Railroad News

Amtrak yesterday issued a request for information (RFI) for coach cars, trainsets and self-propelled units that could replace its current Amfleet I equipment.

The equipment includes single-level passenger cars used primarily on routes east of the Mississippi River, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

Getzner USA Inc. has opened its first North American production facility in Decatur, Illinois. The plant manufactures rail and construction products, including elastic bearings for rail traffic. The facility is expected to lead to new opportunities for the company in the rail industry, said Getzner USA President Andreas Denk in a press release. Austria-based Getzner Werkstoffe, the firm's parent company, has been active in North America for more than two decades, and established headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2013.

TRC has acquired Vali Cooper & Associates Inc., a California-based infrastructure firm that manages transportation, water, wastewater, utility and facilities projects. Vali Cooper's clients include the California Department of Transportation, Bay Area Rapid Transit and municipalities, private entities and utilities across California. With the acquisition, TRC now has almost 600 employees in California, company officials said in a press release. Terms of the transaction were undisclosed.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy announced $1 million in state grants to fund projects that will return blighted areas to productive use.

The funds are being awarded by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development through the recently launched Brownfield Area-Wide Revitalization Grant program. This is the second round of grants being awarded under the program.

The $320 million Virginia International Gateway (VIG) expansion project recently passed the halfway mark, the Port of Virginia announced last week.

To mark the occasion, Gov. Ralph Northam joined state and port officials for an up-close look at the project, which is expected to wrap up in late spring 2019, port officials said in a press release.

This fall, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter-rail riders will be able to pay fares onboard with a credit or debit card.

A new mobile point-of-sale system has been tested and refined. It will be expanded to include all conductors over the next two months, according to a press release issued by Keolis Commuter Services, the MBTA's commuter-rail operator.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and San Francisco police departments are partnering  to boost safety and public health at the Civic Center Station.

Under the plan, the San Francisco Police Department will provide an extra 290 officer-hours each week to patrol the station area — a more than fourfold increase from existing levels, BART officials said in a press release.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would increase security at the nation's transportation facilities.

The Securing Public Areas of Transportation Facilities Act of 2018 would give the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the "critical tools it needs in order to develop public-private partnerships that strengthen protections of soft targets, such as public areas of airports and rail terminals," said U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.), the bill's sponsor, in a press release.

Canadian Pacific has awarded a contract to rebuild 30 EMD locomotives to Progress Rail, which will remanufacture the units at plants in Indiana and Kentucky.

Once fully remanufactured, the freight locomotives will primarily serve in heavy haul applications. The upgraded EMD SD70ACU locomotives are known as modernized versions of SD90MAC models, Progress Rail officials said in a press release.

VIA Rail Canada Inc. late last week announced that it has modified its Canadian line schedules to address "significant and recurring delays in recent months."

The updated schedule is aimed at giving riders a more predictable departure and arrival times, VIA Rail officials said in a press release.

Sound Transit and developer Gerding Edlen last week broke ground on a transit-oriented development (TOD) project near the Capitol Hill light-rail station in Seattle

The four-building development will include 428 apartments, 178 of which will be affordable housing units, agency officials said in a press release. The project also will feature 210 underground parking spaces, about 30,000 square feet of ground floor retail and a centerpiece public plaza to serve as a venue for community events.

Shale Support, a Houston-based provider of frac sand and logistical solutions to the oil and gas proppant market, has purchased two sand mines in Kinder and central Louisiana.

The acquisition will add 2 million tons of nameplate capacity to Shale Support, increasing the company's total capacity to 5 million tons annually, company officials said in a press release.

The Milwaukee Department of Public Works (DPW) has completed construction of the initial route of the city's new streetcar system.

The project remains on time and on budget, DPW officials said in a press release.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday signed legislation that advances a proposal to build an AirTrain connection to LaGuardia Airport.

The new law will allow multiple potential alignments to be considered during an upcoming environmental review of the proposed AirTrain-to-LaGuardia project, planned between the airport, an MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) station and MTA New York City Transit's 7 subway train at Mets-Willets Point in Flushing, Queens.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has named Vanessa Allen Sutherland vice president law.

Prior to joining NS, Sutherland served as chief executive officer and chairperson of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao yesterday announced $225 million in federal funds for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) Green Line light-rail extension.

The grant marks the second installment of federal funding as part of a $996 million full funding grant agreement signed in 2015. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) released the first $100 million installment in late 2017.

The Societe de transport de Montreal (STM) last week marked the final day of service for its original MR-63 train.

The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) has named Jennifer Bergener chief operating officer.

She'll be responsible for all of the agency's transit operations, including rail and future streetcar operations. Bergener also will oversee the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency (LOSSAN), as well as microtransit and contracted services.

CN officials announced last week the railroad will spend CA$40 million this year on infrastructure in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

In New Brunswick, the Class I will spend CA$30 million to install 20 miles of rail and more than 50,000 ties, as well as rebuild road crossing surfaces and perform maintenance on bridges, culverts, signal systems and other track infrastructure.