An 85-year-old traction power facility at Metuchen, N.J., on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor—originally installed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1933 during a major Depression-era electrification program—was recently upgraded with state-of-the art technology from Siemens Mobility Division.
For the 20th consecutive year, Canadian Pacific’s two Holiday Trains will soon set out across North America, collecting food and raising funds for food banks while entertaining hundreds of thousands of people along the railroad’s network.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has awarded Harsco Rail a multi-year contract valued at approximately $40 million for 65 maintenance-of-way flat cars to support MTA New York City Transit subway projects.
Cowen and Company’s 3Q18 rail shipper survey says that shippers are anticipating price increases of 3.7% over the next 6-12 months, down from 4.7% in 2Q18, but in line with the survey’s long-term average, according to Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason Seidl.
Cowen and Company’s 3Q18 rail equipment survey indicates that the railcar market recovery remains intact, even though the survey’s results were “somewhat mixed,” according to analyst Matt Elkott. The percentage of shippers planning to order railcars “inched up very slightly, while order sizes decreased a bit. We expect strong 3Q18 orders, driven partly by crude tank car and intermodal equipment demand.”
WSP USA has appointed Lindsay Wood Transit and Rail Market Lead for company’s Texas-Mountain region, promotion from her prior role as Transit and Rail Manager, Texas, in which she led project and technical services roles for such clients as Capital Metro, Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, Texas Department of Transportation, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Gulf Coast Rail District.
U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Oct. 6, 2018, at 554,238 carloads and intermodal units, rose slightly—1.2 %—compared with the same week in 2017, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported Oct. 10.
CIT Group Inc. has completed the sale of NACCO, its European rail leasing business, in two separate transactions: to German-based VTG Aktiengesellschaft (VTG), and to a consortium of WASCOSA AG and a subsidiary of Aves One AG. Net proceeds were $1.1 billion, based on current exchange rates, and included approximately $1.2 billion in assets, which resulted in a modest pre-tax gain, CIT said.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has named Adrian Arnakis, Deputy Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation under Chairman John Thune (R-S.Dak.) as Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, effective in November. Arnakis will replace Ian Jefferies as he transitions into his new role as the AAR’s next President and CEO.
“We have no skepticism in Canadian Pacific’s post-Hunter world, said Cowen and Company Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason Seidl in comments on Canadian Pacific’s Oct. 4 investor day and 3Q2018 preliminary results. “We are encouraged by CP’s opportunities in intermodal and grain, and believe that increased free cash flow will give management the option to raise the dividend or pay down high yielding debt. We raise our price target to $236.”