The Federal Railroad Administration on Nov. 22 published an NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) requesting comments regarding extending the dates for Class II and III railroads that are not intercity or commuter passenger railroads with 400,000 annual employee hours or more to comply with existing Part 243 Training Rules, “Training, Qualification, and Oversight for Safety-Related Railroad Employees.”
In January 2020, current PennDOT Secretary and former Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) board member Leslie S. Richards will replace the retiring Jeffrey D. Knueppel as General Manager of the sixth-largest public transportation agency in the U.S.
The 57th annual recipient of Railway Age’s Railroader of the Year Award is Kansas City Southern President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick J. Ottensmeyer, a leader in positioning North American railroads as a critical part of the globally competitive, integrated supply chain.
Kansas City Southern has completed global deployment and roll-out of a Cloud-based operational testing system from Bellevue, Wash.-based CloudMoyo (CM), a developer of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for railroad operations, revenue and asset management, safety, crew scheduling and maintenance.
Talgo, Inc., on Oct. 29, 2019 filed a Petition for Reconsideration with the National Transportation Safety Board regarding the Board’s report, Investigation No. RRD18MR001, Accident Report NTSB/RAR-19/01, on the Dec. 18, 2017 overspeed derailment of Amtrak Train 501 at DuPont, Wash.
San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) has awarded a contract to Stadler for a hydrogen fuel cell multiple-unit trainset* that will be the first of its type to operate in the U.S. The contract includes an option for four additional vehicles.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) on Nov. 12 filed comments with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) regarding two NPRMs (Notice of Proposed Rulemakings): Final Offer Rate Review (FORR) and Streamlined Market Dominance Approach (SMDA). The former, AAR said, should be scrapped because it is “unlawful” and lacks standards. The latter requires substantial limitations in scope.
Philip Morris Capital Corp. and HNB Investment Corp. have sued Amtrak in New York federal court in an attempt to recover $92.9 million for what they claim is a breach of contract for long-retired electric locomotives used on the Northeast Corridor.
Three Norfolk Southern freight trains were involved in a Nov. 8 derailment in Hempfield, Pa., about three miles east of Greensburg, Pa. (near Pittsburgh), on the high-density Pittsburgh-Philadelphia double-track main line. There were no injuries and no hazmat spills. NS restored service on both main tracks early Nov. 10. The cause of the derailment remains under investigation.
A change to the so-called “Arbitration Clause” buried deep within Amtrak’s “Terms and Conditions” for ticket sales that stipulates mandatory arbitration—effectively, preventing passengers from filing lawsuits against Amtrak “including, but not limited to, claims for negligence, gross negligence, physical impairment, disfigurement, pain and suffering, mental anguish, wrongful death, survival actions, loss of consortium and/or services, medical and hospital expenses, expenses of transportation for medical treatment, expenses of drugs and medical appliances, emotional distress, exemplary or punitive damages arising out of or related to any personal injury,” has captured the attention of legislators and passenger rail advocates.