Railroad News

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to add more railroad bridge safety inspectors.

The senator's demand comes weeks after a portion of a rail bridge collapsed on a street in downtown Syracuse, New York. Although no one was injured, the July 5 incident sheds light on the fact that the agency has just six specialists tasked with overseeing rail bridge inspections and audits, he said.

The Buckingham Branch Railroad yesterday launched its new Norfolk division, providing freight-rail service between Coleman Place in Norfolk and Little Creek in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The new division will expand transportation options in the most industrial area in Virginia, said Buckingham Branch President Steve Powell in a press release.

CN has posted on its website a plan for servicing the 2018-19 grain crop.

The report is what the Class I is calling a first annual public Grain Plan, developed after "extensive consultation with key stakeholders," according to the website.

In July, U.S. railroads moved 2,156,435 carloads and intermodal units, marking a 5.2 percent increase over the same month in 2017.

The roads' intermodal volume grew 6.9 percent to 1,108,142 units, while carload volume ticked up 3.5 precent to 1,048,293 units, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

The U.S. Senate yesterday approved a fiscal-year 2019 appropriations bill that provides $16.1 billion for public transit and intercity passenger rail.

The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Act of 2019 also dedicates $2.5 billion for intercity passenger-rail grants.

Total intermodal volume rose 6.2 percent to 4.7 million units in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago, the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) reported yesterday.

The second-quarter growth follows a 7.2 percent increase in volume during the first quarter, IANA officials said in a press release.

Yifeng Mao, 38

Job description: Manages the LIRR's track standards, specifications, procedures, best practices and management controls that govern more than 500 maintenance-of-way employees in day-to-day track inspection, track maintenance and track construction activities.

Education: Bachelor of Engineering, civil engineering, City College of New York; certificate in railway track design, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Wireless mesh network provider Rajant has entered a strategic partnership with Wabtec Corp. to "accelerate rail industry innovation," the companies announced yesterday. As part of the agreement, the firms will jointly develop and market Rajant's Kinetic Mesh® wireless network products to rail operators worldwide. In addition, Wabtec has made a minority equity investment in Rajant. The Kinetic Mesh product employs node-to-node capabilities to route data via the best available traffic path and frequency, according to Rajant's website.

Houston-based Strathmore has agreed to sell Advanced Polymer Coatings Inc.'s linings to the North American rail industry. The exclusive distribution agreement will bring new custom linings solutions to the industry, Advanced Polymer Coatings officials said in a press release. As part of the pact, Advanced Polymer Coatings will use its ChemLINE® coatings technology to formulate and produce specialty rail linings that will be privately labeled to Strathmore and sold in Strathmore's family of coatings.

The Twin Cities' Metropolitan Council has named Cyrenthia Jordan director of the Office of Equal Opportunity.

Jordan, an attorney, joins the council from Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she served as director of equal opportunity and Title IX since 2015. In that role, she guided the university on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, affirmative action review in employee hiring, recruitment and retention.

Transport Canada yesterday announced CA$5.6 million in government funding for a rail infrastructure project at the Central Manitoba Railway's Pine Falls subdivision.

The project consists of upgrades to track and supporting infrastructure along nearly 9 miles of the subdivision from CN's Symington Yard to the Imperial Oil terminal at Birds Hill, Transport Canada officials said in a press release.

Valley Metro in Phoenix has launched an experiment with Waymo, Google's self-driving car project, to help connect riders with their local light-rail stations.

Announced yesterday, the two-year pilot project aims to address the transit agency's first-and-last-mile challenge by helping passengers get to and from the rail station. The effort also could be used to expand Valley Metro's services for people with disabilities and seniors, according to a Valley Metro press release.

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:10 p.m. CDT.]

The Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) tomorrow will begin running more test trains at more frequent intervals along the long-awaited G Line to Arvada, Colorado.

Norfolk Southern Corp. is deploying 3D simulation-based training apps built in partnership with application developer Heartwood 3D.

The apps are part of the Class I's efforts to "reimagine an even safer, more effective employee-training program," NS officials said in a press release.

Port of Vancouver USA, Washington state and rail industry officials yesterday dedicated the West Vancouver Freight Access project, a $251 million investment in rail infrastructure at the port.

The decade-long project is designed to improve freight-rail movement through the port and along BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad mainlines connecting the Pacific Northwest to rail hubs in Chicago and Houston, and from Canada to Mexico.

Xiang Liu, 32

Job description: Serves as assistant professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rutgers University. Also serves as director of the Rutgers Rail Program. Leads or coordinates rail-related research studies, teaches rail transportation and engineering, works with industry collaborators to solve critical problems, develops new technologies and nurtures the future workforce for the rail industry.

Education: M.S., Ph.D. in civil engineering with a focus on rail engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)

The U.S. Senate last week confirmed Bruce Landsberg and Jennifer Homendy as members of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

A general aviation safety advocate, Landsberg was confirmed as the board's vice chairman, while Homendy will fill an empty board seat.

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 3:45 p.m. CDT.]

During its 2018 fiscal year, North Carolina's Port of Wilmington moved a record number of containers while logging a 38 percent year-over-year increase in container traffic.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and the AFL-CIO's Office of Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 2 have reached an agreement that provides wage increases in exchange for increases in employee contributions to health care.

Union members ratified the new five-year contract last week. WMATA's board will take up the new agreement in September, agency officials said in a press release.