Railroad News

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) last week began replacing its fare collection system by upgrading fare gates. 

The upgraded gates will support MBTA's new contactless, tappable CharlieTicket fare card, which will be introduced in 2021. 

Transborder freight moved by all modes of transportation between the United States and Canada and Mexico fell  11.2% to $91 billion worth of goods in July compared with July 2019 levels, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported late last month. 

Rail, the second-most used mode, moved $12.9 billion worth of goods during the month, down 13% year over year but up 14.7% compared with June 2020 levels. Rail represented 14.2% of all transborder freight moved in July, according to a BTS press release.

Amtrak and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation yesterday restored additional Keystone Service between Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and New York City. 

Some Keystone Service had been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last week upheld the legality of the SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority's (JRA) decision to award a rail-operating agreement to Carload Express Inc.

The contract dispute involving the JRA, Carload Express and North Shore Railroad Co. began in July 2015 after Carload Express was selected as the highest scoring proposer to a JRA request for proposals to operate the JRA rail lines. At the end of the RFP process, the JRA board voted to award the agreement to Carload Express, with seven board members voting for the contract, three voting against and six recused and not voting.

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (SDMTS) last week received the final light-rail vehicle of its 45-vehicle order from Siemens Mobility for the agency’s Mid-Coast Trolley project. 

The S700 vehicles will service the Mid-Coast Trolley project, an 11-mile light-rail extension, beginning in late 2021. The $2.1 billion project will extend the UC San Diego Blue Line from Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego to the University of California San Diego.

Caltrain’s board last week adopted a $35 million operating budget for the second-quarter of fiscal-year 2021, and an $84 million FY2021 capital budget as the commuter railroad evaluates the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The board also reviewed options for resolving a significant budget shortfall for the second half of the fiscal year due to fare revenue losses as ridership on the California passenger-rail system hovers around 5 percent of pre-pandemic levels, Caltrain officials said in a press release.

Effective today, Chicago commuters riding the Union Pacific North, Northwest and West Metra lines must show a valid ticket when boarding an outbound train or upon arrival at Ogilvie Transportation Center.

Union Pacific Railroad employees behind protective, plexiglass booths will verify fares as commuter enter or leave train platforms, similar to how the railroad managed large event crowds in the past, UP officials said in a press release.

Valley Metro in Phoenix has ordered 14 S700 light-rail vehicles from Siemens Mobility to support future light-rail expansion.

The light-rail vehicles — to be built at Siemens' manufacturing facility in Sacramento, California — will feature a newly designed front-end bumper for collision impact mitigation, a larger interior, bicycle storage and a heavy-duty air conditioning system.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) last week began soliciting input on the environmental impact of the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Project, a planned 9.2-mile light-rail extension connecting the G Line with the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink Station.

LA Metro will host two virtual community meetings later this month to answer questions about the final environmental impact statement/environmental impact report (FEIS/R) for the project, and will accept public comment through Nov. 2.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) moved record cargo volume in August, setting an all-time monthly high for 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs), authority officials announced last week.

The port logged 688,365 TEUs, up 1.3 percent from the August 2019 level. From January through August 2020, imports at PANYNJ reached 2,416,690 TEUs, down 4.7 percent from the same period in 2019, port officials said in a press release.

Caltrain yesterday launched a website to provide riders a virtual tour of the commuter railroad’s newest electric trains currently being assembled at a Stadler Rail facility in Salt Lake City.

The website allows users to enter and ride the train through virtual reality. The virtual experience highlights features on the trains, such as digital onboard displays at each forward-facing seat, accessible bathroom, bicycle storage area, security cameras and expanded storage areas.

Cando Rail Services Ltd. yesterday announced the opening of the Cando Sturgeon Terminal in Sturgeon County, Alberta.

The terminal will provide additional rail capacity to Alberta's Industrial Heartland and expand Cando's rail network, company officials said in a press release.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) earlier this week recorded the 21 millionth ‘tap’, or use, of its One Metro New York (OMNY) contactless fare payment system. 

The OMNY system is installed at 365 subway stations, or 77% of the 472 stations systemwide. Complete system rollout will be completed by the end of the year, NYCT officials said in a press release.

Sound Transit this month will gather public input on four light-rail station design concepts that will be a part of the Tacoma Dome Link light-rail extension in Tacoma, Washington.

The agency is seeking input on potential projects that would allow better pedestrian and bicycle access at the stations, as well as feedback on station designs.