Railroad Development Corp. subsidiary RDC Deutschland GmbH, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, is operating a special daily train from Frankfurt/Oder on the Polish border to Hannover-Messe-Laatzen for Ukrainians fleeing their homeland from the Russian invasion.
RAILWAY AGE MARCH 2022 ISSUE: Cyberattacks are a serious threat that must be faced.
WSP USA has named Christopher Body as Vice President and Senior Business Development Director Mobility Operations, with responsibility for development and pursuit of tolling, traffic management center, transit, rail and other programs in North America. He will collaborate with other WSP business sectors, as well as with regional and national leadership, “to position the firm as a preferred and trusted choice for transportation projects.”
KLW (Knoxville Locomotive Works, Inc.) and Cummins Inc. on March 6 announced completion of its first KLWX 4400 ACT4, a remanufactured line-haul locomotive equipped with an EPA Tier 4-certified, 4,400-hp Cummins QSK95 prime-mover. The prototype locomotive is currently operating on CN, where it is undergoing reliability and performance testing.
On the same day that the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Railroad Subcommittee is holding a hearing on Surface Transportation Board reauthorization, while rail labor is in the midst of contentious contract negotiations and the STB is conducting hearings on controversial subjects like reciprocal switching and Amtrak access, Accountable.US, described by several general media outlets including NBC News as a “liberal-leaning watchdog” group, has a released a blistering 40-page attack on Class I railroads accusing them of unchecked greed and profiteering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some industry observers are inferring the report has “labor’s fingerprints all over it.”
CSX Transportation, with Amtrak concurring, has asked the Surface Transportation Board for a continuance (postponement) of the evidentiary hearing on Gulf Coast service originally scheduled to begin March 9, 2022, to April 5, 2022, with a second day, April 6, and a third day, April 7, held in reserve. STB on March 1 granted the request.
Railway Age is returning to a live, in-person format for our Next Generation Freight Rail Conference on March 15, 2022, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the Union League Club of Chicago. Join us as we discuss the freight rail industry’s future with thought leaders, covering a wide variety of relevant issues.
U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman on Feb. 22 blocked the BLET (Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen) and the SMART Transportation Division—the two unions opposed to BNSF’s planned Hi-Viz worker availability policy—from striking.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp., which in 2020 joined Thales and Siemens as the New York MTA’s third CBTC (communications-based train control)-certified supplier after completing a testing program launched in 2015, has been awarded a $62.65 million contract to provide wayside equipment for the MTA New York City Transit QBL-E (Queens Boulevard Line East) resignaling project.
The paperwork, or “mountain of minutiae,” as some observers see it, continues to pile up at the Surface Transportation Board as a growing list of hearings, complaint filings, litigation and proposed rulemakings continues to occupy the rail industry’s time and resources.
