Railroad News

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) has implemented free Wi-Fi service on all trains.

The "Wi-Fi Lite" service primarily is geared toward basic web, email and social media usage. Riders are prohibited from downloading large files or streaming video due to limited bandwidth.

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) later this year will halt commuter-rail service between Pleasant View and Ogden due to low ridership and the high cost of implementing positive train control (PTC).

The closure will start in August, the Standard-Examiner reported. Each day, about 35 southbound passengers use the Pleasant View station, which is the northern terminus of the FrontRunner commuter-rail line.

The Midwest Association of Rail Shippers (MARS) last week announced its newly elected slate of 2018 officers.

They are Harry Zander of Trinity Rail, president; Tom Surma of Ingredion, first vice president; and Stefan Loeb of Watco Cos. LLC, second vice president.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has released a report on the technical and economic feasibility of using hydrogen-powered trains to electrify GO Transit's rail service.

The study determined that it would be feasible to use hydrogen fuel cell technology as an alternative to traditional overhead wires. The lifetime cost of building and operating the hydrogen-powered system is equivalent to that of a conventional electrification system, the study found.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) on Friday broke ground on the second phase of the Purple Line Extension.

The project involves adding 2.6 miles of subway service to downtown Beverly Hills and LA's Century City neighborhood.

BNSF Railway Co. posted fourth-quarter and full-year operating income of $2 billion and $7.3 billion respectively, an increase of 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively, compared with the same periods in 2016, the Class I reported yesterday.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 6 percent to $5.6 billion, while full-year revenue increased 8 percent to $21.3 billion. BNSF attributed those results to increases in unit volume for the fourth quarter of 3 percent and full year of 5 percent, as well as higher average revenue per car/unit.

French national rail operator SNCF has placed a $120 million order for nine Regio 2N trainsets from Bombardier Transportation. The units will be rolled out on the SNCF Transilien network in the Ile-de-France region. The Regio 2N units feature level accessibility at all stations, air conditioning, power outlets to charge mobile devices and dynamic travel information. The order stems from an option in a 2010 contract for a maximum of 860 trains.

Bihrle Applied Research Inc. and BNSF Railway Co. recently used RailVision™computer vision technology to process terabytes of images captured during drone operations. RailVision enables BNSF to automatically process tens of thousands of images collected by drones during supplemental railway inspection flights. The platform also generates actionable reports in less time than traditional inspection methods, Bihrle officials said in a press release.

Port Manatee officials last week met with trade commissioners from eight nations to discuss the potential for expansion of international commerce through the port.

Joining port officials for the Feb. 22 meeting were representatives from Canada, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Spain. The nations constitute the majority of board membership of the International Trade Commissioners of Florida (INTRADE).

Bi-State Development, operator of the St. Louis MetroLink light-rail system, has named Gregory Smith vice president of procurement and materials management.

Smith will provide strategic direction for procurement, materials management and supplier diversity functions, including sourcing, contract management, supply chain  management, and compliance with state and federal laws.

TransLink late last week announced plans to accelerate the delivery of 28 new SkyTrain cars for the Expo and Millennium lines.

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's (NFTA) board has chosen WSP Inc. to provide environmental review and preliminary design for the first phase of the Amherst Metro Rail extension project.

WSP's scope of work includes refining the 2017 locally preferred alternative for extending the Metro Rail light-rail system along Niagara Falls Boulevard in Buffalo, New York. The alignment would run from the University Station in Buffalo to the University of Buffalo's North Campus in Amherst, New York.

GE Transportation last week signed a $1 billion framework agreement with Ukraine that calls for the supply of 30 GE Evolution Series freight locomotives to Ukrainian Railways.

The agreement also calls for additional locomotive kits over 10 years, the rehabilitation of locomotives in the railway's legacy fleet and long-term maintenance services.

The Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board next month will consider approval of a contract with Wabtec Railway Electronics Inc. to complete a federally mandated project to roll out a positive train control (PTC) upgrade to Caltrain's signal system.

The new contract would complete Caltrain's PTC project after the railroad terminated a contract last year with Parsons Transportation Group for nonperformance "after many months of delay and repeated failure by the contractor to correct performance issues," Caltrain officials said in a press release.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) on Wednesday named Shelley Devine interim general manager.

The appointment came on the same day that Neil McFarlane ended his service as general manager. In October 2017, McFarlane announced plans to retire.

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) next week will begin replacing wood ties on the Montauk Branch between stations in Patchogue and Speonk, New York.

Crews will perform the work Feb. 26 through May 28. The upgrades are part of LIRR's 2018 annual track program, which includes improvements to safety and on-time performance, railroad officials said in a press release.

California Gov. Jerry Brown this week announced the appointments of Brian Annis as secretary of the California State Transportation Agency and Laurie Berman as the new director of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

Both appointments require the state Senate's confirmation.

In 2017, Sound Transit logged 47,031,781 rides on its rail, bus and paratransit routes, marking a 10 percent increase over the previous year.

On the Central Link light-rail line, ridership surged 22 percent to more than 23 million riders. Ridership on the Tacoma Link light-rail line grew 3.6 percent to 983,315 passengers. The agency's Sounder commuter-rail system logged 4,312,113 riders, up 2.9 percent compared with ridership in 2016.