Railroad News

Metra last week issued a request for proposals (RFP) for new or remanufactured locomotives to start replacing its aging fleet.

CSX has completed the first phase of its new operating plan, which has produced performance metrics that show a "remarkable rate of positive change," President and Chief Executive Officer James Foote said in a Jan. 3 letter to the Surface Transportation Board.

The letter was sent to the board in response to its Dec. 14 request for information on the Class I's progress in restructuring its operations by implementing the precision scheduled railroading (PSR) concept. The board asked for an update on the company's progress in five areas: car order fulfillment, local service performance, car trip plan performance, communication with customers and service in the Chicago area.

CSX has completed the first phase of its new operating plan, which has produced performance metrics that show a "remarkable rate of positive change," President and Chief Executive Officer James Foote said in a Jan. 3 letter to the Surface Transportation Board.

The letter was sent to the board in response to its Dec. 14 request for information on the Class I's progress in restructuring its operations by implementing the precision scheduled railroading (PSR) concept. The board asked for an update on the company's progress in five areas: car order fulfillment, local service performance, car trip plan performance, communication with customers and service in the Chicago area.

Progress Rail on Tuesday closed on its acquisition of ECM S.p.A., an international provider of rail signal solutions and technologies. Based in Italy, ECM will join Progress Rail's existing signal division. ECM's investment in research and development in recent years makes it an "attractive complement" to Progress Rail's current signal portfolio, Progress Rail officials said in a press release. ECM's products include power supplies, LED signal lights, axle counters and work site protection. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

IMC Cos. has acquired the drayage and depot operations of H&M Terminal Transport, which now will operate under the name H&M Intermodal Services. The acquired firm operates at six locations and employs 140 drivers. The acquisition is aimed at boosting IMC's presence in the northeastern United States, company officials said in a press release. Financial terms for the acquisition were not disclosed. IMC now claims more than 2,100 U.S. employees.

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) received six pre-proposals from firms willing to build two transload facilities in Treasure Valley and in the mid-Willamette Valley.

The Treasure Valley area project received a single proposal while the mid-Willamette Valley area project received five proposals. ODOT says the transloading sites will improve shipping connections in critical parts of the state.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) to study options that would bring a subway to the Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood.

Gov. Cuomo said Red Hook is full of untapped potential and asked PANYNJ to consider relocating maritime activities that would free up the waterfront for community use. The governor suggested relocating Red Hook Container Terminal activities to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

Metrolinx has chosen five "prequalified operators" for its Regional Express Rail (RER) project, the agency announced late last month.

The selected firms are eligible to participate as operators on applicant teams for the project's upcoming design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) procurement process.

The National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association (NRC) has announced its board election results, adding two new members to the NRC board in 2018.

Amtrak's next series of track renewal projects in New York Penn Station will kick-off Jan. 5, with updated scheduled train operations beginning on Jan. 8.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday called on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to study options for a potential subway extension from lower Manhattan to Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood.

The line would run through an underwater tunnel to a new station in Red Hook, according to a press release issued by Cuomo's office.

Lighthouse Resources Inc. yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against the Washington state government for blocking the mining company from developing a coal export terminal along the Columbia River.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, the lawsuit details the company's allegations that state officials violated the U.S. Constitution and federal law by "unreasonably denying and refusing to process permits to develop a brownfield site on the river where an existing state lease allows coal exports."

Amtrak tomorrow will kick off the next round of track renewal projects at New York Penn Station.

The bulk of the infrastructure renewal work in 2018 will occur on weekends, with the entire project slated to wrap up on May 28, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

U.S. rail traffic for all of 2017 rose 3.4 percent to 27,489,960 carloads and intermodal units compared with traffic in 2016, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Carload traffic for the year climbed 2.9 percent to 13,478,126 units in 2017, while intermodal traffic increased 3.9 percent to 14,011,834 units for the year compared with 2016, according to an AAR press release.

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro) in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 7 will add six train trips along the Red Line to help alleviate crowding on trains.

The agency will add three morning trips and another three in the evening, Cap Metro officials said in a press release. The agency also will adjust the schedules for the five bus routes that serve the Leander and Downtown train stations.

U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Elaine Chao sent a form letter to 47 Class 1, intercity and state and local transit authorities to stress the urgency and importance of implementing positive train control (PTC) by Dec. 31, 2018.

Sec. Chao's letter explained that the coming year is filled with rail safety-oriented initiatives with PTC implementation among the most important. She noted that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) would continue to work with the railroads as the congressionally-mandated deadline approaches.

Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, will not seek re-election in 2018.

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) named Dana Gresham to be his chief of staff Jan. 2.

Gresham, who is originally from Alabama, spent more than seven years with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) as assistant secretary for governmental affairs. Before his time with the USDOT, Gresham served as chief of staff to former Rep. Artur Davis and in various legislative aide roles for elected officials going back to 1994. Gresham holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) in 2017 "nearly completed" mining twin tunnels for the Regional Connector light-rail project, agency officials announced in a blog post.

The tunnels run from the city's Little Tokyo neighborhood to the financial district, according to the post summarizing progress on the project. Each tunnel measures about 5,700 feet in length and is made of 1,140 pre-cast concrete rings.