Railroad News

The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) this week announced grant awards to Indiana & Ohio Railway (IORY) and Hocking Valley Scenic Railway (HSVR), the Mennel Milling Co. and Menard Inc.

The ORDC approved a $10,240 grant award to the IORY and HSVR for the repair of a connecting track between the two railroads. The track is out of service, which prevents the HVSR from receiving passenger-rail cars for its excursion operation.

Sound Transit yesterday marked the start of construction on the 7.8-mile Federal Way Link light-rail extension from Angle Lake Station in SeaTac, Washington, to the Federal Way Transit Center. 

Opening in 2024, the route will offer service between South King County and Sea-Tac Airport, downtown Seattle, the University of Washington, Northgate, Lynnwood and Bellevue. 

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) yesterday, reversing an earlier decision, determined that Texas Central Railroad's proposed Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail service will qualify as part of the interstate rail network and therefore falls under the board's jurisdiction.

Texas Central in May 2018 petitioned the STB to reconsider its earlier decision that the proposed rail line would be constructed and operated entirely within the state of Texas and therefore not subject to board approval. However, circumstances have since changed "substantially" now that it has through-ticket and transfer arrangements with Amtrak. At the time of a July 2016 STB ruling, Texas Central did not yet have concrete plans for a connection with Amtrak or any other interstate passenger-rail carrier.

Kansas City Southern reported second-quarter 2020 revenue of $547.9 million, a 23 percent decline from second-quarter 2019 primarily due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Overall, carload volumes tumbled 21 percent compared to the prior year, KCS officials said in a press release.

LILEE Systems announced a new addition to its portfolio of positive train control (PTC) solutions: the Next Generation Communications Management Unit. The unit enables wireless communications security and interoperable key exchange for the ACSES II PTC system. The unit is Federal Railroad Administration-complaint and includes security software for wayside and onboard systems, a key management system for inter-rail key exchange and a ruggedized gateway for remote management. The solution has been selected by one of the largest passenger-rail systems on the Northeast Corridor, LILEE Systems officials said in a press release.

Alstom booked $1.9 billion worth of orders in the first quarter of fiscal-year 2020, compared with $1.8 billion during the same period last year. Alstom’s sales decreased to $1.7 billion, down 27 percent compared with Q1 2019. “During the first quarter, the group’s level of sales was impacted by the consequences of the COVID-19 containment measures,” said Alstom Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Henri Poupart-Lafarge in a press release. “While we achieved a very good continuity of our engineering activity through remote working, lockdowns impacted our sites and supply chain. Yet, the group’s commercial activity remained stable despite the crisis.”

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) last week activated its One Metro New York (OMNY) contactless fare payment system at all subway stations in the Bronx, New York. 

More than 60 percent of all subway stations are now equipped with OMNY, with 2,820 OMNY readers systemwide, NYCT officials said in a press release.

Metra’s board yesterday awarded John Burns Construction Co. a $15.2 million contract to build a new commuter-rail station on the Union Pacific North Line in the Edgewater area of Chicago.

The 18-month project includes construction of two six-car platforms, a pedestrian bridge, stairs and ramps, a warming house, two shelters and a parking facility. The project also calls for rehabilitating existing bridges at Peterson and Ridge avenues. 

CenterPoint Properties yesterday announced a build-to-suit lease for a 90,480-square-foot distribution facility for TTX Co. at the CenterPoint Intermodal Center in Joliet, Illinois (CIC-Joliet).

The new facility will help put the freight-car provider in a better position to serve the Class Is that own it, CenterPoint officials said in a press release.

U.S. freight-rail traffic declined 14.9 percent to 449,092 carloads and intermodal units during the week ending July 11 compared with the same week a year ago, according to Association of American Railroad (AAR) data.

Total carloads fell 22.7 percent to 201,703, while intermodal volume slipped 7.4 percent to 247,389 containers and trailers.

New Jersey Transit’s board yesterday approved the purchase of eight ALP-45A dual-powered locomotives manufactured by Bombardier Transit Corp. 

The new locomotives will replace some older PL-42AC series diesel locomotives to increase the mechanical reliability of the fleet and provide the flexibility to operate on both electrified and nonelectrified tracks, NJ Transit officials said in a press release.

BNSF Railway Co. has begun testing two automated straddle carriers at the Class I's Logistics Park Kansas City Intermodal Facility (LPKC).

The "autostrads" are being used to improve the safety and efficiency of the Class I's intermodal operations. BNSF is the first railroad in the world to use "autostrads" that carry containers larger than 40 feet and the first U.S. rail carrier to implement the technology at an inland intermodal facility, BNSF officials said in a website post.

The Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Southwest light-rail line.

The Southwest Line is an extension of the D Line, with stations added in Evans, Englewood, Oxford and two in Littleton. 

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) earlier this week began offering Travel Wallet, a contactless fare payment option, for regional rail riders. 

Travel Wallet allows single-trip riders to activate their fares by tapping their SEPTA Key fare cards at a platform or turnstile validator.

Caltrain released a draft framework of policies to provide guidance as the agency works to ensure the California passenger-rail service's availability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The framework outlines policy recommendations for the system that will make it more accessible and connected, as well as expand service to low-income individuals and communities of color that historically have been under- represented in the system’s ridership, Caltrain officials said in a press release. 

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) announced that long portions of steel rails were delivered last week to Addison, Texas, for the agency’s planned Silver Line, a regional-rail service between Plano and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. 

Manufactured by Steel Dynamics Inc. in Indiana, the rail arrived in north Texas by special train as part of an overall shipment of 50 rail segments. 

A majority of U.S. adults agree that the freight-rail industry is critically important to the nation's economy, according to a new poll conducted on behalf of the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Conducted by Morning Consult, the poll also found that 75 percent of respondents view the freight-rail industry as safe, AAR officials said in a press release.

A coalition of the nation's largest transit agencies yesterday requested $36 billion in emergency federal funding as part of a new COVID-19 pandemic relief bill.

In a virtual press conference and "rally" held yesterday, public transportation industry leaders said that the $25 billion agencies received under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March is running out and more funding will be necessary to help them continue providing passenger-rail and other transit services.