Railroad News

Fresno, California, officials awarded Granite Construction Inc. a $20 million contract to close a grade crossing on Union Pacific Railroad tracks on Veterans Boulevard in northwest Fresno. The work involves construction of a bridge that will carry future high-speed trains over the tracks and connect to a future Golden State Boulevard rail alignment. Construction is expected to begin this spring and be completed in fall 2021. 

The Metropolitan Region of Bogota-Cundinamarca awarded the ARCO Bogota Zipa consortium — made up of Ardanuy Ingenieria Colombia and Coral Delgado y Asociados — a $566,000 contract to supervise the feasibility studies and designs for Regiotram del Norte, a planned freight and passenger railway between Bogota and Zipaquire, Colombia.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) has closed its MAX light-rail station at the Portland International Airport (PDX) until May 30 to accommodate airport expansion construction. 

During the airport’s construction to expand Concourse B, TriMet crews will begin work to prepare for future track improvements on the Red Line, agency officials said in a press release.

Sound Transit in Washington, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in California and Metro Transit-St. Louis have suspended fare collection on their light-rail systems to help protect rail employees and riders from the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile in California today, the Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo passenger-rail corridor agency reduced Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner service and temporarily canceled some trains on the route; Sacramento Regional Transit District reduced light-rail service to operate daily trains on a Sunday schedule; and Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit temporarily cancelled three trains in addition to other service reductions announced last week.

The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) last week awarded Ashland Railway (ASRY) a $735,882 grant to expand its Mansfield Yard and make repairs along its Willard Line.

The more than $1.4 million project will involve the installation of about 3,000 feet of new track and seven turnouts; ultrasonic rail flaw detection on 23 miles of the Willard Line; and replacement of rail identified as defective by the rail test.

Class Is employed 127,634 workers as of mid-February, down 0.53 percent compared with mid-January’s level and down 12.46 percent compared with the year-ago employment level, U.S. Surface Transportation Board data shows.

Five of six workforce categories posted month-to-month decreases. They were: professional and administrative, down 0.29 percent to 10,817; executives, officials and staff assistants, down 0.42 percent to 7,576 employees; transportation (train and engine), down 0.50 percent to 51,451; transportation (other than train and engine), down 0.56 percent to 5,316; and maintenance of equipment and stores, down 2.11 percent to 22,170.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) late last week proposed a rule that would define Amtrak on-time train performance and would set a minimum performance standard of 80 percent.

The proposed performance and service quality metrics would give Amtrak, its passengers, service providers, the FRA and others a common tool to help objectively gauge intercity passenger rail travel, FRA officials said in a press release.

Tealinc Ltd. has promoted Shannon Rodgers to manager of value creation-operations effective April 1. She will continue working out of the firm's office in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where she will remain focused on serving North American customers. Rodgers joined the company in 2019 with 20 years of experience at the Everett Railroad Co. and Watco Cos. LLC. At Tealinc, she has managed customer support projects, and developed and implemented processes to improve and drive efficiency and productivity, company officials said in a press release.

The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) has postponed its Annual Equipment Auction, which originally was scheduled for May 14 in Granite City, Illinois. The rescheduled date will be determined once more information about the COVID-19 pandemic is available, NRC officials said in a letter to its members.

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) has elected as its next chair Mario Cordero, executive director of the Port of Long Beach.

Cordero will be installed as chairman during the AAPA's 2020 Annual Convention to be held Sept. 13-16 in Quebec City, Quebec. He will assume the chairmanship from Gary Nelson, executive director of Port of Grays Harbor in Washington.

The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) earlier this week awarded United Freezer and Storage Co. a $21,000 grant to support rail upgrades at its plant in Austintown, Ohio.

The grant will help fund a $42,000 project to improve a rail spur on site that will enable the company to receive 72-foot rail cars.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) is calling on the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to extend the public comment period on establishing safety standards for the Texas Central Railroad’s Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail system. 

As the nation abides by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to limit the spread of COVID-19, the FRA canceled in-person public hearings for the project and replaced them with virtual meetings, Brady said in a statement.

The Maryland General Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill to extend the Maryland Transit Administration’s (MTA) MARC commuter-rail service into parts of Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

Under the proposal, MTA would be required to enter negotiations with Washington, D.C., Virginia and the railroads that use and own the tracks south of Washington Union Station. 

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is requesting $16 billion in emergency funding from Congress for public transit agencies and passenger railroads to offset the costs and revenue losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic, association officials announced yesterday. 

APTA on Wednesday originally requested $12.9 million in funding. The increased request is based on an internal survey of 163 public transit agencies and revised estimates of costs and losses.

Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis has selected CloudMoyo’s Crew Management solution to automate crew scheduling across all of its locations. The platform includes functions for crew eligibility, qualifications and certifications, hours of service, duty hour compliances, crew penalties, bidding rules, and records and vacation requests, CloudMoyo officials said in a press release. 

The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) issued a statement on the global outbreak of COVID-19, urging NRC members to adhere to the safety recommendations issued by the Center for Disease Control to protect their employees, families and the public community.  “The NRC is aware that our members have a continuing and crucial responsibility to help construct and maintain our nation’s railroads and rail-transit lines,” NRC officials said. “We also know the importance of a seamless rail network to the public health of this nation. We are in habitual contact with the (Federal Railroad Administration) on this matter and will relay any pertinent information that we receive.”

(Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:56 a.m. on March 20 due to new developments.)

Caltrain has suspended plans to increase the cost for single-ride fare and monthly passes on its Clipper fare card in April due to economic challenges facing the San Francisco Bay Area as a result of the coronavirus, the commuter-rail officials announced March 19.