Railroad News

Pacific Harbor Line Inc. (PHL) and Progress Rail yesterday hosted Port of Long Beach and American Association of Port Authorities officials for a look at the EMD24B switcher locomotive that PHL will lease for use on its line.

Progress Rail's EMD24B has been completing its California Air Resources Board verification testing with PHL, and the companies announced that as a result, PHL has confirmed it plans to lease the unit, according to a Progress Rail press release.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last week launched a new performance dashboard to keep riders informed about the status of the agency's subway system.

The tool provides data about major incidents, customer wait times, subway car performance and station environment standards. The dashboard is designed to improve communication with the millions of riders who use MTA New York City Transit's subways each day, MTA officials said in a press release.

The Port of Portland will receive a $1.25 million federal grant to upgrade marine terminal security systems.

The port will use the grant to rebuild key components of the security systems at terminals 4 and 6, port officials announced in a press release.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHRSA) has finished investing $2.55 billion worth of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds by the required Sept. 30 deadline.

The agency released a report that details how it spent the ARRA funds. A little more than $2 billion went toward construction of the Central Valley segment.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) reduced its structural deficit by 65 percent in fiscal-year 2017 compared with the previous year's deficit, the agency announced yesterday.

The MBTA's deficit was $30 million in FY2017 versus $86 million in FY2016. In addition, core operating expenses for the most recent fiscal year were $6 million less than they were in the prior year.

Port of Oakland Commissioners last week approved an $11 million rail-spur project that would connect Union Pacific Railroad tracks with Cool Port.

Cool Port is a 280,000-square-foot distribution center now under construction on 25 acres of Port of Oakland property. BNSF Railway Co. also will have access. 

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) yesterday marked its 70th anniversary.

The agency was created by the Illinois Legislature to consolidate several privately owned companies that operated transit lines in the Chicago area. Before the CTA was created, those struggling companies competed with each other for riders, according to an announcement on the agency's website.

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) has appointed Floun'say Caver as deputy general manager of operations.

Caver fills the position vacated by Michael York, who retired last week. Caver joined GCRTA in 2000 and left in 2002 to earn a doctorate degree from the University of Texas at Dallas. He returned in 2006 as GCRTA's manager of budgets.

Ending funding of Amtrak long-distance routes would disproportionately affect low income households in rural communities across the country, according to a report released today by the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP).

NARP's "Dismantling a National Transportation Network" report was issued in response to President Donald Trump's fiscal-year 2018 budget proposal earlier this year that called for cutting funding to certain long-distance routes in Amtrak's national network.

The Kansas City Streetcar Authority (KCSA) late last week approved advancing to the next phase of technical work for a streetcar extension to the Missouri River.

The next planning phase will focus on completing conceptual design for the project, KCSA officials said in a press release. Other efforts will include survey work and utility location, estimating costs, performing an environmental assessment and conducting public outreach.

The U.S. Coast Guard last week lifted draft restrictions at the Port of Corpus Christi, although recovery efforts continue at the port after it was impacted by Hurricane Harvey in late August.

The full 47-foot draft of the ship channel is open to vessels, and the daylight-only transit restriction was removed. Vessel traffic remains one way on the Corpus Christi Ship Channel; all other restrictions have been lifted, port officials said in a press release.

The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority's board has awarded a $2.6 million utility relocation design-bid-build contract to W.A. Rasic Construction Co. Inc. for a 12.3-mile light-rail project between Glendora and Montclair, California.

The contract is the first of two to be procured as part of the $1.4 billion Glendora-to-Montclair segment, which will extend the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro) Gold Line route through communities in the San Gabriel Valley and into San Bernardino County.

The Federal Transit Administration  (FTA) has awarded $8.4 million in critical grant funding to Puerto Rico to help its public transit systems recover from Hurricane Maria.

The funding was in addition to $40 million provided by the Federal Highway Administration to help restore service on roads and bridges damaged by Hurricane Maria. Those funds supplement the $2.5 million in emergency funds awarded to the territory for damage after Hurricane Irma. 

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) late last week released a Tier I combined Final Environmental Impact State and a Record of Decision (FEIS/ROD) for the proposed high-speed passenger-rail system between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The FEIS/ROD marks the completion of the Tier I environmental review process under federal law and documents the FRA's identification of a preferred corridor, which would begin on the east side of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (HJAIA) at the proposed HJAIA/Southern Crescent Station and end at a proposed downtown Chattanooga station, according to an FRA press release.

Knife River Corp. and the Portland & Western Railroad welcomed U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) last week for a tour of Knife River's sand and gravel pit in Salem, Oregon.

The tour included a discussion of public policy priorities for the business and rail communities in the Salem area. The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) and the Railway Engineering-Maintenance and Suppliers Association (REMSA) coordinated the event.

Harsco Rail has received two international orders totaling nearly $25 million, the company announced earlier this week. One order calls for Harsco to provide rail grinding equipment for a 281-mile high-speed rail line between Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia. The Harsco machines will be used to maintain railhead contours for extended rail life and smoother operation, company officials said in a press release. For the other order, Harsco will provide two on-track vehicles to assess rail geometry and ballast profile for South Africa's Transnet freight-rail network. The company is supplying the vehicles to Molamu Majories and Thari Joint Venture, a contractor for Transnet. Deliveries for both orders are expected by year's end.

CRU Railcar Services (CRS) has agreed to provide tank-car cleaning and switching services at Rescar Cos.' new "Fast Track" light repair location in Elmendorf, Texas. With access to Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway Co., the new site is ideally situated for tank-car operators and lessors, said CRS spokesman Pedro Berruecos in a press release. Rescar will provide necessary maintenance, inspection or repair, while CRS will handle cleaning. Rescar has five Fast Track locations in the United States.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is expanding a pilot of a new waterproofing membrane along the Red Line.

The agency will continue installing the material along another 4,000-foot section of inbound track between the Medical Center and Grosvenor stations. The material is injected into the tunnel walls to form a waterproof membrane on the exterior of tunnel walls.

The Phoenix City Council earlier this week approved a plan that will add a new Valley Metro light-rail station on Central Avenue in the city's downtown.

The plan also calls for shifting some future light-rail platforms east between Central and First avenues. The move is aimed at creating an "easy configuration for riders to transfer from one train to another," according to a press release issued by the City of Phoenix.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' (AASHTO) board yesterday elected Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer as the association's president.

At the association's annual meeting this week, the board also elected Utah Department of Transportation Executive Director Carlos Braceras as vice president, and Arkansas Department of Transportation Director Scott Bennett as secretary-treasurer.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) yesterday granted the Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) a five-year waiver that will allow the continued operation of the transit agency's A and B commuter-rail lines.

The lines, which opened last year, have experienced technical issues with crossing arms that lower too early and stay down too late at grade crossings. To address the concerns, RTD stationed flag attendants at the crossings.