Railroad News

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) Advisory Board elected William Lyons as national division trustee. He succeeds outgoing trustee Matt Wilson, who has retired.

Lyons serves as general chairman of the CSX-Northern Lines' General Committee of Adjustment, which represents nearly 3,000 active and retired members.

BNSF Railway Co. this week continued to roll out its 2018 capital expenditure plans for individual states where the Class I's network operates. BNSF's latest announcements: Texas, Kansas and Missouri.

In Texas, BNSF expects to spend $375 million this year on maintenance of rail, ties and ballast, as well as expansion projects designed to enhance the network's capacity and fluidity, BNSF officials said in a press release.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday issued three urgent safety recommendations based on the agency's findings in two ongoing railroad accidents.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) received one urgent recommendation based on the NTSB's findings in the board's investigation of the Feb. 4 collision between an Amtrak train and a CSX train near Cayce, South Carolina. The Amtrak conductor and engineer died as a result of the collision.

The Metropolitan Council has reported $8.4 billion in developments along existing and planned light-rail transit lines in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

The council tracks developments proposed, under construction or completed along Metro Transit's Green and Blue lines. The council also keeps tabs on projects being developed along the lines' extensions.

Amtrak will consider suspending service on tracks that don't have positive train control (PTC) in place by the Dec. 31 deadline, the railroad's president told a House subcommittee yesterday.

President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson told the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials that there will be carriers over which Amtrak operates that are unlikely to have made "sufficient progress" by year's end to qualify for a two-year extension of the 2018 deadline.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Managing Editor

The Rail Passengers Association (RPA) on Monday decried President Trump's fiscal-year 2019 budget proposal to halve federal funding for Amtrak.

The proposal would cut the national passenger railroad's budget from $1.4 billion to $738 million, which would lead to the "virtual elimination of Amtrak's national network," RPA officials said in a press release.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) earlier this week announced four capital improvement projects on its rail system.

To minimize service disruption, the work has been scheduled during the second half of the year when ridership is lighter, WMATA officials said in a press release. One project will address the Metrorail system's tightest curve between McPherson Square and Smithsonian stations.

Siemens has formed a long-term technical and digital service partnership with the Atlanta Streetcar.

Under the agreement, Siemens will provide technical support and materials for preventive and corrective maintenance on streetcars. The company also will use its Railigent™ digital rail services platform to analyze data to help improve streetcar operations, Siemens officials said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) downgrading this week of two critical "Gateway" projects in the Northeast Corridor will further jeopardize the projects from receiving federal funding, supporters of the passenger-rail corridor said yesterday.

In its annual funding recommendations report to Congress on the Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program, the FTA this week rated both the Hudson Tunnel and the Portal North Bridge replacement projects as "medium-low" in priority for federal grants. Medium-low is second-lowest rating on a five-point scale that helps determine whether federal funding is warranted.

Intermodal volumes continued their upward trend for U.S. railroads, which posted a 3.7 percent increase in containers and trailers for the week ending Feb. 10 compared with the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

U.S. railroads' total traffic volume for the week rose 1.6 percent to 519,545 carloads and intermodal units compared with the same week in 2017. However, carload traffic slipped 0.5 percent to 251,058 units compared with a year ago.

President Donald Trump has nominated former U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake to serve as administrator of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

Drake is an assistant director of public works for Norfolk, Virginia, and is the former director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT).

New Jersey Transit's board yesterday approved a proposed alignment for the Hudson-Bergen light-rail expansion project.

The locally preferred alternative consists of a 10-mile, two-track extension of the Hudson-Bergen line from its current terminus at the Tonnelle Avenue station in North Bergen to the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday issued a special investigation report on two end-of-track collisions at terminal stations in New Jersey and New York.

The report includes new safety recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and new safety recommendations to New Jersey Transit and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Editor

As we reported in our Daily News on Jan. 29, Trade Press Media Group Inc. has been acquired by Forum Media Group, which is based in Merching, Germany.

Sound Transit has appointed Russell Arnold chief customer experience officer.

He is tasked with finding ways to improve the experience for future passengers as the agency designs and expands its system. Arnold also will collaborate with agency departments to resolve existing issues and enhance experience of current riders, Sound Transit officials said in a press release.

The Ports of Indiana handled 11.8 million tons in 2017, a 5 percent increase from 2016 and the second-highest annual shipment total in the organization's 57-year history, port officials announced today.

Last year was the fourth consecutive year that the ports handled more than 10 million tons of cargo. Major cargo increases in 2017 included minerals, up 28 percent; limestone, up 26 percent; steel, fertilizer and ethanol, each up 14 percent; and coal, up 9 percent.

The Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) has begun testing positive train control (PTC) and a wireless crossing system (WCS) on its G Line commuter-rail route.

The work involves synchronizing and optimizing the PTC system and the conventional control systems at 16 grade crossings along the line, RTD officials said in a press release issued earlier this month.