The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Dec. 19 issued two Notices of Proposed Rulemakings (NPRMs), one updating current Track Safety Standards (TSS), the other updating existing Brake System Safety (BSS) requirements. FRA said the proposed rules changes are designed “to promote safety innovation and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens.” Both “will increase rail safety as well as save time.”
In a Dec. 13, 2019 report, “A Major but Little-Known Supporter of Climate Denial: Freight Railroads,” The Atlantic paints a blistering portrait of U.S. Class I railroads, accusing them and the Association of American Railroads as being “at the center of the climate-denial movement nearly since it began,” and whose “efforts to keep coal burning—and all those tons of carbon flowing into the sky—have been hidden in plain sight for decades.”
Doug Ford, the Province of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Premier, has axed Hamilton’s DBFOM (design, build, finance, operate, maintain) B-Line light rail project, only months after he said publicly that the system was a go, and included in the Province’s budget.
RAILWAY AGE, DECEMBER 2019 ISSUE: As the first two decades of the 21st century come to a close, the freight railroad industry looks very different from the struggling, inefficient, overweight group of carriers that had just received a massive shot of adrenaline from the Staggers Rail Act of 1980.
Siemens USA has named Marsha Smith Chief Financial Officer, an expanded responsibility to her current role as CFO for Siemens Mobility North America, a position she has held since 2017. Her appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2020. Smith will succeed Heribert Stumpf, who will be retiring after 38 years with Siemens.
RAILWAY AGE, DECEMBER 2019 ISSUE: If legendary New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra were to ride Ottawa’s new Confederation Line, he would say—provided he was familiar with the old North Shore’s Electroliners or Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co.’s Liberty Liners—“It’s déjà vu all over again.”
Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) has contracted with CloudMoyo for the company’s Operational Testing System (OTS), which will be deployed across the entire railroad for safety and regulatory compliance.
CSX has designated the Henderson Bypass Rail Site in Henderson, Ky., as a CSX Select Site, a “development-ready property along the CSX network where standard land use considerations and comprehensive due diligence items have been previously addressed … able to meet the needs of a wide variety of manufacturers, significantly reducing the time required to construct facilities and ultimately bring products to market.”
Chuck Baker, President of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), on Dec. 5 testified before a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing entitled “Where’s My Stuff?: Examining the Economic, Environmental, and Societal Impacts of Freight Transportation.” Two subcommittees—Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials and Highways and Transit—jointly hosted the hearing.
Wabtec Corp. on Dec. 5 marked delivery of 10 ES30ACi Light Evolution Series locomotives to Egyptian National Railways (ENR) and the Ministry of Transportation (MoT). The delivery marks the first stage in fulfilling Wabtec’s 2017 order and services agreements, originally forged with ENR by GE Transportation.
