Railroad News

The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) announced that Ron Trees has been named to the authority's board.

Trees will represent the town of Little Elm, Texas, on the board. He is a semi-retired military operations research analyst who is on the adjunct staff for the Rand Corp., according to a DCTA press release.

The Chicago-area Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) has appointed Brian Sager to its board to represent McHenry County, Illinois.

Since 2005, Sager has served as mayor of Woodstock, Illinois. He has been on the Woodstock City Council since 1989.

The Center for LNG has become the newest sponsor of TRANSCAER®, which provides hazardous materials education and training to first responders.

The center represents the full liquefied natural gas (LNG) value chain, including producers, shippers, terminal operators and developers.

Operations will cease by the end of 2018 along the Huron Central Railway (HCRY), a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc., which cites a lack of provincial funding needed to maintain service.

HCRY operates a 175.8-mile Northern Ontario route between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury. The shortline was established under a 1997 lease agreement with Canadian Pacific. Genesee & Wyoming Canada notes that the railway serves major employers in the region, including Domtar, Algoma Steel and Eacom, which together ship approximately 13,000 annual carloads of freight.

A consortium that expressed interest in purchasing the flood-damaged Hudson Bay Railway (HBR), the Port of Churchill and associated assets, has halted negotiations and cites the government of Canada's "unwillingness to engage in meaningful dialogue."

"We are disappointed to have put so much time, effort and money into what would have been a timely solution for the people of Churchill and the economy of western Canada, but we have apparently run up against politics," said iChurchill CEO Louis Dufresne. "We finally met last week with the government of Canada's negotiator on the file, Wayne Wouters, and he made it clear that the government is willing to deal only with one specific company, a Toronto-based financial firm. We can't understand why this is, given that our partnership meets all of the government's stated criteria to support the restoration of rail service to Churchill."

Amtrak last week announced a $4 million plan to update the interiors of the entire Acela Express fleet operating on the Northeast Corridor (NEC).

The 14-month program will rehab the interiors of 20 trainsets, which include 100 Amtrak cars.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has announced that the agency will add more than 600 new high-definition (HD) security cameras to its rail system as part of its Safe and Secure program.

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) President Phil Eng yesterday announced plans to repair faulty infrastructure and boost operating efficiency following a year of poor on-time performance.

In 2017, the railroad logged its worst on-time performance history in nearly two decades, Newsday reported last month.

Kansas City Southern yesterday announced the appointments of Michael Walczak to vice president mechanical, Maquiling Parkerson to vice president labor relations and Adam Godderz to associate general counsel and corporate secretary.

Effective immediately, the appointments were made for professional advancement and organizational development, KCS officials said in a press release.

Kansas City Southern yesterday announced the appointments of Michael Walczak to vice president mechanical, Maquiling Parkerson to vice president labor relations and Adam Godderz to associate general counsel and corporate secretary.

Effective immediately, the appointments were made for professional advancement and organizational development, KCS officials said in a press release.

CSX Corp. will put more resources into safety, company executives said at the annual shareholders meeting held late last week in Jacksonville, Florida.

President and Chief Executive Officer James Foote told shareholders that CSX soon will announce a new chief safety officer and is bringing in an outside consulting firm to help with safety issues, according to a report by WJCT News.

CSX Corp. will put more resources into safety, company executives said at the annual shareholders meeting held late last week in Jacksonville, Florida.

President and Chief Executive Officer James Foote told shareholders that CSX soon will announce a new chief safety officer and is bringing in an outside consulting firm to help with safety issues, according to a report by WJCT News.

Kansas City Southern (KCS) has announced organizational changes with three new appointments, all of which are effective immediately.

TEXRail trains got a new home the morning of May 22 with the celebratory opening of a new Equipment Maintenance Facility (EMF).

Metra's board earlier this month approved a series of new fare pilot programs, including a day pass.

The Chicago commuter railroad also will test a plan to consolidate its outer zones and reassign certain stations to closer zones. The new fare programs are aimed at attracting riders and simplifying fare structure, Metra officials said in a press release.

The Portland Streetcar last month averaged 16,650 weekday riders, marking a new record.

The streetcar system also reported an 84 percent on-time performance rating for April, according to a Portland Streetcar press release.

A recent survey by the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) found members identified a need in excess of $20 billion during the next decade for multimodal port and rail access, but cited "funding/financing options" as the biggest hurdle.

AAPA says its State of Freight III – Rail Access and Port Multimodal Funding Needs Report (SOF III) delves "into the issue of freight movement and port multimodal needs with an emphasis on rail access which requires greater focus."

The Gateway Program Development Corporation (GDC) is lauding a financial agreement that will allow for utilities to be relocated from the path of Section 3 of the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing project.

The utility relocation is a small step in the progress of the Gateway Program.

The Virginia International Gateway (VIG) in Portsmouth last week completed the changeover of its terminal operating system to the Navis N4.

The switch began May 11 and was completed May 14, Virginia Port Authority officials said in a press release.

As of mid-April, U.S. Class Is employed 145,959 workers, up 0.59 percent since mid-March, but down 2.11 percent compared with April 2017, according to Surface Transportation Board data.

All but one employment category — professional and administrative — reflected slight increases in the workforce on a month-over month basis. Categories that logged increases since mid-March were executives, officials and staff assistants, up 0.07 percent to 8,298 workers; maintenance of way and structures, up 0.65 percent to 32,644; maintenance of equipment and stores up 0.22 percent to 26,647; transportation (other than train and engine), up 0.18 percent to 5,566; and transportation (train and engine), up 0.99 percent to 60,891.