Georgetown Rail Equipment Company (GREX) has made $10,000 available to its employees who are Armed Forces veterans to donate to veteran’s charities of their choice. Historically, GREX has supported its veterans through a variety of ways. This year, the company said, it “wanted to empower the veterans themselves to decide which causes to support.”
Reading & Northern Railroad, through its sister company Reading Railroad Transfer LLC, has acquired the former Penn Foster warehouse facility in Ransom, Lackawanna County, Pa.
The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA), with operating partners Amtrak and Union Pacific, has completed installation and testing of Positive Train Control (PTC) along the 170-mile San Jose-Auburn Capitol Corridor route. The agency received approval on October 24 to begin fleetwide implementation of PTC, CCJPA officials said in a news release.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Oct. 31 awarded its final major civil construction contract for the Long Island Rail Road East Side Access (ESA) project to Skanska USA Civil Northeast. The contract, valued at $60.2 million, includes two options that, if exercised, would bring the total value to $62.5 million. It’s among the final work needed to begin Long Island Rail Road service to Grand Central Terminal by year-end 2022.
Texas Central and Renfe on Oct. 30 signed an agreement that formalizes the relationship of the Spanish railway operator as the Texas high-speed train project’s operator.
Bombardier Transportation has appointed Elliot G. (Lee) Sander as President of its Americas Region, effective Nov. 19, 2018. In addition to ensuring that the company “delivers on its commitments in the region,” Sander will oversee all sales and business development activities for Bombardier Transportation in the Americas.
Have you seen Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business News, where, paraphrasing Elon Musk, he trashes California High Speed Rail, calling it “1960s Japanese technology” that will be “one of the greatest embarrassments in the history of California governance”?
Union Pacific reported record 3Q18 financials on Oct. 25, and at the same time confirmed a major restructuring program that, among other provisions, will involve several waves of layoffs beginning in the fourth quarter.
Martin Boyle, a member of STV’s Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Division, has been appointed to Executive Vice President of T&I, where he will oversee the division’s operations. He is succeeding William Matts, P.E., who is retiring at the end of the year after a 40-year career with STV.
I usually have reason to be critical of non-rail-industry-trade-publication reports on railroads or rail transit. The reporters rarely understand the subject matter, and they frequently describe rail technology in terms that makes my hair stand on end—and I’ve been bald (“follically challenged”, in euphemistic terms) since about 1985. Or, they have an agenda. Not so with the Oct. 21, 2018 CBS 60 Minutes report on New York’s subway system.