Railroad News

The National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association (NRC) appointed Erika Bruhnke to its board. Bruhnke is vice president of training services at RailPros Inc. Previously, she worked for BNSF Railway Co. in various positions, including director of safety information. Bruhnke joins 19 other railway industry professionals who serve on the NRC board, with responsibility for governing the association, setting its guidelines and policies, and overseeing its programs and activities.

Railinc released research reports highlighting statistics and overall trends of North American rail-car and locomotive fleets in 2019. Among the findings, the report revealed that the number of rail cars in revenue earning fleets increased slightly; more than 80 percent of all new fleet additions have a gross rail load of 286,000 pounds; and newer units in a locomotive fleet trend toward six-axle AC units, Railinc officials said in a press release.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) earlier this week approved Ohio Southern Railroad (OSR) to improve a grade crossing in Zanesville.

The PUCO approved the Ohio Rail Development Commission's construction authorization directing OSR to upgrade active warning devices for traffic signal preemption at the State Route 719 grade crossing by May 20, 2021.

Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) riders ranked train or bus use as the least safe activity to participate in during the pandemic, according to an RTD survey of nearly 2,700 riders.

Conducted online earlier this month, the survey found that riders remain apprehensive about engaging in social activities. Most respondents deemed riding RTD as the least safe activity relative to other choices provided in the survey, such as grocery shopping, visiting a drugstore or pharmacy, visiting friends, visiting family and exercising outside.

Amtrak’s first Acela prototype completed a high-speed testing milestone by traveling at speeds up to 165 mph at the Transportation Technology Center near Pueblo, Colorado, Amtrak announced today.

Amtrak’s Acela prototype last month traveled from Alstom’s plant in Hornell, New York, to the center to undergo six months of dynamic testing.

The St. Louis Regional Freightway yesterday announced a 2021 list of priority infrastructure projects aimed at addressing manufacturing and logistics industry needs in eastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois.

The list contains 21 projects representing a total investment of $2.2 billion. Half of that amount covers projects under construction or funded and expected to get underway, with some projects starting as early as this year, Freightway officials said in a press release.

Focused Technology Solutions (FTS) has partnered with LaTech Rail Technologies to distribute FTS’ SpikeEase battery-operated spike puller in Mexico. With this partnership, FTS enters into a new market sector, and LaTech Rail becomes the second international reseller to carry the SpikeEase, company officials said in a press release.

Teleste Corp. will supply onboard public address, passenger information display and closed-circuit television solutions for Alstom’s Coradia trains on the Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois railway in Luxembourg. Deliveries will begin later this year. The agreement covers system deployment for 34 trains and includes an option for an additional 20 trains.

The Delaware Department of Transportation’s (DelDOT) Delaware Transit Corp. (DTC) earlier this week opened a multimodal transit center next to the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station in Wilmington, Delaware.

The $10 million center serves as a hub for multimodal travel into Wilmington and New Castle County, providing access to Amtrak and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority passenger-rail service, bus service, rental vehicles and bike shares, DTC officials said in a press release.

Broward County, Florida, officials yesterday announced Jonathan Daniels will become the new chief executive and port director at Port Everglades.

Daniels comes to Port Everglades from the Port of Gulfport, Mississippi, where as executive director since 2013 he led a $570 million restoration and expansion project. Prior to that, he was executive director of Port of Oswego in New York, managing director of the Port of Greater Baton Rouge and port director for the Eastport Port Authority in Maine.

Siemens Mobility yesterday announced the appointment of Yves Desjardins-Siciliano as Canadian chief executive officer for Siemens Mobility Ltd. 

Desjardins-Siciliano is the former president and CEO of VIA Rail Canada Inc., where he was responsible for managing over 3,300 employees moving nearly 5 million passengers per year. He also served as VIA Rail’s chief corporate and legal officer.

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) this week rolled out a national plan that calls for spending $205 billion to build a national high-speed rail network.

Construction of a high-speed rail network would help get the economy back on track, create competition in transportation and give U.S. residents cleaner, faster and more reliable commutes, Moulton said in a press release.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) yesterday announced it has been allocated $229 million from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. 

The grant will be used to help address the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on DART’s system.

U.S. railroads logged 184,415 carloads in the week ending May 16, marking a 30.2 percent drop and the biggest decline in year-over-year weekly carload traffic since the Association of American Railroads (AAR) began tracking the data in 1988.

For the week, U.S. railroads moved 416,115 carload and intermodal units, down 22 percent compared with the same week a year ago. Weekly intermodal volume was 231,700 containers and trailers, down 14 percent, according to AAR data.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) announced plans to replace its GoMetro mobile application with the Transit trip planning app. 

The Transit app will provide LA Metro riders with real-time arrival information for trains and buses, navigation, trip planning features, personalized service alerts and offline functionality, LA Metro officials said in a press release.

Port of Virginia Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director John Reinhart announced yesterday he will retire from his post in March 2021.

Reinhart has served in the position since February 2014. He is the fourth person to lead the agency, which owns and operates container and multi-use commercial marine terminals on behalf of the state.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City earlier this week expanded its antibody testing program for all MTA employees. 

Employees that are asymptotic, or not currently exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, but may have been exposed to the diseases are eligible for the antibody testing, MTA officials said in a press release.