Railroad News

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has appointed Matt Campbell, Georgia legislative director for SMART Transportation Division, to serve on the state's Commission for Service and Volunteerism.

Part of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the commission promotes service and volunteerism in the state through AmeriCorps national service grants, community volunteer recognition and support of local volunteer organizations and efforts. The agency also serves as a pass-through for funds from the federal Corporation for National and Community Service in Washington, D.C.

Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) crews on March 8 will begin a $133.5 million track renovation project as part of the agency’s state-of-good-repair work. 

Over a nine-day period, crews will renovate track on the Blue and Green lines, MARTA officials said in a press release.

On Wednesday, 450 railroad industry employees visited 330 House and Senate offices as part of the industry's Railroad Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

The annual gathering calls together professionals from all sides of the freight-rail table — Class Is, short lines, labor unions, shippers and manufacturers — to support the rail industry.

Norfolk Southern Railway yesterday announced it achieved a "breakthrough" in track inspection technology designed to enhance railroad safety and operating efficiencies.

NS officials say the Class I is the first North American freight railroad to develop and deploy an autonomous track geometry measurement system that is mounted on a locomotive.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) earlier this week published an environmental assessment of Amtrak’s proposal to replace the Sawtooth Bridges in New Jersey as part of a broader plan to increase rail capacity and achieve a state of good repair.

The FRA is soliciting comments on the environmental assessment this month. 

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) earlier this week published an environmental assessment of Amtrak’s proposal to replace the Sawtooth Bridges in New Jersey as part of a broader plan to increase rail capacity and achieve a state of good repair.

The FRA is soliciting comments on the environmental assessment this month. 

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Managing Editor

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is seeking additional public opinion on accessibility at of the Tamien intermodal station in San Jose, California. 

The VTA gathered feedback on the station’s accessibility during community meetings in 2019. However, this week’s comment period seeks to identify preferred recommendations to improve station connections through bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, parking and signage. 

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) earlier this week completed reconstruction of the Exton Station on the Paoli/Thorndale regional rail line in Exton, Pennsylvania. 

The station is now fully accessible according to Americans with Disabilities Act standards, SEPTA officials said in a press release.

VIA Rail Canada will restore most of its trains to normal schedules by March 7, following protest blockades that prompted system-wide service cancellations for several weeks.

Between Feb. 13 and March 4, 1,071 VIA Rail trains were canceled due to blockades on CN’s lines, VIA Rail officials said in a press release.

A two-year "reverse-commute" pilot project between Metra and a group of suburban Chicago businesses and governments has exceeded its ridership goal for its first year, Metra officials announced yesterday.

In fourth-quarter 2019, the MetraMore reverse-commute service between Chicago and Lake County, Illinois, logged an average increase of 550 trips per day, Metra officials said in a press release.

New Jersey Transit has launched a task force to coordinate its response to the outbreak of COVID-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus.

NJ Transit’s internal task force will closely monitor news of the disease and coordinate efforts with the state’s coronavirus task force, which was created by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this week, agency officials said in a press release.

Norfolk Southern Corp. yesterday announced promotions of three leaders to vice president and the appointment of a chief sustainability officer.

NS appointed Greg Comstock, former general manager of the railroad’s network operations center and general manager of the southern region, to VP of network operations; Lorri Kleine, former senior general counsel of workforce, properties and insurance risk management, to VP of law; and Patrick Whitehead, former assistant VP of mechanical and general manager of the northern region, to VP of transportation.

Despite uncertainty over the potential economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, the impact on rail traffic so far has been limited, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) announced yesterday.

Last month's 8.1 percent decline in U.S. freight rail traffic compared with February 2019 levels was primarily due to a reduction in coal carloads, said AAR Senior Vice President John Gray in a press release.

AECOM named Tom Prendergast head of transit within the firm’s design and consulting business in the Americas. Previously, Prendergast served as chairman and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. AECOM also announced it has named Denise Berger to serve as chief operating officer of the Northeast region. Berger spent 32 years with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, most recently serving as chief of operations for authority’s engineering department, AECOM officials said in a press release.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) operations and maintenance department deployed a data analytics and decision support platform developed by RailcarRx to help improve asset lifecycle management processes. MBTA officials told RailCarRX that the platform has reduced the processing time for critical data and helped their decision-making on locomotive component lifecycles, RailcarRX officials said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) yesterday issued a notice of funding opportunity to solicit proposals for $8.5 million in grant funding for transit projects aimed at helping lift communities out of poverty and support recovery from substance abuse.

Titled "Helping Obtain Prosperity for Everyone" (HOPE), the grant program supports planning, engineering and technical studies or financial planning to improve transit service in areas experiencing long-term economic distress, FTA officials said in a press release.

Seattle's future National Hockey League (NHL) team will offer free transit passes to fans traveling by light rail or bus to the team's venue starting in 2021.

NHL Seattle — the team doesn't yet have a name — will be the third sports franchise in the United States to offer free public transit to fans traveling to games, as a way to ease traffic congestion in the city, Fast Company reported last week.

The Sonoma-Marin Rail Transit District (SMART) in California recorded ridership growth in the first two months of 2020 compared with the same period last year.

SMART logged 71,974 riders in January, a 26 percent increase from January 2019's ridership, and 71,676 riders in February, up 40 percent, according to ridership data SMART released yesterday.