Railroad News

The Southern Rail Commission (SRC) has received a $5.45 million grant toward its efforts to restore a passenger-rail line along the Gulf Coast, which has been without service since it was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Awarded through the federal Restoration and Enhancement (R&E) Program, the grant will fund operating expenses for the first and second years of service along the restored line between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. The grant also leverages commitments from the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as from the city of Mobile, according to a May 3 press release issued by U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, and U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo. All are Republicans from Mississippi.

The Purple Line Transit Constructors (PLTC) last week announced its intent to exit its contract to build Maryland’s Purple light-rail line after project delays.

PLTC’s design-build agreement with the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) includes an exit clause under which PLTC may leave the project if total delays reach 365 days. 

Most railroads required to implement positive train control (PTC) are "generally optimistic" about meeting the federally mandated deadline at the end of this year, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last week.

Forty-two railroads — including Amtrak, 30 commuter and several freight railroads — were required to implement PTC by Dec. 31, 2018. Almost all received two-year extensions. By the end of 2019, more than three-quarters of the railroads were conducting advanced testing or had implemented PTC on their own tracks, but had work left to reach full implementation, GAO officials said in the report.

Composite Advantage installed its FiberSPAN fiber reinforced polymer composite bridge decking on two pedestrian bridges connecting Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority riders to Inman Park/Reynoldstown Station across vehicle traffic and railroad tracks. The decking replaced decaying concrete on the bridges.

Michael Baker International hired Caroline Brabrook as an office manager in Seattle. She will oversee office personnel and business activities and support local infrastructure projects. Brabrook has 20 years of leadership experience on multidisciplinary transportation projects, including for Sound Transit and departments of transportation. Previously, she was office engineering manager for the Dragados CP 2-3 team on the California high-speed rail project.

Amtrak’s Downeaster service from Brunswick, Maine, to Boston will remain suspended through May 31, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) announced earlier this week. 

NNEPRA officials are working with Amtrak, Pan Am Railways Inc. and station communities to prepare for the return of service later this spring, authority officials said in a press release.

The Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. (WCIDC) last month approved a $2.4 million contract with Frontier Railroad Services to replace more than 4 miles of rail for the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad as part of regular infrastructure upgrades.

The railroad, which operates along 33 miles in Pennsylvania, is owned by the WCIDC but operated by Carload Express Inc.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) yesterday announced it will close the New York City Transit subway system daily between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. to perform deep cleaning of rail cars and stations, and test new cleaning solutions.

About 11,000 riders on average use the subway during this overnight period, MTA officials said in a press release. 

R. J. Corman Railroad Group LLC today announced Senior Vice President Noel Rush will retire after serving the company for more than 23 years.

Since he joined the company in 1997, Rush has held many integral positions at the company, including president of the derailment services company, VP of risk management and SVP of commercial development before taking on the role of SVP.

First-quarter 2020 intermodal volumes fell 6.7 percent to 4,177,989 units compared with the same quarter last year, according to Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) data.

Year over year, international intermodal volume (2,057,685 containers) dropped 11.3 percent, while domestic volume (1,862,499 containers) climbed 2.2 percent and trailers (257,805) plunged 23.3 percent, IANA officials said in the association's Intermodal Quarterly report.

Bombardier Transportation signed a six-year integrated logistics service contract with Trenitalia to support its Frecciarossa fleet of ETR500 high-speed electric trains in Italy. The contract will ensure continuous availability of consumable spare parts and repairable components for the fleet, including critical components like traction cooling equipment and transformers, Bombardier officials said in a press release. 

Trinity Industries Inc. reported first-quarter revenue of $615.2 million, a $10.4 million increase compared with Q1 2019. Trinity attributed the increase to a higher volume of rail cars sold from the company's lease fleet, according to Trinity's financial report. Net income attributable to Trinity was $161.9 million, or $1.33 per common diluted share, an increase of $1.09 per share year-over-year. “We expect COVID-19 to have a negative impact on demand for our products and services, clouding our forecasting abilities and limiting visibility into our financial performance for 2020,” Trinity Chief Executive Officer and President Jean Savage said in a press release.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) yesterday reached an agreement to extend DART’s GoLink on-demand shuttle service to the west Carrollton area. 

In May, the service will provide first- and last-mile connections from the Valwood Industrial Business Park area in west Carrollton to DART’s Green Line at the downtown Carrollton light-rail station. 

The Las Vegas Monorail Co. has suspended construction of two monorail stops on the Las Vegas Strip due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a local news report. 

All monorail activities related to the company’s Mandalay Bay extension and Sands Avenue Station project, which include construction of a monorail stop at the future MSG Sphere entertainment venue, have been put on hold, a monorail spokesperson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.  

CN yesterday announced Robert Pace was re-elected chairman during the annual shareholders meeting held April 28.

Pace is president and chief executive officer of The Pace Group Ltd. in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has served as CN's chairman since 2014.

U.S. freight-rail traffic continued to decline during the week ending April 25, as most of the country remained locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) announced yesterday.

Total traffic hauled by U.S. railroads fell 22.4 percent to 414,123 carloads and intermodal units during the week compared with the same period in 2019. Railroads logged a combined 192,100 carloads, down 28.2 percent, and 222,013 intermodal containers and trailers, down 16.5 percent.