Railroad News

Chicago officials have announced plans to add a new Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) station along the Green Line at Damen Avenue.

Work began on the MAPS 3 Oklahoma City Streetcar track line earlier this week, starting construction on the area’s first streetcar network in decades.

The state of California put forth its initial list of priority infrastructure projects to the National Governor's Association for consideration by the federal government.

The Chicago Transit Board has awarded a $42.9 million contract to Clark Construction Group to upgrade three substations that provide power to the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) eight rail lines.

Canadian National has planned a CA$2.5 billion (US$1.9 billion) capital program in 2017, down CA$25 million (US$19 million) from 2016.

Design-build expert Liam Dalton, PE, is joining the HNTB Corporation team as design-build project director and vice president of the firm’s Northeast division.

Trimble has acquired Beena Vision Systems Inc., a privately held manufacturer of vision-based automatic wayside inspection systems for the railroad industry.

The 219-mile Heart of Georgia Railroad (HOG), Inc., will be under new ownership in the second quarter of 2017, following approval by the Surface Transportation Board.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (GWI) has agreed to acquire the shares of Atlantic Western Transportation, Inc., parent company of HOG. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Following the acquisition, HOG will be managed as one of GWI's Coastal Region railroads, led by Senior Vice President Andy Chunko.

A broken axle has been cited as the probable cause of a series of events that resulted in two derailed trains and close to 476,000 gallons of crude oil being spilling near Casselton, N.D.

The NTSB found that the chain of events for the accident began when a train carrying grain derailed because of a broken axle on one of its cars. NTSB investigators found a void in the middle of the axle, which was used previously on another train car. In response to the NTSB's urgent safety recommendation on the matter, the American Association of Railroads has moved to require testing of secondhand use axles.

Sasser Family Holdings, Inc., (Sasser) has appointed Jeff Walsh, previously the company's chief operating officer, to serve as chief executive officer, effective Feb. 15. 

Patriot Rail Company, LLC (Patriot Rail), a shortline railroad and rail services company based in the U.S., has announced promotions in two key roles and an addition to the commercial sales team.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has issued a Request for Proposals for preliminary engineering and other planning work for a new AirTrain connection to LaGuardia Airport.

The planned AirTrain is part of the modernization and transportation of LaGuardia. With the AirTrain, the airport would be less than 30 minutes away from Midtown Manhattan with a 15-minute Long Island Rail Road ride between midtown and Willets Point and a six-minute AirTrain ride to LaGuardia.

Officials from GoTriangle hosted a tour of the proposed Durham–Orange Light Rail Transit corridor for Representatives David Price (D-NC-04) and G.K. Butterfield (D-NC- 01).

The project would connect Chapel Hill to Durham, N.C., along 17.7-miles and include 18 stations. GoTriangle says the project would serve three of the top 10 employers in the state and directly connect to three major universities.

The Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) has awarded Archer Western a contract to build its new $28.5 million TEX Rail station.

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Dorval Carter, Jr. shared Feb. 6 the first major project announcement in the $23 million Illinois Medical District (IMD) Blue Line station renovation plans.

Biloxi, Miss., is considering the closure of six out of the city's 29 crossings to accommodate road extensions and is working with CSX to identify the best options.

"We share a commitment to safer rail traffic through Biloxi and we're working on a plan for consolidation that will address our safety concerns while assisting economic expansion in east and west Biloxi," said Biloxi Mayor Andrew Gilich.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has reported record ridership numbers on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), Metro-North Railroad and the newly-added Second Avenue Subway.

The Board of Directors of Union Pacific approved its $3.1 billion capital program for 2017.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) will advance four unsolicited proposals that could accelerate two mega projects.

The four unsolicited proposals will move from Phase 1, an initial conceptual review, to Phase 2 analysis, which involves a more detailed qualitative and quantitative look. Two of the proposals are for the West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor and two are for the Sepulveda Pass Transit Corridor, both mega projects are included in LACMTA's Measure M transportation ballot. LACMTA says each proposal suggests a different approach to bringing innovation, acceleration, cost savings and/or other benefits to the respective projects, compared with Metro's planned project delivery method.

Sound Transit has announced a temporarily revised route for its Sounder South Line to allow crews to complete the second phase of work on its Tacoma Trestle Track & Signal Project from Feb. 17–22.