Railroad News

MTA Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) $5.6 billion transformation initiative is now underway, railroad officials announced last week.

The initiative calls for 100 capital projects, including the addition of a third track along a 9.8-mile stretch of the Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville, New York.

Funding for the Gateway Tunnel project was included in a $1.2 trillion spending bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed last week.

The bill includes more than $900 million for the Gateway project in the transportation appropriations of H.R. 3354, said U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) in a press release.

The League of Railway Industry Women (LRIW) today announced Transportation Technology Center Inc. (TTCI) President Lisa Stabler has been named winner of the 2017 Outstanding Woman of the Year Award.

Stabler received the award at the general session of the Railway Interchange conference now underway in Indianapolis.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) late last week opened its renovated 53rd Street R Line subway station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

The station now features enhanced LED lighting, Wi-Fi connectivity, new digital displays, USB ports and countdown clocks to give real-time arrival information. Other upgrades include wayfinding floor tiles for the visually impaired, new handrails, stair treads, wall tiles and granite flooring.

Metra yesterday unveiled a new locomotive wrap to commemorate 40 years of continuous passenger service with its F40PH locomotives.

The Chicago Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) began taking delivery of its first set of F40PH locomotives in 1977. The agency started off with 28 of those units and eventually grew the fleet to 118. EMD developed the model and produced more than 500 of the units for the North American market.

The South Carolina Ports Authority yesterday welcomed to Charleston Harbor the CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt, the biggest ship to transit the Panama Canal and call on U.S. East Coast ports.

The 1,200-foot CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt — which has a capacity of 14,400 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) — arrived on the heels of the first construction contract for the Charleston Harbor deepening project being awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, port officials said in a press release.

Amtrak yesterday launched a new marketing campaign that takes aim at inconveniences travelers may face when journeying by car or plane.

Dubbed "Break the Travel Quo," the campaign features ads that highlight some of the "realities of air and car travel that have become par for the course," Amtrak officials said in a press release.

Michael Ward, who retired earlier this year as chairman and chief executive officer of CSX Corp., has been appointed to coal supplier Contura Energy Inc.'s board.

Ward spent 40 years at CSX and its predecessor company, Chessie System Inc. Most recently, he was the Class I's chairman and CEO from 2003 until his retirement. He was succeeded as CEO by E. Hunter Harrison.

The Port of Los Angeles registered a record-breaking August for container volume, marking the port's second-best month in its 110-year history, port officials announced Wednesday.

Container volume climbed 6.1 percent to 847,857 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in August compared with the same month a year ago. The port’s busiest-ever month was November 2016, when it registered 877,564 TEUs.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has received 82 unsolicited proposals to improve its services.

Of that total, the agency has reviewed 75. Five are still being reviewed, while 22 have advanced to a "more detailed analysis" phase, the agency's blog reported yesterday.

U.S. railroads' total carload volume fell 1.9 percent during the week ending Sept. 9, but total railroad volumes ticked up 0.8 percent thanks to a 3.6 percent increase in intermodal traffic compared with the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week.

U.S. roads moved 247,930 carloads and 238,544 intermodal containers and trailers during the week, according to an AAR press release.

Tacoma Rail has selected Herzog Technologies Inc. to provide its positive train control (PTC) hosting services. Herzog's PTC hosting is aimed at simplifying and accelerating implementation of the train control technology, utilizing the company's PTC expertise and existing PTC data center infrastructure. Herzog will assist Tacoma Rail in meeting the mandated PTC deadline. The company also will help the short-line operator be interoperable with host railroads, Herzog officials said in a press release.

Keolis' Australian subsidiary Keolis Downer has obtained a contract to continue operating Yarra Trams in Melbourne, Australia. The new franchise will begin Nov. 30 and expire in 2024, according to a Keolis press release. Keolis Downer will focus on improving passenger satisfaction by delivering safer, more reliable and passenger-friendly services for locals, company officials said. Operated by Keolis Downer since 2009, Melbourne's tram network includes 24 routes, as well as the City Circle tram.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) on Tuesday announced that ridership on the MAX Orange Line light-rail route grew to 3,484,200 trips during its second year of operation.

The figure represents a 6.1 percent increase compared with ridership during the Orange Line's first year of operation, when 3,285,400 trips were taken on the line. The route opened in September 2015.

Pierre-Luc Mathieu has been named president of OmniTRAX Energy Solutions (OES), parent company OmniTRAX Inc. announced yesterday.

Mathieu previously served as chief strategy officer for OmniTRAX.

Pan Am Railways and DP World have agreed to form a new direct intermodal service connecting the Boston market to Port Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada.

The new agreement provides a "viable alternative" to customers in the New England area, said officials representing DP World, the port's terminal operator. Port Saint John provides connections to more than 500 international destinations.

The Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) board yesterday awarded a $30.8 million contract to Walsh Construction Co. II LLC to rehabilitate and upgrade two Blue Line terminals.

The company will perform a range of improvements at the Jefferson Park and Belmont stations. The enhancements include new signage, interior and exterior painting, new LED lighting, and replacement of the bus terminal concrete and rail station platform surfaces.

Norfolk Southern Railway has restored service on mainline track throughout Georgia and Florida following the impact of Hurricane Irma, the Class I announced today.

Regularly scheduled road train service has resumed while NS continues to "meter in traffic" to Savannah and Brunswick, Ga..; Jacksonville, Fla.; and surrounding areas, according to an NS update on its operations.

Metra's board yesterday approved a $21.6 million contract to replace a 136-year-old bridge over the Fox River along the Milwaukee District West Line in Elgin, Illinois.

The contract was awarded to Illinois Construction Corp., the lowest bidder. The $34 million project involves replacing the existing single-track bridge with a double-track one built to modern standards, Metra officials said in a press release.

The Greenbrier Cos. Inc. has built its 50,000th covered hopper rail car, the company announced today. In February, Greenbrier completed production of its 100,00th intermodal double-stack rail car. Both milestones exemplify the company's "transformation from a limited builder of specialized rail cars to a broad-based manufacturer of virtually all rail-car types," Greenbrier officials said in a press release. The company built its first covered hopper rail car more than 11 years ago. Greenbreir now builds a full line of small, medium and large covered hopper rail cars with freight-carrying capacities from 3,250 cubic feet up to 6,580 cubic feet.

Thales has closed on its acquisition of Guavus, a Big Data analytics company. The transaction is expected to help Thales address the growing needs of an "increasingly connected global ecosystem," Thales officials said in a press release. Guavus has built an industrial Big Data platform designed to be implemented across multiple new markets. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Guavus employs 250 people. Its revenue is expected to exceed $30 million for the current fiscal year, according to Thales. Thales announced plans to acquire the company in spring.