The Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA) yesterday announced that Bruce Wise will step down as president and be succeeded by Alan Reynolds, who's served on REMSA's board since 2009.
Wise recently joined Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. as director of business development. His employment change necessitates the officer change, REMSA officials said in a press release.
BNSF Railway Co. has awarded its "Certified Sites" designation to three new industrial locations in Oklahoma, Montana and Saskatchewan.
The program identifies optimal rail-served sites for customer development along the Class I's network. To be considered for the designation, sites must undergo a thorough analysis that includes an evaluation of environmental and geotechnical standards, available utilities and site availability.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has granted Valley Metro approval to begin "significant construction" on a new streetcar system in Tempe, Arizona.
Valley Metro has already started preliminary construction and underground utility work, but the FTA's blessing will enable the agency to begin building trackway, power systems and street improvements.
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The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) yesterday released a second-quarter status update on railroads' self-reported progress toward implementing positive train control (PTC) systems.
As of June 30, 15 railroads had installed 100 percent of the PTC system hardware required for implementation; 12 had installed between 95 percent and 99 percent of all hardware; and all railroads — except for one — that use spectrum-based PTC systems had acquired sufficient radio spectrum, according to the status update.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has reached a tentative agreement with Transit America Services Inc. (TASI) for its members that work as Caltrain locomotive engineers.
On Aug. 20, ratification ballots were mailed to BLET members employed by TASI who are eligible to vote on the pact. Ballots are due Sept. 13.
W.A. Rasic Construction Co. Inc. has completed work under its $2.6 million utility relocation design-build contract for the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority's 12.3-mile light-rail project between Glendora and Montclair, California.
Awarded in fall 2017, the contract called for relocating or protecting a dozen strategically located sewer and water lines that cross the corridor where the light-rail line is being built.
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The Maryland Department of Transportation's Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) next week will begin construction on a $4.7 million renovation of its Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport rail station in Linthicum, Maryland.
Slated to start Aug. 27, the project includes expanding the waiting area, creating new ticketing facilities and a concession area, and building new restrooms. The work is expected to take 14 months to complete, MTA officials said in a press release.
In mid-July, U.S. Class Is employed 147,426 people, up a meager 0.1 percent from the count a month earlier and down less than a tenth of a percent from the workforce figure in July 2017, according to Surface Transportation Board (STB) employment data.
On a month-over-month basis, only the maintenance-of-way and structures segment of U.S. Class I's workforce shrank, and slightly at that, declining 0.3 percent to 32,617. The other five segments registered the following gains: transportation (other than train and engine), 1.7 percent to 5,691; executives, officials and staff assistants, 0.4 percent to 8,422; transportation (train and engine), 0.2 percent to 61,891; professional and administrative staff; 0.05 percent to 12,004; and maintenance of equipment and stores, 0.01 percent to 26,801.
Politicians in New York and Illinois are the latest policymakers to announce the award of federal funding for positive train control (PTC) implementation projects at several freight and passenger railroads.
Yesterday, U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has awarded a $1.2 million grant to the Middletown & New Jersey Railroad for PTC installation.
Thirty-three weeks into the year, U.S railroads’ traffic continued to mount. During the week ending Aug. 18, they moved 567,477 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.7 percent year over year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.
U.S carloads increased 2.9 percent to 278,701 units and intermodal volume rose 4.4 percent to 288,776 units. Nine of 10 carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR posted a gain in the week, including grain, up 5,491 carloads to 23,404, and petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,544 carloads to 10,898. Coal carloads fell by 4,534 units to 93,248.
Yesterday, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal joined other state officials, port representatives, and business and civic leaders at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Chatsworth to officially open the Appalachian Regional Port (ARP).
Managed by the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) and served by CSX, the inland port facility will provide logistics services for customers in a four-state region and remove an estimated 50,000 trucks from local highways each year, GPA officials said in a press release. The ARP targets shippers in north Georgia, northeast Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky who seek a more efficient option to move cargo to and from the Port of Savannah, they said.
United Technologies Corp. has acquired Predikto Inc., an Atlanta-based predictive analytics software firm. Predikto has developed a cloud-based predictive health maintenance solution aimed at enabling its customers to forecast and improve asset reliability with better certainty. The acquisition will reinforce United Technologies' global digital strategy of making strategic business investments to deliver "new forms of value" for customers, employees and shareholders, company officials said in a press release.
Knorr-Bremse Rail Vehicle Systems has acquired Federal-Mogul Corp.'s intellectual property rights for the development and production of friction materials for rail vehicle and industrial applications. In return, Federal-Mogul will receive a "back license" from Knorr-Bremse that will enable the company to continue supplying rail friction materials. The acquisition will help Knorr-Bremse reinforce its system expertise and invest in new and improved customer-oriented products, company officials said in a press release. The integarted development of rail braking systems and brake pads is expected to lead to greater deceleration, lower noise emissions and reduced lifecycle costs, according to Knorr-Bremse.
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's (RTA) board yesterday appointed Floun'say Caver as interim chief executive officer and general manager.
He's slated to serve from Sept. 1 until March 1 while the board conducts a search to fill the position permanently, according to a GCRTA press release.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and its commuter-rail contractor Keolis Commuter Services will begin an infrastructure improvement program Aug. 25 along the Worcester Line.
The project calls for replacing 38,000 feet of rail. Expected to take eight weeks to complete, the work may cause minor delays for some weekend trains and weekday morning rush-hour trains, MBTA and Keolis officials said in a press release.
Jennifer Homendy was sworn in Monday as a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member.
The board now has all five member positions filled. The NTSB operated with four members from April 2014 to December 2017, and with three members from January to early August 2018, when Bruce Landsberg was appointed vice chairman.
Patriot Rail Co. LLC's Louisiana & North West Railroad (LNW) recently welcomed a new tenant in Gibsland, Louisiana: Shale Support Holdings LLC.
A frac sand and logistics service provider to the oil and gas proppant market, Shale Support operates a terminal in Gibsland. The 24/7 facility can handle 100 rail cars and features on-site storage plus additional room for future storage.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has awarded a nearly $30 million grant to the Rio Metro Regional Transit District for the implementation of positive train control (PTC) on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express system.
Without the grant, the district likely would have needed to cut service to accommodate PTC costs, according to a joint press release issued by U.S. Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.).