Railroad News

Veteran railroader and long-time Hunter Harrison and Jim Foote colleague Edmond L. Harris has come out of retirement a second time to head operations at CSX.

The North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR) will invest $2.5 million in design and construction of a rail spur and storage tracks for a tire manufacturer in Edgecombe County.

The investment is from the railroad's economic development initiative NCRR Invests and the spur will serve Kingsboro CSX Select Site for Triangle Tyre Co Ltd., which will be locating to the site.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has given official authorization to the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) and the Kansas City Streetcar Authority (KCSA) as well as the City of Kansas City, Mo., (KCMO) to move the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension project into the project development phase.

New Jersey Transit Executive Director Steve Santoro, who has spent 18 years with the agency, submitted his resignation to New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Rick Hammer on Jan. 5. He will be leaving in April and said he is "committed to ensuring a smooth transition for the new administration" of incoming Governor Phil Murphy.

HNTB Corporation has appointed Mark Becherer, PE, as its Chicago office leader.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its preliminary report on the Amtrak 501 accident in Washington state and explains that positive train control (PTC) could have prevented the over speed condition.

The train, which was carrying 77 passengers and five Amtrak employees on its inaugural run along a new route, derailed on a 30 mph curve with its last recorded speed being 78 mph. The lead locomotive, the power car and two passenger railcars derailed onto Interstate 5 below the right-of-way. Three train passengers were killed and another 70 people, including eight on the highway, were injured in the accident.

U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ-11) wants the federal government to back the Gateway Program and Hudson River Tunnels Project, according to a letter he sent to Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams.

Rep. Frelinghuysen's letter was prompted by recent correspondence between Acting Administrator Williams and officials in New York state in which she did not recognize the 2015 funding agreement between New York, New Jersey and the federal government.

Jennifer Ryan, a longtime rail project engineer and winner of Railway Age's inaugural Women in Rail award, has joined Parsons as a Senior Project Manager, Rail, in the corporation's Irvine, Calif., office.

Red River Valley & Western Railroad (RRVW) has announced that Victor Meyers joined its new executive leadership team as president effective Jan. 1, 2018. Mark Wegner is serving as chief executive officer.

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) received six pre-proposals from firms willing to build two transload facilities in Treasure Valley and in the mid-Willamette Valley.

The Treasure Valley area project received a single proposal while the mid-Willamette Valley area project received five proposals. ODOT says the transloading sites will improve shipping connections in critical parts of the state.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) to study options that would bring a subway to the Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood.

Gov. Cuomo said Red Hook is full of untapped potential and asked PANYNJ to consider relocating maritime activities that would free up the waterfront for community use. The governor suggested relocating Red Hook Container Terminal activities to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

The National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association (NRC) has announced its board election results, adding two new members to the NRC board in 2018.

Amtrak's next series of track renewal projects in New York Penn Station will kick-off Jan. 5, with updated scheduled train operations beginning on Jan. 8.

U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Elaine Chao sent a form letter to 47 Class 1, intercity and state and local transit authorities to stress the urgency and importance of implementing positive train control (PTC) by Dec. 31, 2018.

Sec. Chao's letter explained that the coming year is filled with rail safety-oriented initiatives with PTC implementation among the most important. She noted that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) would continue to work with the railroads as the congressionally-mandated deadline approaches.

Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, will not seek re-election in 2018.

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) named Dana Gresham to be his chief of staff Jan. 2.

Gresham, who is originally from Alabama, spent more than seven years with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) as assistant secretary for governmental affairs. Before his time with the USDOT, Gresham served as chief of staff to former Rep. Artur Davis and in various legislative aide roles for elected officials going back to 1994. Gresham holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University.

Progress Rail has acquired ECM S.p.A., an international signal solutions and technologies provider, in a transaction that officially closed Jan. 2.

The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC)/RT&S Contractor Safety Awards recipients were announced in a Jan. 2 e-mail, with a record of 65 companies winning awards.

BRIGHTLINE, Florida's new private passenger operator, has announced that it will launch an introductory service between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach during the week of Jan. 8.

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) of Denver, Colo., has resumed testing on its G Line as of today, emphasizing the evaluation of its communication and signaling systems.