Railroad News

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday announced the availability of $26.5 million in state funding to preserve and improve rail and port services in major trade and passenger corridors across the state.

The funds come from the Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program, which was included in the New York State Department of Transportation's (NYSDOT) $29 billion, five-year state transportation plan.

U.S. railroads moved 539,963 carloads and intermodal units in the week ending Feb. 17, a 3.1 percent increase compared with the same week last year, according to Association of American Railroads' (AAR) data.

The railroads logged 260,454 carloads, down 0.6 percent, and 279,509 intermodal units, up 6.8 percent, compared with the same week last year.

A garbage truck involved in a fatal Amtrak accident late last month had entered a grade crossing after the warning gates were lowered, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced yesterday.

On Jan. 31, an Amtrak train struck a garbage truck that was stopped at the crossing in Crozet, Virginia. The train was carrying Republican members of Congress on their way to a legislative retreat in West Virginia.

Metra's board yesterday approved the purchase of up to 21 used F59PHI locomotives for $1.3 million apiece. 

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has appointed Catherine Rinaldi president of MTA Metro-North Railroad.

She has served as the railroad's acting president since July 2017. Before that, she was Metro-North's executive vice president.

By Richard Kloster and Rob Hart

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) yesterday announced it will expand its "GoLink" on-demand shuttle service to provide "last-mile access" for light-rail riders in southern Dallas and Plano, Texas.

Starting Feb. 26, the agency will roll out three new southern Dallas zones for the shuttle service. The Inland Port zone will cater to a largely unserved industrial and commercial area out of the light-rail stop on the University of North Texas at Dallas campus.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) is considering delaying a planned 2018 fare hike for at least another year to complete a comprehensive fare study.

The agency's operational planning and infrastructure committee recommended putting the fare increase on hold after yesterday's meeting of the full GCRTA board.

BNSF Railway Co. will spend $110 million this year on network maintenance projects in Oklahoma.

The Class I's Oklahoma capital expenditures program in 2018 will primarily focus on replacing and upgrading rail, ties and ballast, according to a BNSF press release.

As of mid-January, Class Is in the United States employed 144,329 workers, down 0.75 percent since mid-December's employment figure and down 2.76 percent compared with mid-January 2017's level, according to the Surface Transportation Board.

Five of six employment categories reflected workforce decreases in mid-January compared with mid-December. Those categories were executives, officials and staff assistants, down 3.62 percent to 7,830 employees; transportation (train and engine) down 1.29 percent to 59,684; maintenance of way and structures, down 0.99 percent to 32,132; transportation (other than train and engine) down 0.78 percent to 5,581; and maintenance of equipment and stores, down 0.12 percent to 26,564.

Sound Transit has chosen Siemens to supply 13 traction power substations and two medium-voltage substations for the Northgate and East Link light-rail extensions.

The company also will provide a cross-passage tunnel tie station on the extensions and upgrade an existing substation it supplied in 2008.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has certified an emissions-reduction system for one of the North Carolina Department of Transportation's (NCDOT) passenger locomotives.

Known as a blended after-treatment system (BATS), the technology uses catalytic reduction to chemically remove diesel engine emission pollutants from the locomotive's exhaust before it's released into the air.

In 2017, 1,090 railway accidents were reported to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), a 21 percent increase over 2016 but close to the five-year average of 1,028, the board reported yesterday.

There were 77 rail-related fatalities in 2017 — 11 more than the previous year and two more than the five-year average, according to the TSB's preliminary statistics report on transportation occurrences.

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