Railroad News

The Executive Committee of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, (TTD) yesterday elected Larry Willis president and Gary Regan secretary-treasurer.

Willis succeeds Edward Wytkind, who stepped down from the post after more than two decades of service. During his tenure, Wytkind increased the number of member unions to 32 from 18, TTD officials said in a press release.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) earlier this week presented to Congress a final report on restoring Amtrak service along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Prepared by the Gulf Coast Working Group, the report estimates that the capital costs for restoring the service would be $118 million.

Norfolk Southern Corp. will consolidate its Central Division headquarters operation in Knoxville, Tennessee, into three surrounding divisions by early November, the Class I announced yesterday.

The consolidation will reduce the number of NS' operating divisions to nine from 10. Dispatching responsibilities now handled from the Central Division, which includes track primarily in Tennessee and Kentucky, will be divided among operating divisions headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama; Decatur, Illinois; and Fort Wayne, Indiana, NS officials said in a press release.

CSX Corp. reported second-quarter net earnings rose 15 percent to $510 million from $445 million during the same period last year, as the Class I continued its restructuring under President and Chief Executive Officer E. Hunter Harrison.

Q2 earnings per share increased to 55 cents for the quarter from 47 cents a year ago. Without a $122 million restructuring charge taken during the quarter, the Class I's adjusted earnings per share was 64 cents, CSX officials said in a press release.

PowerRail Inc. has announced the formation of a new sister company known as PowerSeal Solutions™. The move is aimed at helping the rail industry solve locomotive leak issues while increasing reliability, PowerRail officials said in a press release. PowerSeal Solutions will manufacture all of its products in-house and will perform its own analysis and testing processes. The new company also will provide the same product lines currently offered by PowerRail in all applications.

ABB has obtained a $20 million contract from Great Britain's Network Rail to provide a trackside power electronics solution for new high-speed trains along the East Coast Mainline route. To run on electricity, the trains will need about three times more power than is currently available. ABB developed a "static frequency converter" solution that will adapt the feed from the existing Northern Powergrid local distribution network. This is expected to result in a total cost saving of 60 percent compared with building a new high-voltage connection, ABB officials said in a press release.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) yesterday launched the Hop Fastpass™ electronic fare payment system.

The technology enables riders to use a contactless payment devices — such as a Hop card — to pay for fares on TriMet trains and buses. In the coming weeks, passengers will be able to use a contactless bank card or smartphone with a mobile wallet connected to a bank card to pay for trips.

Pennsylvania's Public-Private Partnership (P3) Board has approved a project to pursue transit-oriented development (TOD) at one or more train stations along Amtrak's Keystone Corridor between Harrisburg and Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) will seek proposals to develop and connect the areas around at least one Amtrak station. Locations to be considered include Harrisburg, Elizabethtown, Mount Joy, Lancaster, Parkesburg and Downingtown, according to a PennDOT press release issued late last week.

Sound Transit's Angle Lake light-rail station has earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The designation results from Sound Transit's use of sustainable practices in the construction and design of the station, which opened in SeaTac, Washington, in September 2016.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) and its contractor Kleinfelder have begun performing geotechnical work for underground high-speed rail tunnels in the Pacheco Pass.

Drilling crews are taking soil and rock samples from several locations within the public right of way along State Route 152. These samples will be used to determine the exact conditions of the ground below, where roughly 13 miles of future high-speed rail tunnels are proposed.

Talgo Inc. has begun refurbishing rail cars in Milwaukee under the Spanish train manufacturer's contract with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA).

Talgo and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett announced last year that the manufacturer would return to Milwaukee's Century City business park, where it once built high-speed trains for Wisconsin and Oregon.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Managing Editor

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has dismissed a track department supervisor for overtime abuse, the agency announced late last week.

WMATA determined the employee violated the agency's policies and received "significant overtime earnings," even during times when he wasn't working, agency officials said in a press release.

Valley Metro has named Mary Modelski internal auditor and Paula Novacek controller.

Modelski has more than 18 years of experience auditing business processes, operational efficiency and effectiveness, agency officials said in a press release.

The Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors (CAGTC) released its second white paper that explores why the nation's freight infrastructure should be improved.

Titled "The Vital Role of U.S. Transportation Infrastructure in Moving Agriculture Forward," the report reviews the impact that deteriorating infrastructure has on U.S. agricultural competitiveness in the global market, CAGTC officials said in a press release.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) on July 31 will partially close seven N line rail stations in Brooklyn to complete the final phase of a $395.7 million renovation project.

The stations' Coney Island-bound platforms will remain closed until late 2018.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) posted a 2.8 percent increase in its North American carload traffic in the second quarter and a 3.3 percent increase in June compared with the same periods a year ago.

Last month, G&W's North American operations hauled 135,654 carloads compared with 131,338 in June 2016. The activity included carloads from the Providence and Worcester Railroad Co. (P&W) acquisition, which closed Nov. 1, 2016, and the Heart of Georgia Railroad Inc. (HOG) acquisition, which closed May 31, according to a G&W press release.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) early next month will kick off a series of weekend shutdowns on its Lowell commuter-rail line to install positive train control (PTC).

The agency will close the line on weekends from Aug. 5 through Oct. 1, MBTA officials said in a press release late last week. Shuttle buses will replace trains during the closures.