual harassment as any unwanted attention including lewd comments, threats and being followed or pictured.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's board (GCRTA) yesterday elected Dennis Clough president and Charles Lucas, vice president. 

Clough and Lucas have served as president and VP, respectively, since 2018. Each now will serve another year.

The North Carolina Railroad Co. (NCRR) has named Donald Arant vice president of engineering.

Grant joined the railroad in 2015 as its first full-time staff engineer. Prior to that, he worked for the global engineering and architecture firm STV Inc.'s office in Charlotte, North Carolina, NCRR officials said in a press release.

A coalition of U.S. transit agencies on Monday sent a letter to congressional leaders requesting that the federal relief package intended to provide aid to businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic include at least $25 billion of dedicated support for public transportation agencies. 

While agencies continue to provide essential travel for emergency personnel, overall ridership on the systems has plummeted, dropping as much as 90 percent in some cases, the coalition wrote.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has named Vanessa Allen Sutherland executive vice president and chief legal officer effective April 1.

Allen Sutherland joined NS in 2018 as VP of law. Last year, she was promoted to senior VP of government relations and chief legal officer.

The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) partners have received a $12.9 million federal grant for the Pullman Junction project in south Chicago.

The project will improve rail safety and fluidity, and reduce congestion throughout the Chicago Terminal by constructing a second main track, improving existing track geometry, increasing operating speeds and updating signals and switches in the junction, CREATE officials said in a press release.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Alexandria, Virginia, city officials last week added a new station design option with enhanced southwest access for the future Potomac Yard Metrorail station project.

Following pricing discussions with WMATA’s construction contractor, the new station design would include a bridge accessible via elevator and stairs, city officials said in a press release. 

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) yesterday announced the agency reached 20 percent completion of the preliminary design for the D2 Subway, a proposed second light-rail alignment through the Dallas Central Business District. 

DART now is preparing a supplemental draft environment impact statement (EIS) to access potential impacts and benefits of the project.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) announced yesterday it has appointed Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti to serve a two-year term as chair of the organization's Council on Rail.

The rail council addresses policy, regulatory, safety, operations and investment issues that states encounter when developing freight- and passenger-rail systems.

Sound Transit this week completed Connect 2020, an 11-week project to connect the existing Link light-rail system to the 14-mile East Link extension in Seattle. 

The agency’s existing rail tunnel is now configured for East Link in preparation for extended service to Mercer Island, Bellevue and Redmond, Washington, via 10 new stations in 2023.

With daily ridership down 90 percent and future bookings down 85 percent year over year, Amtrak is cutting management pay and taking other "aggressive" steps to address revenue losses related to the impact of the coronavirus, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today.

"Amtrak and our state partners estimate we need approximately $1 billion in supplemental funding through the remainder of the year to make up for the unprecedented loss of ridership and revenue and to minimize employee and service impacts," an Amtrak spokesperson said in a statement, according to the newspaper.