Railroad News

Keolis Commuter Services earlier this week graduated 27 new assistant conductors for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) commuter-rail network.

The group, which completed the training program in Somerville, Massachusetts, was the largest class to graduate in the commuter-rail system's history, Keolis officials said in a press release.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro) board yesterday approved a new policy to incentivize companies bidding on contracts to create and retain U.S. jobs.

Under the policy, the agency will apply a "U.S. Employment Plan" to all train, bus and equipment purchases above $100 million. The plan was developed by advocacy group Jobs to Move America, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, the Brookings Institution, the University of Southern California and the University of Massachusetts.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Jan. 29 will begin a series of 10 public hearings on its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed bullet train project in Texas.

The first public hearing will be held in Dallas County. Others will be held in locations along the proposed route, which would extend from North Texas to Houston.

Last year, Metro Transit served a record number of riders across all three of its rail lines in and around the Twin Cities.

The agency logged a record 13.1 million rides on the Green Line light-rail route, along with a record 10.7 million rides on Blue Line light-rail trains. Ridership on the latter line topped the previous high-water mark set in 2015.

Union Pacific Railroad began construction this month on the Brazos Yard in Robertson County, Texas.

The $550 million rail yard project represents the largest capital investment in a single facility in the railroad's 155-year history, UP officials said in a press release.

The engineer of the Amtrak Cascades train missed seeing a speed-limit sign before the train derailed from an overpass in Washington state last month, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced yesterday.

NTSB investigators interviewed the train's engineer and a conductor the week of Jan. 15, about a month after the fatal derailment killed three passengers and injured dozens of others. The engineer and conductor, who were in the lead locomotive during the Dec. 16 accident, were unable to be interviewed until recently because of their injuries.

Rail-car orders in fourth-quarter 2017 totaled 8,501 units compared with 8,671 units in the third quarter and 4,866 units in fourth-quarter 2016, according to quarterly statistics released this week by the Railway Supply Institute's American Railway Car Institute Committee (ARCI).

Car deliveries in Q4 2017 rose to 13,404 units from 11,015 units in Q3. Deliveries for Q2 and Q1 came in at 10,625 and 10,042 units, respectively.

Total U.S. railroad traffic declined 2.9 percent to 508,239 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending Jan. 20 compared with the same week a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total carloads for the week fell 7.6 percent to 241,258 units, but intermodal volume ticked up 1.8 percent to 266,981 containers and trailers compared with the third week of 2017, AAR reported in a press release.

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

The Ontario government on Tuesday confirmed that Metrolinx was the victim of a cyberattack by North Korea.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) received approval from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to extend the New Starts project development phase for the 6-mile Bay Area Rapid Transit extension to Silicon Valley.

The deadline to complete the phase has been moved from March to June. VTA made the request so it could refine design considerations for two tunneling methods for the 5-mile segment into downtown San Jose, California, agency officials said in a press release.

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:10 p.m. CST.]

Union Pacific Corp. today reported fourth-quarter 2017 adjusted net income rose 5 percent to $1.2 billion, or $1.53 per diluted share, compared with $1.14 billion, or $1.39 per share, for the same period a year ago.

Including the impact of the recently passed federal corporate tax reform, UP posted net income of $7.3 billion, or $9.25 per diluted share for Q4 2017, according to a UP press release.

Stadler has acquired Knorr-Bremse subsidiary Swedtrac, which specializes in train modernization. The move is aimed at enabling Stadler to strengthen its presence in the Nordic countries, company officials said in a press release. Swedtrac will join Stadler in the first quarter. In the long term, Stadler aims to transform Swedtrac's site in Tillberga, Sweden, into a major service cente. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Harsco Rail has promoted Allen Branham to vice president of North America sales and global contracting services. He has more than two decades of experience with the company and most recently served as director of U.S. East sales. Branham also has held positions in product management, engineering and project management.

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners on Monday approved the construction of Pier B on-dock rail support facility at the Port of Long Beach, California.

The facility would provide track space to join together sections of trains assembled at terminals. The ability to build long trains now is limited due to lack of adequate yard tracks and the configuration of mainline tracks, port officials said in a press release.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has appointed John Scheib executive vice president law and administration and chief legal officer as of March 1.

Scheib will succeed William Galanko, who will retire on the same date after 28 years with the railroad, NS officials said in a press release.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday signed an executive order mandating a full-scale audit of New Jersey Transit.

The audit will review the agency's finances, leadership structure, hiring process and customer service. It also will examine NJ Transit's relationship with Amtrak and its implementation of positive train control.