Railroad News

Kansas City Southern yesterday announced a new weekly intermodal service between the Port of New Orleans and Wylie, Texas, will begin in May.

The Class I previously offered intermodal service in the lane, but it was discontinued following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) 10-mile extension to Antioch, California, will begin passenger service on May 26.

The extension will feature diesel multiple units (DMU) that will operate on standard gauge track instead of BART's wider gauge rails. The new line will run in the median of State Route 4 and connect to the agency's station in Pittsburg, California.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) yesterday announced that CSX Director of Design and Construction Engineering Charles Bailey won the 2017 John H. Chafee Environmental Excellence Award.
 
The award is named in honor of the late Rhode Island senator, who was a strong advocate for sustainability and rail’s environmental benefits. The Chafee award recognizes a railroad employee who has demonstrated the highest level of environmental stewardship in the previous year.

Bailey developed a culture at CSX where design and construction methodologies benefit both the environment and the railroad, AAR officials said in a press release. His collaborative approach with environmental teams has had a significant impact on the environmental performance of the Class I, they added.

Today, Union Pacific Corp. announced its first-quarter net income totaled $1.3 billion — or a Q1 record $1.68 per diluted share — compared with $1.1 billion and $1.32 per diluted share, respectively, in first-quarter 2017. Diluted earnings per share jumped 27 percent year over year.

The Class I's other financial results for the quarter show operating revenue rose 7 percent to $5.5 billion, operating income climbed 8 percent to $1.9 billion and the operating ratio improved 0.6 points to 64.6, although higher fuel prices negatively impacted the ratio by about 0.2 points, UP officials said in a press release.

Last month, tie production increased 4.3 percent to 1.47 million units and tie purchases inched up 0.2 percent to 1.84 million units compared with February levels, according to the Railway Tie Association’s latest market report.

On a year-over-year basis, purchases were up 2.7 percent in March, but production was down 21.1 percent.

The Port of Brownsville has signed an optional lease agreement with Big River Steel LLC that could lead to the development of a $1.6 billion steel mill.

Yesterday, the Brownsville Navigation District Board of Commissioners (BND) — the governing body for the Port of Brownsville — signed an option agreement covering up to 800 acres of property with Big River Steel. The pact enables the steelmaker to pursue the development of a LEED-certified steel manufacturing plant, storage and distribution facility, BND announced in a press release.

Union Pacific Railroad plans to spend more than $8 million this year to bolster infrastructure in Minnesota and Montana.

The Class I has budgeted $6 million to improve infrastructure in Minnesota, including $3.4 million to maintain track and $1.8 million to maintain bridges.

Rail-car orders in the first quarter totaled 10,348 units compared with 8,501 units in fourth-quarter 2017 and 4,814 units in first-quarter 2017, according to quarterly statistics released yesterday by the Railway Supply Institute's American Railway Car Institute Committee (ARCI).

Yesterday, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) released its annual peer performance measure reports, and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and Metra continue to perform well in relation to comparable U.S. systems, RTA officials said in a press release.

The reports, which cover 2016 performance, show that the agencies rank high in service coverage, efficiency and effectiveness, they added. 

The Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA) and AutoMobile International Terminal last week announced they signed a memorandum of understanding to develop and operate a rail-served automotive processing facility at the Port of Mobile.

The $60 million project calls for converting 57 acres of a former bulk material handling facility into a state-of-the-art automotive processing and logistics terminal. The facility will be built near interstates 10 and 65, and have access to five Class Is: BNSF Railway Co., CN, CSX, Kansas City Southern and Norfolk Southern Railway.

Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania have obtained federal certification of their transit-rail state safety oversight (SSO) programs, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced yesterday.

Federal law requires states with transit-rail systems in operation to obtain FTA certification of their SSO programs by April 15, 2019. States with transit-rail systems in the engineering or construction phase also must get their SSO programs certified by the deadline.

Norfolk Southern Corp. this morning announced its first-quarter financial results, which include four records.

The Class I set new Q1 highs or lows for: earnings per share at $1.93, up 30 percent year over year; net income at $552 million, up 27 percent; income from operations at $835 million, up 10 percent; and the operating ratio at 69.3, down 1.3 points. A lower effective income tax rate helped boost net income, NS officials said in a press release.

Alstom has been selected by the Paris Transport Authority (RATP) to provide its automatic train operation system I-CBTC — an interchangeable communications-based train control-type automation system — to line 6 of the Paris metro. The contract consists of two parts: the on-board system, which carries out the automatic train operation, and the radio system that transmits data between the train and the ground. Alstom is in charge of the development, validation, industrialization, installation, testing and commissioning of both parts.

Bourque Logistics will open a new office in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jacksonville group will provide expanded business development, customer support and other services for Bourque's growing client base in North America and, in particular, on the U.S. East Coast, the company said in a press release. "The Jacksonville area has a wealth of experienced rail talent whose expertise our clients require," said President Steve Bourque. The company has named Edna A. Rice Executive Recruiters Inc. as its exclusive recruiter for sourcing rail and logistics talent in Jacksonville and elsewhere.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) on Friday announced it has improved the accuracy of subway arrival prediction times on its website and certain smartphone apps.

The agency's Rapid Transit Realtime (RTR) system has begun using more sophisticated data to provide more frequent arrival time updates on the Orange, Red and Blue lines. Now, the system refreshes train arrival times every six seconds; previously, arrival times were refreshed every 15 to 45 seconds.

Yesterday, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) began a new train-testing stage along the 10-mile Berryessa Extension running from Fremont to San Jose, California. Testing could occur up to 20 hours a day and continue for several months, according to a press release issued by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).

VTA is overseeing construction of the Berryessa Extension, which is the first phase of BART's 16-mile Silicon Valley Extension. 

INFORMS recently honored BNSF Railway Co. with an award for pioneering and integrating operations research and analytics programs into its organization.

An international association for operations research and analytics professionals and students, INFORMS presents the award annually to recognize effective integration of operations research into organizational decision-making.

Ridership on Charlotte Area Transit System's (CATS) LYNX Blue Line light-rail service increased 48 percent in March compared with the same 2017 period, thanks in large part to last month's opening of a 9.3-mile extension, according to a CATS press release.

Service for the LYNX Blue Line extension began on March 16 and also contributed to a 6 percent year-to-date increase in light-rail ridership over the same 2017 period.

CSX yesterday announced Vice President of Mechanical Brian Barr will assume the new role of senior VP of engineering and mechanical. He will continue to be responsible for the mechanical department while now leading the engineering team.

VP of Engineering Ricky Johnson will remain in that role and report to Barr, who will report to Executive VP of Operations Ed Harris.

Harsher-than-normal winter weather in the first quarter, including extremely low temperatures in Canada in February, put the deep freeze on CN’s financial results.

Q1 revenue was flat at $3.2 billion while operating income fell 16 percent to $1 billion, net income tumbled 16 percent to $741 million and operating expenses ballooned 9 percent to $2.2 billion compared with first-quarter 2017 results (all figures are in Canadian dollars).