Railroad News

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.

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

Legislation aimed at making the 45G tax credit permanent has reached majority support in the U.S. House and Senate, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announced today.

The Building Rail Access for Customers and the Economy (BRACE) Act has achieved 226 co-sponsors in the House (H.R. 721) and 51 co-sponsors in the Senate (S. 407), according to an ASLRRA press release.

U.S. Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) earlier this week joined R. J. Corman Railroad Services LLC representatives to tour a trackwork project on the Louisville & Indiana Railroad (L&I).

The 106-mile short line has contracted R. J. Corman to perform improvements that will enable the railroad to increase rail-car weight capacity to 286,000 pounds. From 2015 through 2017, 94 miles of continuous-welded rail and more than 80,000 ties will be installed.

Rail Construction Equipment Co. has rebranded itself as RCE Equipment Solutions Inc. The new name reflects the company's "growth and diversification goals," RCE officials said in a press release. Although the company has been primarily focused on rail maintenance equipment, RCE within recent years has received several requests for custom equipment design projects outside the rail market. RCE Equipment Solutions will serve as the umbrella company for three different divisions: RCE Rail, which continues to cater to the rail market; RCE Energy, which develops machinery for the energy sector; and RCE Engineering. Meanwhile, RCE's facility in Rockford, Illinois, is undergoing an "extensive" expansion, company officials said. To support the additional products, the company added 11,000 square feet of production space and 6,000 square feet of additional engineering and support space.

In Alstom's first fiscal quarter, the company booked $2.18 billion worth of orders compared to $1.03 billion for the same period in its last fiscal year. The quarter runs from April 1 through June 30. In addition, Alstom logged sales of $2.13 billion, up 6 percent. The company's orders this year include two contracts for almost 100 light-rail vehicles in Canada, a fleet modernization project in the United States and a metro system contract in Vietnam. By 2020, Alstom expects its sales to grow by about 5 percent each year.