Railroad News

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has reopened the Illinois Medical District Station's Damen Avenue entrance, the agency announced yesterday.

The development marked a milestone in CTA's $23 million renovation of the Blue Line station, which serves more than 940,000 riders each year and provides access to four major hospital systems.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao yesterday announced the appointment of David Horner and Steve McMillin to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) board.

Effective yesterday, the appointments come at a critical time for WMATA, Chao said in a press release.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and Keolis Commuter Services yesterday announced plans to improve the agency's ticket checking system for its commuter-rail network.

The initiative includes a revenue-sharing partnership between the agency and Keolis, which operates the MBTA's commuter-rail system. The agreement expands a marketing and ridership growth initiative aimed at allowing additional investment into the system, Keolis officials said in a press release.

Union Pacific Railroad has received a Telly Award for its "Your Life is Worth the Wait" videos that urge drivers to stop for trains at grade crossings, the Class I announced yesterday.

The video series, which reached 32 million viewers on social media, was part of UP's 2016 public safety awareness campaign, according to a UP press release.

Stephen Hoye has been named vice president of its Pacific Harbor Line (PHL) effective early next month.

Hoye will join the PHL from The Belt Railway Co. of Chicago, where he has been a superintendent since 2011.

Metrolinx has issued a request for qualifications for an operator to work with the agency as it finalizes arrangements for its GO Regional Express Rail (RER) plan.

As part of the plan, Metrolinx aims to increase the number of trains it runs each week from 1,500 to 6,000. The agency seeks a company with experience operating and maintaining service to passengers during a major construction and expansion program.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) has chosen a joint venture of TransitAmerica Services and Alternate Concepts Inc. to operate and manage service on the CTrail Hartford Line, a passenger-rail route that will run between New Haven, Conn., and Springfield, Mass.

Currently under construction, the Hartford Line is scheduled to launch in May 2018, according to a press release issued by Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy's office.

Joshua Engel-Yan, 38

Job description: Engel-Yan has worked in railroading at Metrolinx for eight years. He provides the evidence and analysis to inform the agency’s transportation planning and investment decisions. He leads teams of technical experts who specialize in ridership forecasting, mapping and economic modeling. In addition, Engel-Yan is responsible for the Metrolinx business case framework, which is aimed at ensuring that project assessments consider benefits and costs from a range of angles.

Education: Bachelor’s of applied science in systems design engineering, University of Waterloo; master's of applied science in civil engineering, University of Toronto

Alstom has inaugurated its first locomotive repair center in Astana, Kazakhstan. At the more than 28,000-square-foot facility, the company will perform overhauls of the Prima T8 and Prima M4 locomotives over the next 25 years. The facility includes a repair and testing shop, warehouse, spare parts shop and office space. The center also will be able to maintain products built by other companies, such as pantographs, transformers and braking systems. The Kazakh rail network spans about 8,700 miles and represents a "substantial market for maintenance activities," Alstom officials said in a press release. 

GCT Global Container Terminals Inc. has appointed Doron Grosman president and chief executive officer. He will be responsible for the company's operations in both Canada and the United States. Grosman succeeds Stephen Edwards, who held the position since 2012. Most recently, Grosman was an operating partner at Court Square Capital Partners. Before that, he was president for Hexcel Corp., a company specializing in advanced composites technology. Grosman also spent 11 years in various senior executive roles at GE and GE Plastics.

Union Pacific Railroad's rail safety programs contributed to a 5 percent decline in vehicle-train collisions at grade crossings in the first half of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016, the Class I announced late last week.

UP logged a 2.27 crossing accident rate across its 23-state network compared to a 2.40 rate during 2016's first half, UP officials said in a press release. The rates are calculated by the number of Federal Railroad Administration reportable crossing accidents per million train miles.

On July 22, the Sun Link streetcar system in Tucson, Arizona, marked its third anniversary.

Since its launch, the system has provided approximately 2.93 million rides, Sun Link officials said in a press release.

Last month, Metra logged an on-time performance rate of 95.3 percent.

The figure exceeded the commuter railroad's goal of operating at least 95 percent of trains on time, Metra officials said in a press release. The agency considers a train to be on time if it reaches its final destination within five minutes and 59 seconds of the scheduled arrival.

CSX has designated the South Alabama Mega Site in Bay Minette as a Select Site.

The site is located between Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, on CSX's mainline.

Class Is employed 148,627 workers in the United States as of mid-June, down 0.27 percent since mid-May's employment figure and down 2.49 percent compared with mid-June 2016's level, according to Surface Transportation Board data.

Four out of six employment categories reflected workforce decreases in mid-June compared with mid-May levels. Those categories were executives, officials and staff assistants, down 0.53 percent to 8,699 employees; maintenance of way and structures, down 0.34 percent to 34,042; maintenance of equipment and stores, down 1.54 percent to 27,300; and transportation (other than train and engine), down 0.34 percent to 5,805.

California Gov. Jerry Brown and several other elected officials, business leaders and transportation advocates gathered late last week for a groundbreaking ceremony for Caltrain's electrification project.

As part of the project, the commuter railroad will electrify its corridor between San Francisco and San Jose, California. Caltrain also will acquire new high-performance electric trains to deliver faster, more frequent service.

Caltrain is seeking public input on the look of seats for its new electric multiple unit trains.

The railroad will conduct public outreach and polling July 24, 25 and 28. Riders also can complete the polls online through July 28.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) this week began testing the first batch of its "Fleet of the Future" trains on mainline track during business hours.

The testing marks the first time the units will run during those hours on the mainline, although no passengers will be onboard, BART officials said in a press release.