Railroad News

The North Carolina State Ports Authority earlier this week announced the Port of Wilmington is ready to accept the world's largest container ships calling on U.S. East Coast Ports, now that the second phase of the port's turning basin expansion project has been completed.

The project widened the turning basin in the Cape Fear River form 1,400 feet to 1,524 feet. The additional feet allows 14,000 20-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) vessels to safely and efficiently turn around in the Wilmington Navigational Harbor, port authority officials said in a press release. 

More than two dozen Texas state lawmakers are asking the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to end a private company's work on a Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail line that would pass through the Brazos Valley.

In a letter to USDOT officials, the state representatives claim that Texas Central Partners, the company that has proposed the rail line, "simply does not have the financial resources required or expertise employed to continue with this project," The Eagle news outlet reported yesterday.

Members of the Delaware General Assembly yesterday introduced a resolution to add regional rail service options between Newark, Delaware, and Perryville, Maryland.

Co-sponsored by State Rep. Ed Osienski (D-Newark) and State Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D-Middletown), the resolution would direct the Delaware Department of Transportation (DDOT) to work with Amtrak and surrounding states to strengthen regional rail service in the corridor, Delaware Public Media reported.

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on U.S. freight-rail traffic is growing, with the number of carloads and intermodal containers and trailers transported during the week ending April 4 tumbling 15.9 percent to 429,095 units compared with volumes logged in the same week a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Total carloads for the week plunged 16.2 percent to 210,911 units, while intermodal volume dropped 15.7 percent to 218,184 containers and trailers.

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Governments, transit-rail agencies and railroads have been spending the past several weeks responding to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Keolis appointed Marc Berthod executive director of communications and Jean Ghedira, executive director of marketing and new mobilities. Berthod previously served in communication director roles at Keolis, Keolis Lyon and Sytral. Ghedira previously served as deputy chief executive officer of customers and services at SNCF Reseau and as director of communications at Keolis.

London Transport Awards honored Cubic Transportation Systems with the Excellence in Technology award for its collaboration with the Rail Delivery Group to increase the delivery of mobile barcode tickets throughout the United Kingdom. Cubic was responsible for supplying and installing barcode readers for the project. The awards recognize excellence and progress on innovative transport initiatives, Cubic officials said in a press release.

Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) Chair Angie Rivera-Malpiede last month was recognized for professional achievement and leadership in transportation by the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO). 

COMTO’s Celebrating Women Who Move the Nation Award recognizes women executives in the U.S. transportation industry who have provided inspirational leadership by opening career pathways for women, RTD officials said in a press release.

A CSX train derailment and subsequent bridge collapse in May 2018 in Virginia was caused by a subgrade fill failure of the track structure that displaced ballast, resulting in a cross-level deviation of the track significant enough to allow a wheel climb derailment, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined.

The NTSB yesterday announced the probable cause of the May 19, 2018, incident, which occurred in Alexandria, Virginia.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) are asking Congress for an immediate emergency injection of nearly $50 billion to offset an estimated 30 percent loss in state transportation revenue over the next 18 months.

AASHTO leaders asked in an April 6 letter to congressional leaders that the next emergency relief and economic recovery legislation include an immediate $49.95 billion in flexible federal funding to help ensure state departments of transportation (DOTs) "can operate and maintain their systems without disruption and allow current transportation projects and plans to continue."

Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI) announced four new state program leaders: Jeffrey Bennett in Washington, D.C.; Colin Smith, Montana; Toni Clithero, Vermont; and Tracey Lamb, Virginia.

Bennett, chief of transit at the District Department of Transportation and a 2018 Progressive Railroading Rising Star, became the District of Columbia's Operation Lifesaver program lead when it restarted earlier this year. 

ZTR Control Systems LLC and BlackBerry Ltd. have partnered to offer rail-car owners, operators and suppliers a remote rail-car monitoring solution. BlackBerry Radar® features location, utilization and mileage data for rail cars and other nonpowered railway assets.

Cyient signed an agreement with Hitachi Rail to develop and operate a central delivery center for Hitachi Rail in India and a regional center in the United States. The centers will provide engineering services for Hitachi's global signaling projects that use proprietary interlocking platforms. They also will provide software development and configuration support for Hitachi's ATS product.

Amtrak has suspended service between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia until May, a local news outlet yesterday reported. 

The service, which stops in Greensburg, Latrobe and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, has been suspended since March 19.  

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is soliciting proposals on research topics that would have an impact on the safety and efficiency of U.S. freight- and passenger-rail operations.

Last week, the FRA released a Broad Agency Announcement, which provides opportunities to government, industry and academia to conduct applied technology research that will support the objectives of the Office of Research, Development and Technology and its four divisions: track, rolling stock, train control and communication, and human factors.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority on April 9 will resume weekday light-rail service after a two-week closure. 

The authority suspended light-rail service after a light-rail operator trainee tested positive for COVID-19. During the suspension, the agency deep-cleaned its rail cars and began replacing upholstery seats with vinyl, VTA officials said in a press release.

Sound Transit yesterday suspended almost all construction activities related to the agency’s transit-rail expansion projects due to COVID-19 risks. 

The suspensions will be in place until May 4, according to the agency's construction alert newsletter.

Pan Am Railway's Hoosac Tunnel in western Massachusetts reopened April 4, after being closed for repairs over the past several weeks.

A Norfolk Southern Railway train on April 5 traveled through the tunnel for the first time since the structure was shut down in mid-February after a portion of its brick liner fell onto the tracks. The closure affected all NS trains operating between Mechanicville, New York, and Ayer, Massachusetts, NS officials said in a customer service alert.

The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) has been recognized by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts for financial transparency. 

DCTA received a ‘star’ in the comptroller’s Transparency Stars program for “outstanding efforts” in making spending and revenue information available, DCTA officials said last week in a press release.

Several passenger-rail agencies are further reducing service and implementing other measures to continue to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Following is a summary of recent updates by agency: