Railroad News

Amtrak will consider suspending service on tracks that don't have positive train control (PTC) in place by the Dec. 31 deadline, the railroad's president told a House subcommittee yesterday.

President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson told the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials that there will be carriers over which Amtrak operates that are unlikely to have made "sufficient progress" by year's end to qualify for a two-year extension of the 2018 deadline.

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The Rail Passengers Association (RPA) on Monday decried President Trump's fiscal-year 2019 budget proposal to halve federal funding for Amtrak.

The proposal would cut the national passenger railroad's budget from $1.4 billion to $738 million, which would lead to the "virtual elimination of Amtrak's national network," RPA officials said in a press release.

Ontario is partnering with Toronto Hydro to build an energy storage system to provide back-up power to the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit (LRT) line.

Ontario is partnering with Toronto Hydro to build an energy storage system to provide back-up power to the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit (LRT) line.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) earlier this week announced four capital improvement projects on its rail system.

To minimize service disruption, the work has been scheduled during the second half of the year when ridership is lighter, WMATA officials said in a press release. One project will address the Metrorail system's tightest curve between McPherson Square and Smithsonian stations.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued three urgent safety recommendations, two to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and one to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) based on the agency's findings in two ongoing railroad accident investigations.

NTSB recommends that FRA "Issue an Emergency Order directing railroads to require that when signal suspensions are in effect and a switch has been reported relined for a main track, the next train or locomotive to pass the location must approach the switch location at restricted speed. After the switch position is verified, the train crew must report to the dispatcher that the switch is correctly lined for the main track before trains are permitted to operate at maximum-authorized speed."

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued three urgent safety recommendations, two to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and one to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) based on the agency's findings in two ongoing railroad accident investigations.

NTSB recommends that FRA "Issue an Emergency Order directing railroads to require that when signal suspensions are in effect and a switch has been reported relined for a main track, the next train or locomotive to pass the location must approach the switch location at restricted speed. After the switch position is verified, the train crew must report to the dispatcher that the switch is correctly lined for the main track before trains are permitted to operate at maximum-authorized speed."

The New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) Board of Directors has voted unanimously to approve a proposed alignment of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail's (HBLR) upcoming expansion into Bergen County as outlined in its Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement from March 2017.

The New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) Board of Directors has voted unanimously to approve a proposed alignment of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail's (HBLR) upcoming expansion into Bergen County as outlined in its Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement from March 2017.

BNSF plans to spend more than 11 percent of its total capital program in Texas this year, with nearly half of the $375 million state plan going toward maintenance projects.

BNSF plans to spend more than 11 percent of its total capital program in Texas this year, with nearly half of the $375 million state plan going toward maintenance projects.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is accepting grant applications for projects that will strengthen rail safety efforts through the implementation of positive train control (PTC), crossing improvements and congestion mitigation.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is accepting grant applications for projects that will strengthen rail safety efforts through the implementation of positive train control (PTC), crossing improvements and congestion mitigation.

Siemens has formed a long-term technical and digital service partnership with the Atlanta Streetcar.

Under the agreement, Siemens will provide technical support and materials for preventive and corrective maintenance on streetcars. The company also will use its Railigent™ digital rail services platform to analyze data to help improve streetcar operations, Siemens officials said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) downgrading this week of two critical "Gateway" projects in the Northeast Corridor will further jeopardize the projects from receiving federal funding, supporters of the passenger-rail corridor said yesterday.

In its annual funding recommendations report to Congress on the Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program, the FTA this week rated both the Hudson Tunnel and the Portal North Bridge replacement projects as "medium-low" in priority for federal grants. Medium-low is second-lowest rating on a five-point scale that helps determine whether federal funding is warranted.

The White House announced late on Feb. 13 that President Donald Trump intends to nominate former Virginia Republican Congresswoman Thelma Drake to be Federal Transit Administrator.

The White House announced late on Feb. 13 that President Donald Trump intends to nominate former Virginia Republican Congresswoman Thelma Drake to be Federal Transit Administrator.

Intermodal volumes continued their upward trend for U.S. railroads, which posted a 3.7 percent increase in containers and trailers for the week ending Feb. 10 compared with the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

U.S. railroads' total traffic volume for the week rose 1.6 percent to 519,545 carloads and intermodal units compared with the same week in 2017. However, carload traffic slipped 0.5 percent to 251,058 units compared with a year ago.