Railroad News

MTA Metro-North Railroad and MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) have improved the safety of their commuter-rail systems by implementing safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) "Most Wanted List" of safety improvements, the federal agency announced yesterday.

The safety recommendations to Metro-North and LIRR were the result of the NTSB's investigation into five accidents involving Metro-North trains in Connecticut and New York that killed six people, injured 126 more and resulted in more than $28 million in damages.  All five accidents occurred in 2013 and 2014.

A tax deal expected to included in major spending legislation and cleared by Congress this week includes a five-year extension of the short-line railroad 45G tax credit, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announced today.

Under the legislative proposal, the short-line tax credit would be retroactive from 2018 through 2022.

CSX has appointed Jeffrey Wall vice president of labor relations.

Wall will be responsible for overall labor strategy and working with unions that represent nearly 17,000 CSX employees. He has more than 20 years of labor relations and negotiating experience, CSX officials said in a press release.

Union Pacific Railroad has completed implementation of positive train control (PTC) on all of its federally mandated rail lines, including passenger train routes, the Class I announced yesterday.

UP will continue working with partner railroads on interoperability to ensure seamless operation onto UP track, company officials said in a press release.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has revealed its intent to award a $790 million grant and $629 million low-interest loan to Sound Transit to enable the start of construction on the Federal Way Link light-rail extension, Sound Transit officials said yesterday.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) late last week transmitted the $790 million full funding grant agreement (FFGA) to Congress, starting a 30-day notification period. The action means that the FTA intends to execute the grant after the 30 days expires, Sound Transit officials said in a press release.

The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) earlier this month partnered with Lyft to offer Metrolink riders a free ride-hailing option between four commuter-rail stations and Ontario International Airport in Southern California. 

SBCTA will cover up to $35 off each Lyft ride connecting a rider from the Montclair, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario-East stations to the airport.

The North County Transit District (NCTD) yesterday completed track repairs on portions of the right-of-way on the Del Mar Bluffs in California, that were damaged by erosion washouts following a rainstorm in late November. 

Last week, Mid-Coast Transit Constructors and DrillTech constructed steel-reinforced shotcrete retaining structures between the existing concrete piles at a section of track near 15th Street in the Del Mar, California. Crews also installed a temporary fix with two steel plates and concrete slurry at a second erosion point, NCTD officials said in a press release.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit's (DART) board last week approved a development agreement with Trammell Crow Co. to construct an underground parking garage and residential and commercial towers near the SMU/Mockingbird Station in Dallas. 

The transit-oriented development (TOD) will be constructed on surface parking lots at the station, which is one of DART’s busiest. This will be the second TOD to be constructed at the station, DART officials said in a press release.

Inadequate securement of cargo on an A-frame flat car led to the derailment of Canadian Pacific train near Saint-Polycarpe, Quebec, in July 2018, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) announced last week.

The incident occurred when the leading end of a boxcar struck a 21-foot section of stock rail that had fallen from the end of the preceding A-frame flat car. The stock rail had been loaded in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with unbundled crossties on the deck of the flat car and secured using two loops of steel banding routed through anchor rings. 

Metrolink’s Southern California Optimized Rail Expansion (SCORE) program is expected to create 1.3 million jobs and increase the gross regional product by almost $684 billion through 2050, according to a Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. (LAEDC) study presented to Metrolink's board last week.

SCORE is a 10-year, $10 billion capital improvement program to upgrade regional rail infrastructure and improve commute times and air quality in advance of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games, Metrolink officials said in a press release.

—Compiled by Michael Popke

—Compiled by Michael Popke

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Associate Editor

Iteris Inc. was awarded a $2 million subcontract by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) to provide traffic operations analysis and traffic engineering design services for a new light-rail system in LA County. Iteris will provide design services for the light-rail system at more than 60 signalized intersections as part of the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Project, Iteris officials said in a press release.

HNTB Corp. hired Kimberly Proia as project director and vice president, and Debbie Gies as senior project manager for program management. Proia will serve as deputy project manager for Sound Transit’s West Seattle and Ballard Link light-rail extension project. Proia has 25 years of experience managing U.S. transit-rail projects, HNTB officials said in a press release. Meanwhile, Gies will work with transit agencies on project management, operations coordination, construction staging logistics and public outreach. She has 27 years of experience. Previously, she worked for another transportation consulting firm and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority as deputy director of light-rail operations.

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (SDMTS) generated $1 billion in positive economic impact for the San Diego region, according to a report from the Fermanian Business & Economic Institute at Point Loma Nazarene University. 

The report concludes that every dollar of public investment into SDMTS returns $2.82 in the form of jobs, infrastructure investment, productivity gains, environmental benefits and money saved by riders.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Transit Innovation Partnership and Empire State Development earlier this week hosted a summit to speed up modernization of MTA New York City Transit’s (NYCT) subway signaling system. 

The summit challenged about 100 company participants from four continents to reimagine signaling infrastructure and advance the transition to 21st century signaling technologies. 

The Bi-State Development Board earlier this week voted to explore possible options for assuming control of the Loop Trolley streetcar operations in St. Louis, Missouri. 

The 2.2-mile Loop Trolley, which is operated by the nonprofit Loop Trolley Co., is financially strapped and set to close by Dec. 29. It needs about $240,000 more a year to operate, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported earlier this week.