Railroad News

The League of Railway Women (LRW) yesterday announced Pam Arpin, assistant vice president of customer and corporate services at Canadian Pacific, has been chosen the Railway Woman of the Year.

LRW President Tanis Peterson and Progressive Railroading Publisher Kirk Bastyr presented the award to Arpin at Railway Interchange in Minneapolis.

Schneider announced last week it has added rail dray service to its lineup of intermodal solutions.

The trucking, intermodal and logistics company's new service will focus on the initial and end moves of intermodal transportation, getting freight from shipper to ramp and ramp to receiver "safely and seamlessly," Schneider officials said in a press release.

The Societe de transport de Montreal (STM) logged a significant reduction in rider-caused service disruptions in 2019's first half.

Service disruptions of five or more minutes caused by riders trespassing on tracks declined 45 percent. Thirty-six percent fewer disruptions were caused by passengers holding open doors; 17 percent fewer from items dropped on the tracks; and 7 percent fewer disruptions resulted from an injured or sick passenger, STM officials said in a press release.

Metra has joined the national effort to raise public awareness of safe behavior near railroad tracks, as the United States and Canada observe Rail Safety Week in North America, Sept. 22-28.

Throughout the week, Metra and its rail and law enforcement partners will distribute rail safety information and conduct rail crossing enforcements at stations throughout the Chicago region.

The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) earlier this month awarded a three-year transit service operation and fleet maintenance contract to Transdev Services Inc.

Transdev was selected to operate and maintain transit service for RTA’s streetcar, bus, ferry and paratransit services for about $79 million annually.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) will establish a short-line department at the national division level, union officials announced last week.

The new department will expand the union's ability to organize new members in the United States. The department also will better serve current members from "very small divisions" that work for short lines by providing assistance from the national division during contract negotiations and with other matters.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last week announced that seven MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) stations and four MTA Metro-North Railroad stations will be made accessible under the American with Disabilities (ADA) Act following approval of the New York agency's 2020-2024 capital plan in October.

Currently, 105 of LIRR’s 124 stations are ADA-accessible, with an additional three stations — Nostrand Avenue, Murray Hill and Floral Park — undergoing construction to make them accessible.  

The California Debt Limit Allocation Committee's board last week approved the issuance of $300 million in tax-exempt, private equity bonds as part of Virgin Trains USA's proposal to build a high-speed passenger-rail line from Las Vegas to Southern California.

The board's vote followed a committee staff recommendation that the company, which is backed by Fortress Investment Group's private equity funds, receive half of its bond request now, contingent on it submitting an economic development plan, Bloomberg reported last week.

U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) this week visited Ashland Railway’s Mid-Ohio Rail Terminal transloading facility and Mansfield Railport warehouse in northcentral Ohio.

Balderson joined other local officials to learn more about the short line’s operations and impact on the region, Ashland officials said in a press release.

The city of New Westminster, British Columbia, earlier this week joined Operation Lifesaver Canada (OL) and HUB Surface Systems to launch a program with the goal to reduce facilities and injuries at grade crossings.

OL will identify locations where rail safety decals can be installed to raise public awareness about the need to exercise caution around grade crossings.

Caltrain earlier this week announced it has installed a rail bridge at 28th Avenue in San Mateo, California, marking the second rail bridge to be constructed this summer as part of the $180 million 25th Avenue grade separation project.

In July, Caltrain installed a rail bridge over 25th Avenue, and is now preparing for its third and final rail bridge across 31st Avenue in the coming weeks. Crews also will continue work on the mechanically stabilized earth walls that will hold up the track between bridges.

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has awarded the Jacksonville Port Authority (Jaxport) an additional $35.3 million in funding for the Jacksonville Harbor deepening project.

The funding will be used toward the second phase of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract B, which will deepen the project's next 2.5 miles, port officials said this week in a press release.

Canadian Pacific on Sept. 18 presented G3 Pasqua with the Class I's 2018-19 crop-year Elevator of the Year Award.

CP presents the award annually to the grain elevator that achieves high volumes from a single loading point while consistently demonstrating efficient rail-car loading and a strong commitment to safety, CP officials said in a press release.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday issued safety recommendations to Class Is and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) as a result of the agency's ongoing investigation into a fatal accident involving two Union Pacific Railroad trains in Wyoming last year.

The Oct. 4, 2018, accident occurred when a UP train collided with the rear of a stationary UP train in Granite Canyon, Wyoming. The engineer and conductor of the striking train were killed; three locomotives and 57 rail cars of the striking train and nine rail cars of the stationary train derailed, according to an NTSB report.

Power surges most often occur in the form of direct lightning strikes or when overhead high-voltage transmission lines are hit by lightning. Surges can cause considerable damage to rail infrastructure and equipment, as well as wreak havoc on rail networks.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) earlier this week announced it has extended the completion date for the Central Subway project to summer 2021. 

The project, which would extend the Municipal Railway mostly underground from South of Market to Chinatown in San Francisco, was originally scheduled to enter revenue service this year. 

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) earlier this month announced winners of its President's Awards for outstanding safety performance in the association's Central and Pacific regions.

"The recipients of our President’s Award lead our industry in safety, striving each and every day to value safety above all competing priorities,” said ASLRRA President Chuck Baker in an ASLRRA newsletter. "Their impressive performance, with either zero reportable accidents, or the best safety rate below the industry average per man-hour of operations, has led the way to record levels of safety performance for the short line industry.”

The Alaska Railroad Corp. (ARRC) has issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) from entities interested in pursuing a public-private partnership to replace the aging passenger dock and cruise terminal in Seward, Alaska.

The RFQ, which asks interested parties to describe their capabilities and concepts, stems from an extensive Seward Marine Terminal expansion planning project in 2016-17. The effort resulted in a master plan for developing the railroad's Seward Reserve, including docks, terminal facilities and uplands, ARRC officials said in a press release.