Railroad News

Brightline next week will launch introductory passenger-rail service between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The company is working toward operational readiness by training staff and testing equipment, Brightline officials said in a press release late last week.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is urging Class Is, intercity passenger railroads and state and local transit agencies to implement positive train control (PTC) by the congressional deadline of Dec. 31.

In letters to railroad executives, Chao said the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is concerned that many of the nation's railroads are behind in implementing the federally mandated PTC technology by the Dec. 31 deadline.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 2, 2018 – Edward R. Hamberger, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads (AAR), issued the following statement on House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster’s (R-PA) announcement that he would not seek reelection.

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.

Federal Transit Administration Deputy Administrator K. Jane Williams outlined a series of concerns regarding an updated financial plan for the Hudson Tunnel project in a letter to New York State Director of Budget Robert Mujica on Dec. 29.

Metro Transit has rolled out a new feature for its mobile app that enables customers to text the agency about suspicious or unwanted behavior on trains and buses.

Using the "Text for Safety" function, riders can directly contact Metro Transit staff, who can respond by text and send police if needed, agency officials said in a press release.

Smart Sand, Inc. has completed construction of its unit train capable rail facility in Byron Township, Wis., and moved its first unit train via Union Pacific on Dec. 26.

"With construction completed, we now have the capacity for several hundred railcars and the optionality to ship unit trains on both the Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific railroads from our flagship Oakdale, Wisconsin mining operation," stated Charles Young, CEO of Smart Sand.

Calgary Transit this month completed renovations to the interior of the Rundle and Marlborough light-rail stations.

The agency modified the stations' layout to improve the flow of pedestrian traffic and installed new floor tiles, benches and wall panels. In addition, Calgary Transit improved station lighting, upgraded communication systems and installed more closed-circuit television cameras.

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) on Wednesday announced it awarded an $8.6 million contract to LoDuca Associates Inc. to build two new elevators at the Murray Hill Station in Queens, New York.

The hydraulic elevators will comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, LIRR officials said in a press release.

Canadian government officials have announced funding for the Peterborough-Toronto Freight-Rail Analysis project.

The Canadian and Ontario governments each will contribute up to CA$65,000 toward the project, according to an Infrastructure Canada press release.

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Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy earlier this week announced that 11 projects in towns and cities across the state will receive $15 million to support transit-oriented development (TOD) projects.

The funding package includes $1,847,000 for the construction of a retaining wall and surface parking lot across from an Amtrak station in Windsor Locks.

CN and Canadian Pacific have exceeded their maximum grain revenue entitlements for crop year 2016-2017, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) ruled last week.

CN's grain revenue of CA$808,213,784 was $5,773,741 above its entitlement of $802,440,043; and CP's grain revenue of CA$725,457,448 was $1,078,947 above its entitlement of $724,378,501, CTA officials said in a press release.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) late last week released preliminary details gathered from the locomotive event data recorder and inward- and outward-facing cameras from the Amtrak Cascades train that derailed Dec. 18 in Dupont, Washington.

The lead locomotive's event data and video recorders were downloaded and processed at the NTSB's lab in Washington, D.C. Among the details of the initial review of the final portion of the accident sequence:

On Dec. 20, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced the Tax Extender Act of 2017 (S. 2256), which proposes to extend several tax credits — including the Section 45G short-line tax credit — that either expired at 2016's end or are set to expire on Dec. 31.

Expired since Dec. 31, 2016, the short-line tax credit would be extended to Dec. 31, 2018. The Section 45G provision allows regionals and short lines to claim a 50 cent tax credit for each dollar they spend on track rehabilitation and maintenance projects, up to a cap of $3,500 per mile of owned or leased track.

Federal and provincial funding has been committed toward freight rail analysis of Ontario's Peterborough-Toronto-Havelock-Blue Mountain corridor.

The government of Canada and the province of Ontario are each contributing CA$65,000 (US$51,599) for the Peterborogh-Toronto Freight Rail Analysis project, which will define freight infrastructure requirements and outline the projected economic impact of potential future freight rail improvements along the rail corridor. Specifically, the project will evaluate the benefits and impacts associated with enabling increased freight rail capacity along the corridor.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) released the names of the 19 finalists in three categories as part of "The MTA Genius Transit Challenge."

The Sound Transit Board approved submission of an application for a $1.17 billion grant for the Lynnwood Link Extension on Dec. 21, moving toward breaking ground in 2018 and extending light-rail service to Snohomish County residents in 2024.

Stone Canyon Industries LLC has acquired Magnus LLC, a producer and global supplier of bronze locomotive traction support bearings. Stone Canyon, which acquired A. Stucki Co. in September 2015, is a global manufacturer and supplier of rail-car locomotive and industrial parts. Magnus will continue to operate out of its facility in Fremont, Nebraska, and Magnus President John Macklin will report directly to A. Stucki Chief Executive Officer Bill Kiefer, A. Stucki officials said in a press release. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has completed its acquisition of CH2M for $2.85 billion in cash and stock, according to a Jacobs press release. The combined firm will continue to make talent retention and hiring a priority. Additionally, the transaction is expected to make the combined company an "employer of choice" in the $300 billion-a-year transportation sector, Jacobs officials said. In August, Jacobs announced it had reached an agreement to acquire CH2M.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) late last week announced that it completed a $2.1 million renovation of the Washington Park MAX light-rail station in Portland.

The station now features graffiti-resistant wall coatings, LED lighting and elevator lobby upgrades. The new LEDs, which are engineered to last up to 20 years, use one-sixth of the electricity as metal halide bulbs, TriMet officials said in a press release.