Railroad News

Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) board last week approved a $38.3 million contract for T.Y. Lin International Great Lakes Inc. to provide planning and preliminary engineering services for the Red Line extension project. 

Under the contract, the firm will prepare a final environment impact statement for the project that will extend CTA’s Red Line 5.3 miles between 95th and 130th streets in Chicago.

CN officials announced the company supports the decision by Canada's Transport Minister Marc Garneau to amend his Feb. 7 order that restricted the speed of trains hauling dangerous goods on all of the nation's railway networks.

The initial order reduced by at least a third CN's overall network capacity for all trains, even those not carrying dangerous goods, CN officials said in a press release.

Stadler Rail entered into a $914 million contract with Nexus to supply and maintain 42 trains for the Tyne and Wear Metro in northeast England. Under the contract, Stadler will also construct a new maintenance facility where it will maintain the trains for 35 years. The new trains will replace Tyne and Wear Metro’s existing fleet by 2024, Stadler officials said in a press release. 

VLS Recovery Services appointed John Magee chief executive officer. He succeeds VLS founder Mike Dilick, who has transitioned to an oversight and advisory role as a VLS board member. Magee joined the rail-car cleaning company from Crane Worldwide Logistics, where he served as president and CEO for 11 years.

The Reading & Northern Railroad and its sister railroad Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway will resume passenger train rides into and out of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, after resolving a local tax dispute.

The railroad's decision to restart the train service followed months of discussions with local government officials, company officials said in a press release. 

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) will award a $13.4 million grant to the Port of South Louisiana for a project to make improvements to the Globalplex Intermodal Terminal, including a new rail spur connection, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-Louisiana) announced earlier this week.

The grant will come from the Port Infrastructure Development Grant Program, which is administered by the USDOT's Maritime Administration, according to a press release issued by Graves' office.

Kansas City Southern’s (KCS) board yesterday announced the promotion of Adam Godderz to senior vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary. 

Godderz will oversee the railroad’s legal departments in the United States and Mexico. 

BNSF Railway Co. yesterday announced its newest logistics center — the Logistics Center North Houston at Cleveland in Texas.

Once completed, the rail-served development is designed to help businesses increase their reach and speed to the Houston market and surrounding area, BNSF officials said in a press release.

On Feb. 17, Amtrak is sending the first of its 28 new Acela trainsets to the Transportation Technology Center near Pueblo, Colorado, for high-speed testing.

The trainset will undergo nine months of dynamic testing, including the train’s pantograph, railway dynamics, tilting, traction, slip/slide and wayside protection brakes, and train control management systems, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

CN yesterday announced it has initiated a "disciplined and progressive" shutdown of its operations in Eastern Canada until protest blockades on its lines in Ontario are removed, company officials said in a press release.

The shut down will include stopping and securing all trans-continental trains across its Canadian network, including intercity VIA Rail service. The Metrolinx and Exo commuter-rail services will not be impacted, CN officials said.

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (SDMTS) trolley posted eight straight months of year-over-year gains between April and November 2019, including a 9 percent increase in ridership in September 2019.

The trolley logged 753,435 passenger trips in the first two months of the agency’s fiscal-year 2020, which began July 1, 2019, SDMTS officials said in a press release.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) earlier this week launched a mobile ticketing application for riders on the CTrail Hartford and Shore Line East lines. 

CTrail eTix allows riders to purchase and store train tickets on a smartphone. Once riders board the train, they can activate the tickets and show it to the train conductor as proof of payment, CTDOT officials said in a press release issued by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s office.

Pacific Harbor Line (PHL) has promoted Stephane Perri to vice president.

Perri's rail career spans 20 years, starting with PHL in April 2000 as an assistant locomotive engineer. In 2005, he advanced to assistant trainmaster and subsequently  moved through management posts, PHL officials said in a press release.

Regional Transportation District of Denver’s (RTD) board earlier this week approved a contract for Paul Ballard to be the agency’s interim general manager and chief executive officer. Ballard will begin his role by Feb. 26.

Under the contract, Ballard will receive an annualized salary of $350,000, and relocation expenses with be covered by the agency, RTD officials said in a press release.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) yesterday retired the last remaining R-42 subway cars from service, ending a 51-year run. 

The R-42 units were built by St. Louis Car Co. and delivered to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) starting in 1969. Eventually, the NYCT subway fleet totaled 400 R-42 rail cars, NYCT officials said in a press release.  

While U.S. freight railroads' traffic slump continued during the week ending Feb. 8, Canadian and Mexican railroads reported traffic increases, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

U.S. railroads logged 485,329 carloads and intermodal units for the week, down 6.6 percent compared to the same week last year. The railroads hauled 232,116 carloads, down 4.2 percent, and 253,213 intermodal containers and trailers, down 8.8 percent.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) earlier this week announced it has rated the Hudson River rail tunnel rehabilitation project a "medium-low" priority, a designation that serves to delay the project's eligibility for federal funding under the Capital Investment Grant program.

Last year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), Amtrak and New Jersey Transit submitted a revised application for funding, including a proposal to lower the project's cost by $1.4 billion and decrease its reliance on federal funds to less than 50 percent. The revised application was part of an effort to increase the project's FTA rating above "medium low." The tunnel project's cost is estimated to be about $12 billion.