According to Amtrak’s preliminary Fiscal Year 2019 (Oct. 1, 2018-Sept. 30, 2019) report, the railroad set ridership, revenue and financial performance records toward its FY 2020 goal of “achieving operational break-even.”
AECOM has appointed Jawad Shah Director of Signals and Communications in its Canadian Rail practice, a new position. He will serve as a new member of AECOM’s Americas Market Sector practice, working from the Mississauga, Ontario office.
The American Chemistry Council has named OmniTRAX, Inc., a Broe Group company, to its Responsible Care® Partner Program, the chemical manufacturing industry’s environmental, health, safety and security performance initiative. OmniTRAX joins North America’s seven Class I freight railroads as the ACC’s first short line partner “to reconfirm the company’s commitment to continuous improvement in environment, health, safety and security,” the company said.
CN’s Western Canadian grain movements broke another record in October 2019, with shipments of 2.8 million metric tons (MMT) of grain and processed grain products, the railroad announced on Nov. 4. The previous record, set in April 2019, was 2.7 MMT.
In the Association of American Railroads Nov. 6, 2019 traffic report, Senior Vice President Policy and Economics John T. Gray succinctly notes what is dragging rail freight down: “Sluggish growth abroad and trade developments are weighing on business investment, exports, and manufacturing. Unfortunately, those are precisely what drive much of the freight carried by U.S. railroads, and their weakness goes a long way in explaining why rail traffic is down right now. Railroads are hopeful that policymakers here and abroad will take sensible actions aimed at accelerating growth and removing the uncertainty that’s constraining many economic sectors.”
The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has added Ayers Electronic Systems LLC (aE) as Member Discount Program Preferred Provider for implementing Positive Train Control (PTC), including services selection, procurement, training, testing and implementation coordination.
Focused Technology Solutions, Inc. (FTS), a Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company, is expanding into the global railway market through resellers in Australia and Canada that will carry its SpikeEase battery-operated spike puller.
Users from around the world of New York Air Brake’s LEADER® technology recently gathered at the company’s Train Dynamic Systems (TDS) facilities in Irving, Tex., to “discuss pertinent industry trends, share best practices and learn about advancements in the company’s robust LEADER technology and its long-term roadmap.”
“CRRC AND BEIJING’S DASH FOR GLOBAL ROLLING STOCK DOMINANCE,” a report prepared by Radarlock, which describes itself as “a research organization that uses data-driven analysis to understand techno-economic dynamics in world affairs,” says that China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. (CRRC) is an arm of the Chinese government with “indelible ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” and whose executives “wear dual hats as corporate and as Party leaders.”
Loram Pty Ltd., the wholly owned Australian subsidiary of Loram Maintenance of Way, Inc., has completed its acquisition of Aurizon Operations Ltd.’s rail grinding business, increasing its Australian customers by four, among them all main line and turnout rail grinding for Aurizon Network Pty. Ltd.
