The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) have enabled the agency’s SmarTrip AFC (automated fare collection) system on the iPhone and Apple Watch, “giving transit riders a contactless way to pay for their journeys on trains and buses in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia. In addition, Cubic and WMATA have launched a SmarTrip app, “the first mobile app for the region.”
Sept. 1, 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding day of family-owned HARTING Technology Group, a global supplier of industrial connection technology for data, signal and power with 14 production facilities and 44 sales offices worldwide. The company’s U.S. headquarters are in Elgin, Ill.
Duos Technologies Group, Inc. has appointed Charles “Chuck” Ferry as CEO, based in Jacksonville, Fla. Ferry replaces Founder and Chairman Gianni Arcaini, who continues to serve on the board of directors.
The Cummins QSK95 has become a major player in the passenger rail space, powering Siemens Charger diesel-electric locomotives with responsiveness, reliability and a low cost of operation. This 16-cylinder, high-speed diesel power plant has excelled in the harshest of operating conditions, including brutal arctic winters and scorching summer heat, while enabling the locomotive and passenger cars to achieve an operating speed greater than 125 mph. Currently there are 84 locomotives in revenue service with 762,500+ hours run and more than 13 million miles.
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has begun taking delivery on 88 new Siemens “Venture” single-level passenger cars. According to WSP USA Senior Engineering Manager Art Peterson, who supplied these photos to Railway Age, the first four arrived in Chicago in mid-August, and four more are en route.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt presiding, on Aug. 28 issued its decision in BNSF et al v. SMART-TD (Case No. 20-10162) concerning crew consist size, vacating an injunction that forced Sheet Metal, Air, Rail Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) General Committees to bargain over crew consist size and redeployment, despite the existence of moratoria that bar such negotiation. The National Railway Labor Conference (NRLC), which represents the carriers, while acknowledging the court’s decision, countered that the union’s objections are subject to arbitration, and as such bolster the railroads’ efforts to negotiate over crew size. One industry observer, who has been on both sides of the bargaining table, says SMART-TD leadership is not acting in the best interests of the membership they represent.
It’s a long-awaited rulemaking: The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Aug. 28 submitted to the Federal Register its “Final Rule on Rail Integrity Amendments & Track Safety Standards,” which the agency says “focuses more on providing performance-based outcomes, rather than prescribing exactly how companies conduct effective tests. Railroads will be expected to utilize established methods to conduct required rail inspections, but they will also have the flexibility to utilize new technologies and methods as they are proven safe and effective.” Specifically, this final rule allows railroads to use ultrasonic inspection technology augmented with global positioning system (GPS) for continuous rail flaw testing.
Six U.S. Representatives—three Democrats and three Republicans—have introduced bipartisan legislation enabling a tax credit for freight railcar owners purchasing new or refurbishing existing equipment that “will incentivize investment in safer, greener freight railcar manufacturing in the United States.” The legislation, H.R. 8082, is the “Freight Rail Assistance and Investment to Launch Coronavirus-era Activity and Recovery (RAILCAR) Act.”
The Surface Transportation Board and Federal Railroad Administration on Aug. 24 sent joint, identical letters to the CEOs of the seven North American Class I’s—Carl Ice (BNSF), Keith Creel (Canadian Pacific), JJ Ruest (CN), Jim Foote (CSX), Pat Ottensmeyer (Kansas City Southern), Jim Squires (Norfolk Southern) and Lance Fritz (Union Pacific)—citing service problems and “increased communication and transparency with rail shippers.”
The Rail Transportation Regulatory Agency of Mexico (ARTF), described as “a decentralized body of the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation,” established, nearly 25 years after the country’s national railroad was privatized, rate regulations for its three railroad concessions—Ferrocarril Mexicano, SA de CV (Ferromex), Ferrosur, SA de CV, and Kansas City Southern de México, SA de CV (KSCM).