Railroad News

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has received 82 unsolicited proposals to improve its services.

Of that total, the agency has reviewed 75. Five are still being reviewed, while 22 have advanced to a "more detailed analysis" phase, the agency's blog reported yesterday.

U.S. railroads' total carload volume fell 1.9 percent during the week ending Sept. 9, but total railroad volumes ticked up 0.8 percent thanks to a 3.6 percent increase in intermodal traffic compared with the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week.

U.S. roads moved 247,930 carloads and 238,544 intermodal containers and trailers during the week, according to an AAR press release.

Tacoma Rail has selected Herzog Technologies Inc. to provide its positive train control (PTC) hosting services. Herzog's PTC hosting is aimed at simplifying and accelerating implementation of the train control technology, utilizing the company's PTC expertise and existing PTC data center infrastructure. Herzog will assist Tacoma Rail in meeting the mandated PTC deadline. The company also will help the short-line operator be interoperable with host railroads, Herzog officials said in a press release.

Keolis' Australian subsidiary Keolis Downer has obtained a contract to continue operating Yarra Trams in Melbourne, Australia. The new franchise will begin Nov. 30 and expire in 2024, according to a Keolis press release. Keolis Downer will focus on improving passenger satisfaction by delivering safer, more reliable and passenger-friendly services for locals, company officials said. Operated by Keolis Downer since 2009, Melbourne's tram network includes 24 routes, as well as the City Circle tram.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) on Tuesday announced that ridership on the MAX Orange Line light-rail route grew to 3,484,200 trips during its second year of operation.

The figure represents a 6.1 percent increase compared with ridership during the Orange Line's first year of operation, when 3,285,400 trips were taken on the line. The route opened in September 2015.

Pierre-Luc Mathieu has been named president of OmniTRAX Energy Solutions (OES), parent company OmniTRAX Inc. announced yesterday.

Mathieu previously served as chief strategy officer for OmniTRAX.

Pan Am Railways and DP World have agreed to form a new direct intermodal service connecting the Boston market to Port Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada.

The new agreement provides a "viable alternative" to customers in the New England area, said officials representing DP World, the port's terminal operator. Port Saint John provides connections to more than 500 international destinations.

The Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) board yesterday awarded a $30.8 million contract to Walsh Construction Co. II LLC to rehabilitate and upgrade two Blue Line terminals.

The company will perform a range of improvements at the Jefferson Park and Belmont stations. The enhancements include new signage, interior and exterior painting, new LED lighting, and replacement of the bus terminal concrete and rail station platform surfaces.

Norfolk Southern Railway has restored service on mainline track throughout Georgia and Florida following the impact of Hurricane Irma, the Class I announced today.

Regularly scheduled road train service has resumed while NS continues to "meter in traffic" to Savannah and Brunswick, Ga..; Jacksonville, Fla.; and surrounding areas, according to an NS update on its operations.

Metra's board yesterday approved a $21.6 million contract to replace a 136-year-old bridge over the Fox River along the Milwaukee District West Line in Elgin, Illinois.

The contract was awarded to Illinois Construction Corp., the lowest bidder. The $34 million project involves replacing the existing single-track bridge with a double-track one built to modern standards, Metra officials said in a press release.

The Greenbrier Cos. Inc. has built its 50,000th covered hopper rail car, the company announced today. In February, Greenbrier completed production of its 100,00th intermodal double-stack rail car. Both milestones exemplify the company's "transformation from a limited builder of specialized rail cars to a broad-based manufacturer of virtually all rail-car types," Greenbrier officials said in a press release. The company built its first covered hopper rail car more than 11 years ago. Greenbreir now builds a full line of small, medium and large covered hopper rail cars with freight-carrying capacities from 3,250 cubic feet up to 6,580 cubic feet.

Thales has closed on its acquisition of Guavus, a Big Data analytics company. The transaction is expected to help Thales address the growing needs of an "increasingly connected global ecosystem," Thales officials said in a press release. Guavus has built an industrial Big Data platform designed to be implemented across multiple new markets. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Guavus employs 250 people. Its revenue is expected to exceed $30 million for the current fiscal year, according to Thales. Thales announced plans to acquire the company in spring.

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) last week opened an upgraded platform at its Hicksville Station in Nassau County, New York.

The 12-car concrete platform was demolished to make way for a new one with a translucent canopy. Crews installed energy-efficient lighting and signage, along with a new audio-visual paging system, which includes train time signs and speakers.

Chicago's Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) has unveiled updated signage at Chicago Union Station.

The 81 updated signs are designed to easily connect travelers to transportation options and amenities in the station, RTA officials said in a press release.

Amtrak will begin rail service today at a new regional multimodal transportation center in Alton, Illinois, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced.

Located at 1 Golf Road in Alton, the new facility will replace a train station on College Road that Amtrak has served for 89 years. The College Road station, which is owned by Union Pacific Railroad and leased by Amtrak, is slated for demolition.

The Port of Corpus Christi and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have signed a partnership agreement for a project that would deepen and widen the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.

The project calls for widening the channel to 530 feet, plus additional barge shelves, to allow for two-way vessel and barge traffic. In addition, the project would deepen the channel to 54 feet to allow for safe passage of deep draft vessels, port officials said Monday in a press release.

Caltrain today will begin lowering horn noise from trains passing through certain stations in California.

The railroad chose the stations for horn-use reduction based on their configurations. For example, a train passing through the San Bruno, Belmont and San Carlos stations only needs to sound one short horn blast as it approaches because those stations have track and platforms that are separate from street level.

CSX Corp. has eliminated 2,700 jobs so far this year, as the Class I works through its transition to a more efficient operating plan, Chief Financial Officer Frank Lonegro told investors at a conference last week.

In addition to the 2,700 employees, CSX has eliminated 1,000 contractor and consultant positions, Lonegro said during a presentation at the Cowen & Co. Global Transportation Conference held in Boston.

CN and Conuma Coal Resources have resumed direct rail service to the Wolverine Mine in northern British Columbia, the Class I announced on its website.

The mine was closed in 2014 as commodity prices dropped. As the coal market began to rebound, Conuma purchased and reopened the mine in 2016.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) yesterday began a series of maintenance, cleaning and repair work on the Q line as part of the agency's FASTRACK program.

The program incorporates various elements of the ongoing Subway Action Plan, which addresses key delay-causing incidents involving signals, track and power.

Infrastructure Ontario (IO) has closed the request for proposals (RFP) stage for station improvements along GO Transit's Stouffville rail line.

In September 2016, the agency prequalified three teams to respond to the RFP. All three have submitted their proposals by the Sept. 8 deadline, IO officials said in a press release.