Railroad News

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) officials yesterday announced the agency is finalizing plans to restore most rail service to pre-COVID levels on Aug. 16. 

The service restoration will be the largest and most complex service change in the system’s history, WMATA officials said in a press release. 

Amtrak announced yesterday positive train control (PTC) has been implemented on all Amtrak-owned or controlled track.

The final piece of the PTC project recently concluded with the installation of a mile of slow-speed track in the Chicago terminal, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

John “JP” McNeil, 35
Director, customer service
Norfolk Southern Railway

Nominator’s quote: “JP McNeil and his colleague Ashley King have been key leaders in standing up the new customer service center at Norfolk Southern and helping drive a low-effort interaction for our customers. They have been integral in the design of the new center, the selection and continuous training of a high quality staff, the implementation of new technology and the development of meaningful metrics that depict the level of customer service Norfolk Southern (NS) is providing its customers.” — John Scheib, NS

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) yesterday announced that 310 subway stations, or roughly two-thirds of the system’s stations, are now equipped with the agency’s One Metro New York (OMNY) contactless fare payment system. 

OMNY fare validators allow riders to pay their fare using contactless bank cards, smart phones and wearable devices. OMNY will ultimately replace the MetroCard fare card in 2023, NYCT officials said in a press release. 

Sound Transit in September will add service to its Link light-rail and Sounder commuter-rail systems in response to an uptick in ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seattle agency announced earlier this week. 

Beginning Sept. 19, light-rail trains will run every eight minutes during peak hours on weekdays. Trains will run every 15 minutes on weekends and off peak on weekdays, and every 30 minutes on evenings. In May, the Link ran trains every 20 minutes during the day.

South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) officials yesterday announced signs of "moderate recovery" are showing up at the start of fiscal-year 2021 amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In July, SCPA handled 176,974 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo at the Wando Welch and North Charleston container terminals, and and moved 99,431 pier containers, which measures boxes of any size. Pier containers are up 12 percent from June, showing a positive trend for the first month of FY2021, SCPA officials said in a press release. Volumes remain down year over year.

Canadian Pacific has begun installation of a solar energy farm at its corporate headquarters in Calgary, Alberta.

The farm is expected to generate more power than consumed annually at CP's main headquarters building by early 2021, CP officials announced this week in a press release.

The mobile navigation application Waze yesterday launched a new feature that will provide alerts to users approaching a railroad crossing in order to highlight potential risks and encourage drivers to approach crossings with caution.

The decision to add the feature to Waze follows recommendations from the U.S. lawmakers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to contribute to efforts to reduce the number of drivers involved in grade crossing fatalities, Waze officials said in a press release.

Although total freight-rail traffic declined 6.7 percent to 497,397 carloads and intermodal units during the week ending Aug. 8, Association of American Railroads (AAR) data indicate a slight uptick in U.S. railroads' intermodal volume compared with the same week in 2019.

U.S. railroads logged 277,054 containers and trailers for the week, up 1.9 percent compared with year-ago levels. Carloads totaled 220,343, down 15.6 percent, AAR officials said in a press release.

As of June 30, positive train control (PTC) systems are governing operations on nearly 99 percent of all 57,537-PTC mandated rail route miles, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced yesterday.

The news is based on the railroads' quarterly reports on their progress toward implementing PTC systems on their railroads as required by federal law. As of the end of the second quarter, nearly all railroads subject to the federal mandate are operating their systems in revenue service or in advanced field testing, also known as revenue service demonstration (RSD), FRA officials said in a press release.

Lacy Kreger, 39
Director, economic development strategic programs
BNSF Railway Co.

Nominator’s quote: “Lacy Kreger has been a key part of the BNSF Economic Development Strategic Program and was instrumental in developing our first green field logistic center, the Denver Logistic Center in Hudson, Colorado. She led internal and external stakeholders from land acquisition, design and construction to completing the first customer site.” — Cary Hutchings, BNSF Railway Co.

Hitachi Rail SpA and Bombardier Transportation have signed a $943 million contract with Trenitalia to supply 23 Frecciarossa 1000 high-speed trains for the new Intermodalidad de Levante (ILSA) rail operation in Spain. ILSA is a joint venture between Trenitalia and Operador Ferroviario de Levante SL. The trains will be designed and built by Hitachi Rail and Bombardier in Italy. The train control and propulsion technologies will be derived from Bombardier’s V300ZEFIRO platform. Each train will have capacity for around 460 passengers and will be capable of commercial speeds of up to 223 mph, Hitachi Rail officials said in a press release.

Direct ChassisLink Inc. (DCLI) named Mike O’Malley senior vice president of government and public relations. In this newly created role, O’Malley will be DCLI’s primary point of contact with regulators, legislators, trade groups and the media. O’Malley previously served as president of the Railway Supply Institute; VP of state government and community affairs, and VP of procurement and supply chain management at CSX; and chief of staff with the Federal Aviation Administration. “Mike’s extensive knowledge and expertise in public policy, government affairs, and international trade will make him an extremely valuable asset to our organization,” said DCLI President Lee Newitt in a press release.

Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) last week adopted a plan that will govern risk planning for, and safety management of, light-rail and bus systems.

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) approved HRT’s plan ahead of a July 20 federal deadline that required all transit agencies in Virginia to adhere to enhanced guidelines put in place last year.

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro) and Austin, Texas, officials last week formed the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP), which will be responsible for implementation of Project Connect, a plan to expand rail and bus systems in Austin.

The ATP will work with the city, Cap Metro board and the Austin community to design and construct the $7.1 billion initial investment in Project Connect and transit-supportive infrastructure, Cap Metro officials said in a press release.

The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) has proposed rehabilitating 30 miles of rail line operated by the Indiana & Ohio Railway.

Owned by the village of Greenfield, the so-called Greenfield Line is located in Highland and Clinton counties. The proposed project calls for the replacement of 20,000 ties, installation and tamping of ballast and replacement of grade crossing surfaces.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) yesterday awarded New Jersey Transit a $2.3 million grant to purchase and install new security cameras and related equipment at dozens of locations along the Atlantic City and Northeast Corridor rail lines in South Jersey.

NJ Transit will use the funds to purchase more than 500 single- and multi-sensor cameras, and specialized video-recording equipment with tracking and intrusion-detection software.

Amtrak today announced it has updated its website and mobile app to help provide riders with an extra level of confidence and security while traveling.

Amtrak has added a new feature that enables passengers to more easily see how full their reserved train will be. Since bookings are limited on most trains to allow for physical distancing, the quantity of riders traveling is indicated based on the reduced number of seats available, Amtrak officials said in a press release.

Canadian Pacific yesterday officially launched its international intermodal service through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick.

The inaugural train carried containers from the Hapag-Lloyd vessel Detroit Express bound for intermodal terminals on CP's network in Canada and the United States, CP officials said in a press release.