Railroad News

Former U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioner William Doyle has been appointed executive director of the Port of Baltimore, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday.

As commissioner from 2013 to 2018, Doyle represented the United States in numerous global negotiations and facilitated positive outcomes to disputes between maritime industry and labor groups, according to a press release issued by Hogan's office.

The Societe de transport de Montreal (STM) last week announced it will acquire 95 electrostatic sprayers from Dustbane to increase the efficiency of disinfecting operations across the rail system.

A STM committee — formed when the COVID-19 pandemic began to examine new solutions to improve operations — conducted disinfecting tests with electrostatic sprayers on its trains and at its stations. 

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) hired Tom Lynch as vice president of congressional affairs.

Along with recently hired Mara Stark-Alcala, Lynch will lead ASLRRA’s efforts to pursue legislative support for issues facing short lines including tax policy, infrastructure grant programs and surface transportation policy, ASLRRA officials said in a press release.

The Virginia Railway Express (VRE) last week extended its operations contract with Keolis Rail Services Virginia LLC for five years. 

Under the contract, Keolis will provide locomotive engineers and conductors to operate VRE commuter trains between central and northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The company also will manage VRE's claims and reporting for the Federal Railroad Administration.

OmniTRAX Inc. has hired industry veteran Federico Diaz Page to join the company's industrial development team. 

Diaz Page will focus on working with economic and industrial stakeholders to bring new business to OmniTRAX properties in Texas and Oklahoma. He will report to Ean Johnson, vice president of industrial development.

RR Mergers & Acquisitions announced the sale of OWS Rail Car Inc. and OWSA Rail Car Inc. to Diesel Electric Services, a division of Milman Industries Inc. OWS provides general purpose and high-pressure tank car repairs and qualifications, while OWSA provides mobile rail-car repair services. The acquisition expands Milman's services to U.S. and Canadian railroads, Milman officials said in a press release.

VTG Rail Logistics GmbH has acquired a majority stake in Carbo Rail, a Slovakian railway company. Carbo Rail’s operating licenses, 25 locomotives and 150 employees will be integrated into VTG’s Retrack railway company. Carbo Rail will operate under the name Retrack Slovakia. “Its operating licenses for Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary make Carbo Rail a sensible complement to our Retrack network that sustainably reinforces our presence in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Gunther Ferk, head of VTG Rail Logistics Europe, in a press release.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) board last week approved a sustainability plan to guide the California agency's actions through fiscal-year 2040. 

The plan outlines key performance indicators with short-term and long-term targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, criteria air pollutants, building and fleet energy consumption, water usage and waste diversion.  

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on major U.S. retail container ports appears to be easing slightly, with projected imports remaining below last year's levels but not as much as previously forecast, the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates announced yesterday.

"The numbers we're seeing are still below last year, but are better than we expected a month ago," said NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold in a press release. "It may be too soon to say, but we'll take that as a sign that the situation could be slowly starting to improve. Consumers want to get back to shopping, and as more people get back to work, retailers want to be sure their shelves are stocked."

New Jersey Transit yesterday unveiled a strategic plan to guide the agency's decisions over the next 10 years.

Dubbed NJT2030, the plan outlines more than 100 initiatives for the agency to achieve and implement by 2030. 

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) yesterday began implementing its 13-point action plan to ensure the safe return of riders as New York City’s business and industries reopened.

The action plan includes:

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) last week began a two-week demolition of the Lechmere Viaduct between the Gilmore Bridge and existing Lechmere Station in East Cambridge. 

The work will further advance the relocation and reconstruction of Lechmere Station now underway as part of the MBTA’s Green Line Extension project. 

American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Chair Nuria Fernandez and President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Skoutelas late last week issued a statement that pledges a commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity in the nation's public transportation industry.

The statement was issued after two "painful weeks" of protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and after 12 weeks of the industry coping with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Skoutelas explained in a letter to APTA members.

The Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. (PATH) last week reopened the World Trade Center (WTC) Station for weekend service in New York City.

The WTC Station has been closed on weekends since January 2019 to facilitate work on the tunnels below the Hudson River connecting the WTC and Exchange Place stations. The tunnels were damaged by saltwater flooding during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in San Francisco and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) in Houston, Texas, today added rail service as ridership begins to tick up as stay-at-home restrictions are lifted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BART has added three trains to the morning and afternoon commute on the Yellow Line between Pleasant Hill to Daly City.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) identified a number of factors that led to a broken rail and derailment of a CN train in Saskatchewan in January 2019, the agency announced last week.

On Jan. 22, 2019, a CN freight train traveling south on the Warman subdivision experienced a rough ride as it crossed over the median between divided Highway 11. A minute later, a train-initiated emergency brake application occurred as 29 loaded grain cars and a mid-train locomotive derailed. Some of the grain cars released their loads, and the locomotive caught fire but was quickly extinguished.

Caltrain’s board last week approved a nearly $43 million interim operating budget and a $19.1 million interim capital budget for the first quarter fiscal-year 2021. 

The $42.9 million interim operating budget includes a projected $8 million in farebox revenue, representing an $18.5 million decrease over Q1 farebox revenue in FY2020. This comes as the California agency grapples with a decline in ridership from 65,000 passengers per day to just 1,300 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, agency officials said in a press release.