Railroad News

U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, earlier this week toured Geismar-Modern Track Machinery Inc.'s new plant in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Sanford also met with company officials and other industry representatives for a discussion of public policy issues. The tour and meeting was organized by the National Construction & Maintenance Association (NRC) and the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA). Geismar-MTM is a member of both organizations.

The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and U.S. Maritime Alliance Ltd. (USMX) have reached a tentative agreement on a six-year master contract, the organizations announced earlier this week.

The current USMX-ILA contract expires Sept. 30. The new agreement is subject to ratification by members of both groups.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) later this month will halt service along a portion of its Newburyport/Rockport commuter-rail line to advance work on the Gloucester drawbridge replacement project.

From June 18 through Aug. 31, buses will replace four inbound and four outbound trains between the Rockport and West Gloucester stations.

Rangeland Energy III LLC announced this week the launch of operations at its South Texas Energy Products System (STEPS) terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The company also announced it will start loading diesel into rail cars for a "leading refined products customer." Kansas City Southern will deliver the diesel to third-party terminals in Mexico, Rangeland officials said in a press release.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) has appointed Maurice Henderson II chief operating officer, effective July 16.

He currently serves as chief of staff and director of strategic initiatives for Ted Wheeler, the mayor of Portland, Oregon. Before he joined the mayor's office, Henderson was assistant director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has scheduled three symposiums on topics related to positive train control (PTC), with the first to be held June 15 in Washington, D.C.

The June 15 symposium aims to bring together the FRA's PTC experts and all 41 railroads that are federally mandated to implement PTC systems. Discussions will focus on the statutory requirements for the Dec. 31 deadline and answers to industry questions.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday announced $241 million in grants for 23 projects aimed at improving freight mobility throughout the state.

Rauner made the announcement at the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis’ intermodal facility in East St. Louis. The switching railroad will receive $1.93 million to re-establish a previously existing track alignment that will eliminate conflicts with four nearby grade crossings, according to a press release issued by Rauner's office. The railroad will contribute $500,000 to complete the work.

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We announced this late last month and I'm very happy to share the news in this space: Progressive Railroading and RailTrends® have named Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ed Hamberger the 2018 recipient of the Railroad Innovator Award. The award recognizes an individual’s outstanding achievement in the rail industry.

Duos Technologies Group Inc. has opened an engineering and operations center in Jacksonville, Florida. The facility will be used primarily to test Duos' proprietary intelligent technologies and sub-systems. The site includes offices and an assembly area for pre-staging projects prior to field deployment, Duos officials said in a press release. The expansion was needed to meet "significant current and anticipated" revenue growth, said Duos Chief Executive Officer Gianni Arcaini.

Representatives of the InnoTrans conference, which will be held in Berlin, announced yesterday that 22 transportation companies have signed on to present products and services at its supporting program. Fourteen of those companies are from outside Germany, including firms from China, Dubai, Kazakhstan, Japan, South Korea and Ukraine. PKP, Poland's state-run rail network, will be represented in hall 16 — marking the first time at InnoTrans that a transportation company will occupy an entire hall. The supporting program will run during InnoTrans' main exhibition to be held Sept. 18-21. At the 2016 InnoTrans, there were nearly 3,000 exhibitors from 60 countries.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) yesterday urged the U.S. Department of Transportation and Department of Energy to finalize volatility standards for crude oil before it's shipped by rail.

His request follows the release of new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showing that the amount of crude oil moving by rail to U.S. Northeast refineries is growing. In March, refineries in the region used about 3.1 million barrels of oil, which is the most used since early 2017, according to a press release issued by Schumer's office.

The Atlanta Streetcar will change hands on July 1, when the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) takes ownership of the system from the city of Atlanta.

The agency also will assume day-to-day operations of the 2.7-mile circular route, MARTA officials said in a press release.

U.S. railroads' intermodal volume outpaced carload traffic growth in May, logging 6.6 percent and 3.2 percent increases, respectively, compared with the same month last year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

In May, U.S. railroads originated intermodal 1,398,203 containers and trailers, an increase of 86,010 units compared with the same month a year ago. U.S. railroads also originated 1,319,420 carloads — up 41,078 units  — compared with May 2017, according to an AAR press release.

San Francisco Bay Area residents on Tuesday passed a toll increase to fund $4.45 billion worth of transit and highway improvements, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) announced yesterday. The vote was held during California's statewide primary elections.

Fifty-four percent of residents in a nine-county area approved the Regional Measure 3, which will increase tolls on the region's seven state-owned toll bridges. The measure required a simple majority to pass, MTC officials said in an update yesterday.

CSX is soliciting bids on six rail segments totaling more than 650 miles of track as part of the Class I's continuing strategy to sell under-used assets.

The lines may be purchased by one buyer or multiple buyers, or may not be sold at all depending on the bids received, CSX officials said in a press release.

CN will spend CA$340 million this year to expand and strengthen its rail network through British Columbia, the Class I announced yesterday.

The investment is part of CN's CA$3.4 billion capital program for 2018. Key projects include track expansion to boost capacity and the replacement, upgrade and maintenance of key track infrastructure.

Canadian Pacific will spend more than a half-billion Canadian dollars on new high-capacity grain hopper cars to serve CP grain shippers, the Class I announced today.

The railroad's plan to revitalize its hopper-car fleet will start with an order for 1,000 cars from National Steel Car of Hamilton, Ontario. Over the next four years, CP plans to order 5,900 hopper cars in total, which will enable the railroad to remove all low-capacity hoppers — including all Canadian government cars — from its fleet, company officials said in a press release.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) next month will end an informal program that allows Virginia Railway Express (VRE) and Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) riders to transfer to its Metrorail system during service disruptions.

The so-called Metro Option allows VRE riders to show a validated VRE ticket to a Metrorail station manager to access WMATA's system without cost during VRE-related service issues. However, in an effort to cut down on fare-payment disputes and improve safety, WMATA starting July 1 will require every rider to tap a SmarTrip card before they enter the system.

Caltrain this week is closing multiple grade crossings in Burlingame and San Mateo, California, to install foundations for its electrification project.

The work includes excavation, placement of rebar, concrete fill and electrical grounding. The railroad closed the Peninsula Avenue crossing yesterday, with the Villa Terrace crossing slated to close tonight.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) on June 9 will begin test runs along the soon-to-open CTrail Hartford Line commuter-rail route.

The department will perform test runs of the line's full schedule of 16 weekday trains, CTDOT officials said in a press release. Also on June 9, Amtrak's portion of Hartford Line service will begin, increasing daily Amtrak trains to 18 from 12.

CN and GE Transportation this week marked the completion of the first of 200 new locomotives that were manufactured at GE's plant in fort Worth, Texas.