Railroad News

The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) last week launched a redesigned trip-planning mobile application for Tri-Rail commuter-rail riders.

The app’s functions allow riders to customize their trip plans and save multiple recurring trips made on Tri-Rail trains to revisit in the future, SFRTA officials said in a press release. 

The Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) intends to explore other autonomous shuttle services following last week’s conclusion of a six-month autonomous shuttle pilot program. 

In an effort to test the viability of using autonomous vehicles as a first- and last-mile connection, RTD’s four-stop shuttle service transported commuter-rail riders between the 61st and Pena Station, two businesses and a park-and-ride lot in Denver, RTD officials said in a press release.

The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) last week partnered with the city of Valparaiso, Indiana, to operate a weekday shuttle service providing first- and last-mile transportation options for South Shore Line riders. 

The shuttle will operate on a 30-minute route between a ChicaGo Dash parking lot and the South Shore’s Dune Park Station. ChicaGo Dash is an express bus service which runs between Chicago and Valparaiso, NICTD officials said in a press release.

Virgin Trains USA, which has proposed building a high-speed passenger-rail line from Las Vegas to Southern California, is seeking financing for the project by selling tax-exempt bonds in Nevada and activity bonds in California, according to Las Vegas news media reports.

Formerly known as Brightline, Virgin Trains has applied to the Nevada Department of Business and Industry for the right to sell $200 million worth of private activity bonds, the Las Vegas Sun reported. The cost of building the rail line from Las Vegas to Victorville, California, is estimated to cost more than $4 billion.

TransLink last week received the first of its 12-train order scheduled to enter service early next year on the SkyTrain Canada Line in Vancouver, British Columbia. 

The remaining two-car trains will be shipped by Hyundai Rotem in South Korea and arrive throughout the year and into early 2020, TransLink officials said in a press release. 

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) last week introduced legislation to address safety concerns regarding crude-by-rail transportation.

The Crude Oil Advanced Tracking Act would require railroads to share crude-by-rail information with state emergency responders so they know what risks they might face when trains carry crude oil travel through their communities.

Amtrak, commuter and freight railroads continue to make progress on positive train control (PTC) implementation, but significant work remains to achieve interoperability among the railroads' individual PTC systems, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.

As of March 31, 2019, 11 of the 31 host railroads that must have interoperable PTC systems reported that they had achieved interoperability with at least one of their tenant railroads. Collectively, 38 of the 227 unique host-tenant relationships that require interoperability have been completed (17 percent), according to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the report stated.

Dustin Hall, 32
Security consultant
Security Through Safe Design Inc.

Nominator's quote: "Mr. Hall is a security project lead for a multi-billion-dollar rail project. His rapid advancement has been due to his admirable work ethic. He has proven to be a resourceful, creative, courteous, supportive team member who thrives on challenge and continues to want to learn to optimize and share his knowledge." — William VanRyswyk, Security Through Safe Design Inc.

Two U.S. congressmen this week spent part of their August congressional recess touring rail supply businesses in their districts.

U.S. Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) joined the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA) for a tour of member company Contech Engineered Solutions' manufacturing plant in Winchester, Kentucky.

Alstom will supply 13 trains to the Hello Paris consortium in charge of operating the CDG Express in France. The trains will be built based on the Coradia Polyvalent range, but will be unique to the CDG Express line in terms of interior fitting and on-board information, Alstom officials said in a press release.

NARSTCO has named Bruce Jones its general manager. He has 30 years of manufacturing operations experience across North America, NARSTCO officials said in a press release. Prior to joining NARSTCO, he served as managing director and vice president of operations at Weir Group PLC, as well as VP of operations at Dover Corp.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR), on behalf of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) partners, has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a vendor to develop and support a new CREATE website.

The vendor also would be required to provide technical and content support. In addition to the CREATE website redesign, the partners are seeking recommendations for a communications strategy and social media management support, AAR officials said in a press release.

The Our Transportation Future (OTF) coalition earlier this week sent a letter expressing support for 12 East Coast governors and the mayor of Washington, D.C., who are marking an effort to reduce transportation emissions. 

OTF is a coalition committed to modernizing transportation across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region and is an advocate for improving intercity rail.

Valley Metro yesterday announced it hired a team of "customer experience coordinators," a group of staff members stationed at busy rail platforms to support security and assist riders served by its light-rail in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona.

The team's creation is part of Valley Metro’s Respect the Ride (RTR) program, which increased security staff, developed paid fare zones, established a code of conduct and introduced a safety and security app as part of a strategy to make the 28-mile light-rail system safer, Valley Metro officials said in a press release.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) earlier this week approved construction authorization from the Ohio Rail Development Commission that directs six railroads to install and upgrade 12 rail crossings in the state by next year.

Norfolk Southern Railway will install lights and gates at the Township Road 212 grade crossing in Arcadia by July 30, 2020. CSX will install lights and gates, as well as remove spur track, at the Main Street crossing in the New Bloomington by April 30, 2020, PUCO officials said in a press release.

Canadian Pacific announced yesterday it moved 26.8 million metric tonnes (MMT) of Canadian grain and grain products during the 2018-2019 crop year, a 2.8 percent increase over the previous year and an all-time record for the Class I.

The amount of grain and grain products shipped during the year, which ran Aug. 1 through July 31, was 3.9 percent more than the railroad's three-year average. Over the past five years, CP has consistently shipped more grain each year, CP officials said in a press release.

Second-quarter 2019 intermodal volumes fell 3.8 percent to 4,559,065 units compared with the same quarter last year, the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) reported yesterday.

Year over year, international intermodal volume (2,381,916 containers) showed no change during the quarter, while domestic containers (1,875,011 units) and trailers (302,138 units) dropped 6.3 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively, according to IANA's Market Trends & Statistics report.

Crystal Gitchell, 32
Director of regulatory affairs
American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA)

Nominator’s quote: “Crystal has played an integral role in the association’s handling of issues related to competition by the trucking industry, namely opposing increases in truck size and weight limits. She also has used her knowledge of the supply chain economy and relationships across multiple transportation modes to benefit our short-line members.” — Jo Strang, ASLRRA

Metra this week began construction of abutments for a new railroad bridge over Foster Avenue along its Union Pacific North Line in Chicago. 

The work is part of $17.2 million project to replace 11 century-old rail bridges from Grace Street to Balmoral Avenue, Metra officials said in a press release.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) earlier this week announced it will rebuild and expand its Potrero Yard streetcar and trolley bus maintenance facility. 

The Potrero Yard is the first site scheduled for improvement under SFMTA’s Building Progress Program, which calls for upgrading all of the agency’s aging facilities, SFMTA officials said in a press release.