Railroad News

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao late last week informed Congress that the U.S. Department of Transportation has proposed nearly $79 million in grants for freight-related rail, port and roadway infrastructure projects under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

The notification to Congress, sent Aug. 2, initiates a 60-day period in which Congress could vote to disapprove the proposed projects if it finds a project objectionable, according to a report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).

Myat Ohn, 34

Job description: Ohn serves as the deputy segment lead for the the San Jose-Merced section of California’s high-speed rail project. In her role, she manages the project’s scope, schedule, budget and sub-consultants. Ohn also designs the track plan and profile as track and guideway lead for the section. In addition, she coordinates with other rail agencies, cities, counties and stakeholders.

Education: Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering, University of California-Berkeley

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) joined representatives of Omaha Track Inc. and local railroads to tour the company's facilities in Omaha this week.

Omaha Track President and Owner Terry Peterson led the tour, which included visits to the new corporate office and the Omaha Track Equipment facility, where maintenance-of-way equipment is custom built, fabricated and maintained.

Canadian Pacific yesterday released its 2016 corporate sustainability report.

The document outlines the railroad's commitment to "long-term value creation and sustainable operations," CP officials said in a press release.

Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure Inc. on Wednesday announced a new seven-year transloading agreement with an exploration and production operator in the Sooner Trend Anadarko Basin Canadian and Kingfisher Counties (STACK) oil play in Oklahoma.

Under the agreement, the operator will provide minimum quarterly proppant volumes through a new facility that Solaris is developing in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has launched BuildHSR.com, a new website that provides updates about the 119 miles of construction underway in the state's Central Valley.

The site will be updated regularly with road and construction alerts, photos, videos construction milestones and events, CHSRA officials said in a press release.

Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB) yesterday recommended that Transport Canada incorporate predictive data on rail surface conditions to help improve track inspections.

The board's recommendation was part of its investigation into the March 2015 derailment and fire involving a CN freight train near Gogama, Ontario, TSB officials said in a press release.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) will award a $7.89 million grant to help fund a railroad bridge repair project in Maine, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced yesterday.

The grant is being awarded under the USDOT grant program known as Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-Term Achievement of National Efficiencies, or FASTLANE. The $7.89 million in funding will be provided to the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) for a project to repair and upgrade 22 rail bridges on the Madawaska Subdivision of the Maine Northern Railway, according to a press release issued by Collins' office.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has issued a record of decision for a project to replace Amtrak's Portal Bridge in New Jersey.

The document formally adopts the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) environmental impact statement for the project, which involves replacing a century-old swing bridge over the Hackensack River in New Jersey with a high-level fixed bridge.

Julie Mink, 37

Job description: As president of a small company, Mink is involved in every facet of the company. Her duties include establishing policies and procedures, implementing long-term planning and strategy, initiating employee development programs, generating marketing materials and developing business with existing and new customers to provide rail-car sales, rail-car leases, transportation consulting or management services.

Education: Studied journalism and business management at University of Northern Colorado; graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver with a degree in business management.

MTA Metro-North Railroad on Aug. 23 will host a public hearing on a proposal to permanently increase service at two Harlem Line stations in the Bronx, New York.

The plan would make permanent a pilot program from October 2016. In an effort to build ridership and provide Bronx residents with more travel options, Metro-North previously implemented a program that provided hourly service at the Tremont and Melrose stations during off-peak and weekend travel times. The stations previously were served at two-hour intervals.

The Alberta Midland Railway Terminal Ltd.'s (AMRT) project to build a rail logistics center in Lamont County is well underway, the company announced earlier this week.

The facility will be located on CN's Prairie North Line between Edmonton and Winnipeg. It is designed to store up to 850 rail cars and is located next to customers in Edmonton who ship liquified petroleum gas, petroleum products and plastics, AMRT officials said in a press release.

North Carolina state and local officials on Tuesday christened two rebuilt locomotives for use on Amtrak's daily Piedmont service.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), which operates the service with Amtrak, names its locomotives for cities along the Raleigh-to-Charlotte corridor. The two rehabbed locomotives were dubbed the "Town of Cary" and the "City of Kannapolis."

CSX is working closely with first responders to manage rail cars that derailed and caught fire yesterday morning in Hyndman, Pennsylvania.

The derailment involved at least 32 cars, some of which contained hazardous materials, CSX officials said in a press release. At least one car that contained liquified petroleum gas and at least one car that contained molten sulphur leaked and caught fire.

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation's (HART) board has appointed Andrew Robbins executive director and chief executive officer.

Robbins has experience in urban passenger rail, rail equipment, infrastructure, construction management, systems integration and airport transit, HART officials said in a press release.

Carloads moved by U.S. railroads slipped 0.6 percent to 1,019,239 units last month compared with July 2016, marking the first decline in U.S. carload activity since October 2016, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported yesterday.

When combined with intermodal volumes — which rose 5.6 percent to 1,058,354 containers and trailers — the total traffic moved by U.S. railroads last month climbed 2.5 percent to 2,077,593 units compared with July 2016, according to an AAR press release.

CSX President and Chief Executive Officer E. Hunter Harrison has emailed customers a letter apologizing for recent service disruptions that have occurred as the Class I goes through its restructuring.

The email was sent in response to recent customer complaints about the quality of CSX service. The complaints prompted the Surface Transportation Board last week to contact Harrison and ask the company to address the situation.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman Joseph Lhota today announced the appointment of Patrick Foye as the agency's president and Veronique Hakim as managing director.

Foye and Hakim will serve in the newly created office of the chairman, which also will include MTA Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber.