Railroad News

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) crews earlier this week began replacing rail power cables on weekdays in downtown San Francisco, a project made possible by reduced ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Previously, power cable replacement work was performed late at night and on Sundays. With reduced ridership on the system, BART crews are now able to start replacements earlier. 

TNW Corp. has hired Bobby Franklin as general manager of the Texas North Western Railway (TXNW) in Sunray, Texas.

Franklin has extensive experience in the rail industry, most recently serving as vice president at the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad. His previous roles include chief transportation at the New Orleans railroad, as well as terminal manager and superintendent during a 12-year career at CSX.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) earlier this week reached an agreement with its labor unions on family benefits for transportation workers who died of COVID-19.

The benefits include a payment of $500,000 from the MTA to the surviving family of any worker who lost their life as a result of COVID-19. The agency will also provide health insurance to the spouse and dependents of the worker for three years. 

American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Chairwoman Nuria Fernandez has established a task force to guide the transit agency's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The APTA Mobility Recovery and Restoration Task Force will be led by Phillip Washington, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and former APTA chair. Serving as task force co-chairs are Joanna Pinkerton, president and CEO of Central Ohio Transit Authority; and Paul Wiedefeld, general manager and CEO of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on all business sectors continues to be reflected in U.S. freight-rail traffic numbers, with railroads logging 412,503 carloads and intermodal units during the week ending April 11, a 21.9 percent decrease compared with the same week in 2019, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total carloads for the week were 198,726 units, down 23.8 percent. Intermodal volume was 213,777 containers and trailers, down 20 percent.

The Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MDOT MTA) has awarded a three-year contract to RailWorks Corp. to provide track and maintenance services for the Metro SubwayLink and Light RailLink divisions, the company announced yesterday.

RailWorks' track services subsidiary will perform all minor, major and preventive track maintenance, as well as emergency response services on the 77 miles of Metro SubwayLink and Light RailLink track within the state's system.

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro) commuter-rail riders must wear a mask or other facial covering, Austin, Texas, city officials announced this week.

City officials issued an order requiring the public to wear masks in all public facilities or when in locations where proper social distancing is not possible, including on transit vehicles. 

TransLink is seeking federal and provincial emergency relief funding to offset expenses incurred by providing essential transit service in Vancouver, British Columbia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

TransLink is losing CA$75 million per month due to low ridership levels on its SkyTrain and bus networks, falling fuel tax revenue and fare suspensions on its bus system, agency officials said in a press release.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has extended until April 28 the public review period of the draft environmental impact report (EIR) for the Bakersfield-to-Palmdale section of the high-speed rail system.

The 15-day extension will allow stakeholders and the public to review and submit comments on the draft EIR during the COVID-19 pandemic, CHSRA officials said in a press release.

Amtrak, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New Jersey Transit, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other regional transit operators are coming together tomorrow to simultaneously sound vehicle horns at 3 p.m. EST to honor essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The #SoundTheHorn campaign is meant to pay tribute to frontline workers, including train engineers.

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) in March logged 13,870 rail moves at its Inland Port Greer and 1,614 at Inland Port Dillon.

The SCPA didn't announce year-over-year figures for March. However, Port Greer posted 113,790 rail moves so far in fiscal-year 2020 (July 2019 through March 2020), a 15 percent increase, and 24,507 rail moves at Port Dillon, up 17 percent compared with the same period a year ago, SCPA officials said in a press release.

The California Debt Limit Allocation Committee yesterday approved $600 million in tax-exempt bonds for Brightline/Virgin Trains USA's XpressWest, a proposed high-speed rail route between Las Vegas and Southern California.

Internal Revenue Service guidelines allow Brightline/Virgin Trains to market up to four times the amount of the $600 million in bonding authority, for a total of $2.4 billion in tax-free, private equity bonds, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.

Amtrak selected Skanska to rehabilitate three maintenance facilities for the next-generation Acela high-speed rail service on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston, Skanska announced today in a press release.

Under the $40 million contract, Skanska will make structural modifications and industrial equipment upgrades to three maintenance facilities built 20 years ago.

Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit (HART) contractor Hitachi Rail late last month received four new rail cars for the transit agency's future passenger-rail system along Oahu’s south shore. 

With the new order, 11 four-car trains out of the agency’s 17 train order are being housed at HART’s rail operations center in Waipahu, Hawaii.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy last week signed an executive order to enforce New Jersey Transit social distancing policies to limit the spread of COVID-19. The order went into effect yesterday.

Under the order, NJ Transit rail riders are required to wear a mask and workers must wear gloves when in contact with riders. 

Amtrak yesterday suspended the Downeaster service between Boston and Brunswick, Maine, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The suspension will remain in effect through at least April 30, Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority officials said in a press release.

A coalition of rail labor organizations is asking the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to ensure freight railroads are recalling furloughed workers before seeking waivers from federal safety regulations.

In an April 9 letter to Federal Railroad Administrator Ronald Batory, the unions said there "must be a strong burden of proof for rail carriers to demonstrate that there is a true labor shortage" before requesting waivers from certain regulations due to a COVID-19-related worker staffing shortage.