Railroad News

Siemens will provide the power infrastructure for the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) light-rail system's latest expansion, officials announced.

BNSF Railway Co. will spend $110 million this year on network maintenance projects in Oklahoma.

The Class I's Oklahoma capital expenditures program in 2018 will primarily focus on replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast, according to a BNSF press release.

BNSF Railway Co. will spend $110 million this year on network maintenance projects in Oklahoma.

The Class I's Oklahoma capital expenditures program in 2018 will primarily focus on replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast, according to a BNSF press release.

As with is previously announced plans for Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Montana and Washington state, the focus of the state programs will be on maintenance.

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The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending February 17, 2018.

As of mid-January, Class Is in the United States employed 144,329 workers, down 0.75 percent since mid-December's employment figure and down 2.76 percent compared with mid-January 2017's level, according to the Surface Transportation Board.

Five of six employment categories reflected workforce decreases in mid-January compared with mid-December. Those categories were executives, officials and staff assistants, down 3.62 percent to 7,830 employees; transportation (train and engine) down 1.29 percent to 59,684; maintenance of way and structures, down 0.99 percent to 32,132; transportation (other than train and engine) down 0.78 percent to 5,581; and maintenance of equipment and stores, down 0.12 percent to 26,564.

Sound Transit has chosen Siemens to supply 13 traction power substations and two medium-voltage substations for the Northgate and East Link light-rail extensions.

The company also will provide a cross-passage tunnel tie station on the extensions and upgrade an existing substation it supplied in 2008.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has certified an emissions-reduction system for one of the North Carolina Department of Transportation's (NCDOT) passenger locomotives.

Known as a blended after-treatment system (BATS), the technology uses catalytic reduction to chemically remove diesel engine emission pollutants from the locomotive's exhaust before it's released into the air.

In 2017, 1,090 railway accidents were reported to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), a 21 percent increase over 2016 but close to the five-year average of 1,028, the board reported yesterday.

There were 77 rail-related fatalities in 2017 — 11 more than the previous year and two more than the five-year average, according to the TSB's preliminary statistics report on transportation occurrences.

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The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its preliminary transportation occurrence statistics for 2017. Total railway incidents were up, but still in line with five-year averages.

TSB says it, along with Transport Canada, the transportation industry, as well as many other organizations and researchers, use these statistics on reportable occurrences in the air, marine, railway and pipeline modes of transportation for the identification and analysis of trends.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) late last week marked its 25th anniversary.

Board members, elected officials and community stakeholders joined Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for a Feb. 15 ceremony to mark the occasion. The event took place at Los Angeles Union Station.

A project to develop a railroad transshipment center at the regional industrial park in Saint-Tite, Quebec has been awarded funds from the Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED).

The CA$847,378 (US$671,382) in support of the center comes from CED's Quebec Economic Development Program. CED says the funding will allow the regional county municipality of Mékinac (MRC) to carry out various aspects of construction work, including moving and extending the railway, site development, paving and the installation of infrastructure for site security (fences, access barriers, streetlights).

North Florida Warehouse FTZ, a division of JZ Expedited Cos., last week marked the opening of Freight Trade Zone No. 64's first outdoor storage facility near the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT).

Located minutes from JAXPORT's North Jacksonville terminals, the 3.7-acre facility provides flexible short- and long-term outdoor storage options for vehicles, high and heavy, tracked units, project and over-dimensional cargo, containers, breakbulk and other cargo varieties, company officials said in a press release.

HNTB has named Joseph Pizzurro, PE, as its new transit and rail practice leader.