Railroad News

Metro Transit's rail ridership in the Minneapolis area is on track to set another record, agency officials said in a blog post late last week.

For the first half of this year, ridership on the Green and Blue light-rail lines and Northstar commuter-rail line is tracking above ridership during the same period in 2017. Last year, all three lines experienced record ridership.

A federal appeals court ruled last week that Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) should be allowed to set their own standards for measuring on-time performance of passenger-rail service.

The 2-1 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is the latest in a legal dispute over whether Amtrak has a right to be involved in the rulemaking process for determining on-time performance.

GE Transportation received an order for five diesel-electric locomotives for Ferrocarril de Antofagasta, a private transport operator in Chile. The order, which includes a warranty agreement for parts and services, marks GE's first locomotive order in Chile, company officials said in a press release. Equipped with 12-cylinder engines to operate at high altitude, the new C23EMP single-cab AC/DC locomotives are designed for light-axle load operations. The units will be manufactured at GE's plant in Contagem, Brazil, and delivered in 2019.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation's (NCDOT) Rail Division has selected Dewberry to serve as a general rail-planning services consultant. The firm will provide demand modeling, rail function and preliminary design services, as well as studies of the economic and fiscal impact of rail-related activities. Other projects could include negotiation assistance in securing rail lines or corridors, train performance and rail-line capacity analyses and viability analyses, Dewberry officials said in a press release.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will host an infrastructure-focused cybersecurity summit July 31 at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City.

The summit will feature officials from the Department of Defense, National Security Agency, FBI and other federal agencies.

As of mid-June, U.S. Class Is employed 147,282 workers, up 0.19 percent from mid-May, but down 0.9 percent from mid-June 2017, according to Surface Transportation Board (STB) data.

Four of six employment categories reflected increases on a month-over-month basis. Categories that posted increases since mid-May were executives, officials and staff assistants, up 0.35 percent to 8,388 workers; professional and administrative, up 1.35 percent to 11,998; transportation (other than train and engine), up 0.18 percent to 5,594; and transportation (train and engine), up 0.31 percent to 61,787.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and local officials earlier this week unveiled a new rail car that will operate on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) Green Line light-rail route.

Long Ridge Energy Terminal has completed its rail loop construction project in Hannibal, Ohio, which makes the facility the first in the Appalachian Basin to offer unit-train and barge transloading capabilities.

CSX serves the terminal.

Long Ridge Energy Terminal has completed its rail loop construction project in Hannibal, Ohio, which makes the facility the first in the Appalachian Basin to offer unit-train and barge transloading capabilities.

CSX serves the terminal.

The Port of Portland is continuing its Terminal 6 service with BNSF Railway Co. through mid-2019, as part of a larger focus to increase options to shippers at Terminal 6, port officials announced this week.

The intermodal rail service, which began in January, moves containers by rail between Portland and the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. Goods are loaded from rail on or off ocean carriers, with three carriers using the service in Washington, port officials said in a press release.

The Port of Portland is continuing its Terminal 6 service with BNSF Railway Co. through mid-2019, as part of a larger focus to increase options to shippers at Terminal 6, port officials announced this week.

The intermodal rail service, which began in January, moves containers by rail between Portland and the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. Goods are loaded from rail on or off ocean carriers, with three carriers using the service in Washington, port officials said in a press release.

Only 24 percent of MTA New York City Transit's (NYCT) 472 subway stations are accessible to riders with disabilities, according to a recent report by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

That figure is the lowest among U.S. metropolitan rail systems, Stringer's report stated.

Kansas City Southern today reported record second-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit.

KCS posted record revenue of $682 million, up 4 percent, and record operating income of $246 million, up 3 percent, compared with second-quarter 2017.

Kansas City Southern today reported record second-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit.

KCS posted record revenue of $682 million, up 4 percent, and record operating income of $246 million, up 3 percent, compared with second-quarter 2017.

Trinity Metro in Fort Worth, Texas, has hired Mike Stolzman as vice president and chief operating officer of rail.

He has more than 20 years of railroad experience. In 1995, he joined the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Co., which was later purchased by Union Pacific Railroad.

Metra plans to reissue its request for proposals (RFP) for new rail cars and open it up to alternative car designs.

U.S. railroads reported a 5 percent increase in carload and intermodal traffic for the week ending July 14 compared with the same week a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total carloads for the week rose 3.8 percent to 271,207 units, while intermodal volume climbed 6.1 percent to 287,857 containers and trailers compared with the year-ago period, AAR officials said in a press release.