The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) First Quarter 2019 Positive Train Control Progress Report shows “significant progress” toward full implementation on required rights-of-way, which must be completed by Dec. 31, 2020.
BNSF Railway and the Chicago CREATE partners have completed BNSF Connection project (WA4), which established a new direct connection between BNSF’s Corwith and Cicero Yards, as well as between the CN Freeport Subdivision and the Western Avenue Corridor along which BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX and Union Pacific operate. Prior to WA4, freight trains had to travel longer, more indirect routings to make these connections, including long and potentially hazardous reverse moves.
In the wake of the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the 2017 Amtrak Cascades train 501 wreck on the Point Defiance bypass near DuPont, Wash., that killed three and injured 57, WSDOT (Washington State DOT) said it “will work with Amtrak to follow the NTSB recommendation to remove the [Cascades service] Talgo Series 6 trainsets from service as soon as possible.”
Rail industry equipment leasing and finance veteran Matt Siemer has joined Heartland Rail LLC as Vice President of Leasing. He has extensive experience in the industry, beginning at The David J. Joseph Company and then CIT Rail.
Citing that “no regulation of train crew staffing is necessary or appropriate for railroad operations to be conducted safely at this time,” the Federal Railroad Administration on May 23 cancelled its April 2014 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to mandate a minimum of two crew members on every freight train. Additionally, FRA is preempting—under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which gives the federal government dominion over interstate commerce—all state laws mandating crew size within state borders.
The Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) Rail Advisory Group is launching the C&W Transload Network, a platform for transload sites. The startup consists of 16 sites in Florida and Georgia, each of which are capable of facilitating transload of various commodities and volumes via ocean vessel, barge, rail and truck.
The Federal Railroad Administration recently announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update the regulation that governs locomotive engineer qualification and certification to make it consistent with the corresponding regulation for conductors. The proposed rule would adopt the conductor certification regulation process established in 2012 by making conforming amendments to the engineer certification regulation, which was first issued in 1991 and last amended in 2000.
Bentley Systems Inc. has released OpenBuildings Station Designer, described as “a new multidisciplinary application for the design, analysis, visualization, and simulation of new or operating rail, metro or other transit stations. Advancing beyond generic BIM (Building Information Modeling) applications, OpenBuildings Station Designer was developed specifically for rail and transit station modeling, with asset-specific content and workflows. It streamlines and automates design collaboration design between architectural, mechanical, electrical and structural disciplines sharing modeling, clash resolution and documentation capabilities.”
Bentley Systems Inc. has released OpenSite Designer, described as “an integrated application for civil site and land development workflows across conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design phases. OpenSite Designer advances BIM (Building Information Modeling) through comprehensive 3D site design, spanning reality modeling of site conditions from drone imagery and scans, geotechnical analysis, terrain modeling, site layout and grading optimization, stormwater drainage modeling and analysis, underground utilities modeling, detailed drawing production and enlivened visualizations.”
CSX has appointed Farrukh A. Bezar as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. He will lead the development of strategic initiatives that support CSX’s “intensified focus on growth and adding value for its customers and shareholders,” the company said. Bezar’s appointment is effective May 29. He will report to CSX President and CEO Jim Foote.