Railroad News

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and U.S. Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) recently joined members of the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA) and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) for tours of rail suppliers' facilities and public policy discussions.

Peters joined representatives from REMSA member company Harsco Rail earlier this month for a tour of the company's Ludington, Michigan, facility, which engineers and produces track maintenance equipment for railway systems in North American and global markets.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHRSA) late last week released its latest annual sustainability report.

The document updates progress made in 2017 and details the agency's approach to designing, constructing and operating high-speed rail in a sustainable manner.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) today will begin signal system repairs on portions of its Blue and Green light-rail lines.

The project, which might cause minor train delays, is expected to take three to four months to finish, agency officials said in a press release.

G3 Canada Ltd. last week marked the openings of two high-efficiency grain elevators in Saskatchewan.

The new facilities increase G3's grain origination network in western Canada. The elevators in Melville and Saskatoon are located on CN's network, which also provides access to G3's Thunder Bay and St. Lawrence River terminals, G3 officials said in a press release.

The Port of Everett last week hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction on the South Terminal modernization project.

The $36 million effort is the largest capital project in the port's history. It is designed to ensure the port is ready to support the next generation of over-dimensional cargo, such as aerospace parts for Boeing Co.'s new 777X, port officials said in a press release.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) tomorrow will host its first public meeting on the $40 billion "Fast Forward" plan to modernize its subway and bus systems.

The agency expects to host a series of similar town hall-style meetings across the city. Tomorrow's meeting will take place at York College in Queens.

Port Manatee and Carver Maritime LLC have entered into a long-term marine terminal operating agreement for a 10-acre aggregate offloading site at the Florida Gulf Coast port.

The agreement, which could last up to 20 years including options, was approved Aug. 16 by the Manatee County Port Authority, port officials said in a press release.

During the 2017-18 crop year, Canadian Pacific moved 25.8 million metric tons of western Canadian grain and grain products, soybeans and other non-regulated principal field crops.

That marks a 1 percent increase compared with volume in the 2016-17 crop year, CP officials said in a press release. The figure is also 1 percent above the railroad's three-year average. Additionally, in September 2017, CP handled its most grain to date.

Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. (GREX) has added Bruce Wise as director of business development. He'll focus on strategic accounts and new products as the company continues to develop track inspection and maintenance technologies, GREX officials said in a press release. Wise has more than three decades of experience in engineering, sales, management and leadership experience. He most recently served as director of railroad sales at Whitmore Rail in Rockwall, Texas. Since 2009, Wise has served on the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association's board. For the 2017-2018 term, he served as board president.

Stewart & Stevenson Manufacturing Technologies has named Eastern Lift Truck Co. Inc. as the sole authorized dealership to market, sell and service its Rail King® rail-car movers within the Mid-Atlantic region. Headquartered in Houston, Stewart & Stevenson manufactures five different Rail King rail-car movers, which feature side-mount or full-width cabs with dual direction controls. The company chose Eastern Lift for its "first-class" service, Stewart & Stevenson officials said in a press release.

Metro Transit-St. Louis on Aug. 20 will begin extending the platform of its Central West End MetroLink station.

The platform is being extended to the east to better accommodate the volume of riders using the station, Metro Transit officials said in a press release. The stop is the busiest station on the 46-mile MetroLink light-rail system.

The Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) board earlier this week awarded a $30 million contract to F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates LLC to renovate the Grand, Chicago and Division rail stations along the Blue Line.

Each station will be equipped with new railings, lighting, security cameras and other improvements. The project marks the largest renovation of the three subway stations since they opened in 1951, CTA officials said in a press release.

Infrastructure improvements along a stretch of the North Carolina Railroad Co. (NCRR) in High Point, North Carolina, have been completed, the railroad announced this week.

In January, NCRR and High Point officials agreed to a $5.1 million plan to improve the railroad corridor and drainage in the city's downtown. NCRR funded $3.6 million of the project's cost, NCRR officials said in a press release.

Michigan has become the latest state to achieve federal certification of its transit-rail safety oversight program, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced yesterday.

States with transit-rail systems need to get their safety programs certified by April 15, 2019. Twenty-eight states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are required to obtain the certification. States that fail to meet the deadline risk losing federal transit funding.

Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad (CSS) is joining a local two-year project aimed at increasing train capacity between Gary and Michigan City, Indiana.

The railroad will work with the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) and the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) on the project, which is designed to improve passenger-rail service between Chicago and South Bend, Indiana, and support economic growth in northwest Indiana, CSS officials said in a press release.

The Pennsylvania State Transportation Commission has adopted an updated 12-year transportation plan, which calls for $63.9 billion worth of improvements to railroads, transit systems, roads, bridges and airports.

The new program, which goes into effect Oct. 1, calls for $9.62 billion for public transit, $319 million for multimodal and $228 million for freight-rail projects during 2019 through 2022, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

Cecily Way, 35

Job description: Responsible for delivery of high-speed rail to Southern California. Currently focused on completing preliminary engineering and environmental approvals for over 150 miles of high-speed rail in the southern region. Works alongside a team of project managers and technical experts to oversee this effort. Also focused on the delivery of early investments in Southern California, projects that the California High-Speed Rail Authority is working on with local partners to see immediate benefits for existing systems while accommodating high-speed rail in the future.

Education: Undergraduate degree in civil engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; master's degrees in transportation engineering and city planning, University of California, Berkeley

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has begun upgrading old cameras to high-definition ones at four stations along the Blue Line.

The agency also is installing new cameras at the Clinton, LaSalle, Grand and Chicago stations along the line. Slated to be completed shortly after Labor Day, the work is being performed at night to minimize service disruptions, CTA officials said in a press release.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has not yet distributed $1.38 billion in federal funding that's been designated for transit-rail and bus projects, causing delays in transit agencies' construction plans, according to a report from Transportation for America.

The organization reported this week that the FTA has distributed about $25 million of $1.4 billion in transit-related grants that were included in the 2018 appropriations bill signed in March by President Trump.