Railroad News

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U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) officials last week kicked off construction of the new Volpe Center, a 400,000-square-foot federal research facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The project calls for reducing the current Volpe Center from 14 acres to 4 acres, and from six buildings to one building, in order to reduce operating costs and unlock land for development by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USDOT officials said in a press release.

TransLink this month is seeking public feedback on the elevated guideway placement and accessibility of the proposed 10-mile SkyTrain Expo Line extension from the King George Station to Langley, British Columbia.

TransLink officials are soliciting the public's input on three proposed SkyTrain guideway placements, which would run along Fraser Highway either on the north or south side of the roadway, or in the center of the median.

U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) has introduced legislation that would ban smoking on Amtrak trains.

Amtrak has an internal policy that prohibits smoking on trains, but the legislation would make that policy a federal law. Consistent with the railroad's policy, the federal ban would apply to all tobacco use, as well as electronic cigarettes, Carper said in a press release.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Fiscal and Management Control Board yesterday awarded a $36 million contract to Daniel O’Connell and Sons Inc. for station and accessibility improvements at Natick Center Station on the Framingham/Worcester commuter-rail line in Natick, Massachusetts. 

The project will include the construction of two elevators, two accessible ramps and two stairways, as well as the replacement of all ground level train platforms with full-length, high-level platforms, MBTA officials said in a press release.

The Kansas City Streetcar Authority last week began passenger service on its newest streetcar, marking completion of the authority’s fleet expansion to six streetcars.

The addition of car No. 806 enables the authority to operate four streetcars every Saturday throughout the year. It also allows the authority to perform regular maintenance on the entire fleet, KC Streetcar officials said in a press release.

The Metropolitan Council, which serves Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, last week announced that Chair Nora Slawik will resign from her post as of Nov. 15.

In an Oct. 31 letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Slawik cited health issues related to the demands of the position as her reason for resigning. 

Virgin Trains USA LLC last week announced that Brightline will build a passenger-rail station at PortMiami by 2021.

The Brightline high-speed passenger-rail service to the PortMiami station also will serve the Orlando International Airport, making it the only intercity rail system in the United States to connect an international airport directly to a major cruise port, Virgin Trains USA officials said in a press release.

The North Carolina and Virginia Railroad Co. LLC (NCVA) has upgraded its 56-mile line to handle 286,000-pound rail cars.

The infrastructure improvements will enable customers to ship and receive 286,000-pound rail cars, which matches the capacity of national railroads and increases the short line's competitiveness, NCVA officials said in a press release.
 
NVCA's previous capacity was 271,000-pound rail-car loadings.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) last week issued a request for proposals (RFP) seeking a contractor to assist in the early stages of development of the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project.

The RFP calls for a pre-development agreement with up to two private sector contractors to assist the agency in the planning and design of a fixed guideway transit line connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside, and ultimately Los Angeles International Airport. 

Total intermodal volume fell 3.7 percent to 4,662,468 units during the third quarter compared with the same period last year, the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) reported late last week.

Year over year, international shipments (2,450,493) slipped 0.8 percent in the quarter, while domestic containers (1,915,342)  and trailers (296,633) dropped 4.9 percent and 17.6 percent, respectively.

Leaders of 10 rail unions announced late last week that their organizations will participate in coordinated bargaining in the round of national negotiations with freight railroads that began Nov. 1.

The unions comprising the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition are the American Train Dispatchers Association; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen/Teamsters Rail Conference; Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; International Association of Machinists; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers; National Conference of Firemen & Oilers/SEIU; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; Transport Workers Union of America; Transportation Communications Union; and Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.

Alstom will conduct a two-week test of its Coradia iLint hydrogen fuel cell-powered passenger train on track between Groningen and Leeuwarden, Netherlands, in first-quarter 2020. The test's objective is to demonstrate that hydrogen fuel cell technology is an appropriate way to achieve zero-emissions rail traffic on nonelectrified lines in the Netherlands diesel trains now operate, Alstom officials said in a press release.

The Andersons Inc. hired Christine Castellano as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective in February 2020. Castellano will succeed Naran Burchinow, who will retire in March 2020 after more than 15 years at The Andersons, company officials said in a press release. Castellano is the former SVP, general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer for Ingredion Inc.

American Public Transportation Association (APTA) President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Skoutelas yesterday lauded the U.S. Senate’s adoption of an amendment that blocks a 12 percent funding cut to transit agencies in fiscal-year 2020. 

The U.S. Senate yesterday adopted Jones-McSally Amendment No. 1141 and passed H.R. 3055, a minibus appropriations bill that includes the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations bill.