Railroad News

Imports at the major U.S. retail container ports are expected to remain significantly below last year's levels into fall as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the National Retail Federation (NRF) announced earlier this month.

Retailers are being conservative with the amount of merchandise they import this year, said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president for supply chain and customers policy, in a press release.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Transportation (WisDOT) is soliciting public comment on the proposed Muskego Yard freight-rail bypass project, which is designed to improve rail infrastructure along the Canadian Pacific corridor in Milwaukee in preparation for a future Amtrak Hiawatha service expansion.

The $54.6 million project would improve rail operations and safety by creating a new double-track mainline through the corridor to increase yard capacity and efficiency; remove a majority of freight-rail traffic that currently runs through the Milwaukee Intermodal Station in the city's downtown; and remove rail traffic from several grade crossings in the downtown area, WisDOT officials said in a press release.

Amtrak achieved all energy, fuel, recycling and emissions targets in fiscal-year 2019, according to the railroad's latest sustainability report, which was issued earlier this week.

According to the report, Amtrak has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent since 2010 and lowered emissions by 4 percent in FY2019.

The North County Transit District (NCTD) last week awarded Bombardier Transportation a $43 million contract to supply 11 BiLevel commuter-rail cars for the Coaster service in San Diego.

The additional rail cars will position NCTD to increase service frequencies and begin state of good repair replacement of current legacy coaches and cab cars, Bombardier officials said in a press release.

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.

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.