Railroad News

This year's Railroad Day on Capitol Hill — held last week in Washington, D.C. — attracted a record attendance of nearly 700 rail industry representatives, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announced yesterday.

ASLRRA hosted the event, which is held annually to offer rail industry representatives a chance to meet with members of Congress and their staffs to discuss legislative issues of interest to their companies and associations.

The Virginia General Assembly has passed a bill that will provide $154 million annually for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

The amount is Virginia's share of the $500 million that WMATA has said it needs to address its capital needs, according to a press release issued by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC). Commission officials hope that Maryland and Washington, D.C. — WMATA's other two jurisdictions — will pass legislation to cover the balance.

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

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) late last week unveiled eight winners of the MTA Genius Transit Challenge, a competition that called for new ideas to fix New York City's subway system.

The winners were collectively awarded $2.5 million in prize money for their submissions. MTA held the competition as soaring ridership continues to strain the subway system's aging infrastructure.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) last week released its 2018 customer charter, which includes a pledge to boost streetcar service.

As part of the charter, TTC will add service on up to 20 bus and streetcar routes to help reduce overcrowding during peak capacity. The agency also plans to roll out two-hour, time-based transfers to make multiple short-distance trips more affordable.

The nation's major retail container ports handled 1.73 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEU) in January, a 0.2 percent increase from December and 1.8 percent increase from January 2017, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

February's numbers are estimated at 1.66 million TEU, up 13.7 percent year over year. However, March is forecast at 1.53 million TEU, down 1.8 percent from the same month last year.

BNSF Railway Co.'s 2018 capital expenditure program will include $90 million for maintenance projects in Minnesota.

The largest component of this year's capital plan in the state will be replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast, the Class I announced in a press release.

The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) late last week reopened the Metro SubwayLink network in Baltimore following emergency rail repairs that closed the entire system.

Trains began serving passengers on March 9, three days ahead of schedule, MTA officials said in a press release. Last month, the agency closed the subways due to unexpected rail wear throughout the system.

The cost to build California's planned high-speed rail system has soared from $64 billion to $77.3 billion, according to the California High-Speed Rail Authority's (CHRSA) 2018 business plan.

Key cost drivers include increased contingency funding for future risks and "escalation" tied to schedule adjustments, CHSRA officials said in the plan.

The U.S. Department of Transportation late last week announced the 41 recipients of nearly $500 million in discretionary grant funding for road, transit, maritime and rail projects through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program.

The list included more than $100 million in grants for rail-related projects. More than 64 percent of the funding was awarded to rural projects, a "historic number" that demonstrates the Trump administration's interest in supporting rural communities, USDOT officials said in a press release.

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

About seven months after he’d been nominated, longtime railroader Ron Batory was sworn in as the 14th administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Feb. 28.

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 2:35 p.m. CST.]

Canadian Pacific has placed an order for more than 400 of Thermo King's SLXi-DRC refrigeration units. The single domestic reefer containers provide room for an extra pallet row to increase cargo capacity. The units use R-452A — a next-generation refrigerant — to help meet sustainability goals, Thermo King officials said in a press release. CP and Thermo King previously performed a four-month field test of an SLXi-DRC unit to verify its performance in CP's rugged environment and climate. The railroad's purchase marked the largest, single domestic reefer container order in Canadian history, Thermo King officials said.

Caltrain next week will launch a project to rehabilitate its station in Sunnyvale, California.

The project calls for relocating the north pedestrian crossing to allow six-car trains to load and unload at the station platform without blocking existing crossings. In addition, crews will improve concrete surfaces that have become uneven.

Dozens of members of the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA) and the Railway Supply Institute (RSI) attended Railroad Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

More than 55 individuals representing more than 30 REMSA member companies participated in the event, which is hosted by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA).

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division-IBT (BMWE) and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART-Mechanical Division) have reached an agreement with the National Carriers' Conference Committee (NCCC) to achieve a final and binding agreement in the current round of contract bargaining.

The NCCC represents the nation's major freight railroads.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) has chosen Jeffrey Parker as the sole finalist in its search for a permanent general manager and chief executive officer.

Parker currently serves as vice president at HNTB Corp. and leads the firm's Atlanta office. Before joining HNTB, he led the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Parker also has served as MARTA's senior director of transportation.

Canadian Pacific has hired Joan Hardy as vice president sales and marketing, grain and fertilizer. She will begin her new job April 1.

Hardy joins CP after 12 years at Richardson International — one of Canada's largest agri-businesses and a global leader in agriculture and food processing — where she served as vice president, transportation.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has issued a finding of no significant impact on the Tier 2 project level environmental assessment for the Northern Lights Express higher-speed rail project between Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota.

The FRA's finding enables project staff to seek funds for final design and construction, Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) officials said in a press release.