LORAM appoints Mannix Down Under
Loram Maintenance of Way, Inc. (LORAM) has appointed Stephen Mannix as Managing Director of Loram Pty. Ltd., its Australian subsidiary, with responsibility for the Australasian market.
Author: William C. Vantuono
Zmudzinski joins WSP
Robert Zmudzinski has been appointed Vice President and National Rail Systems Engineering Manager in the New York office of WSP USA, with responsibility for leading the firm’s transit and rail systems engineering team and support business development across the U.S.
Fuhrmann joins HDR in Minneapolis
Mark Fuhrmann, a 25-year veteran of Minneapolis’ Metropolitan Council, has joined HDR as a senior project manager based in the Minneapolis engineering office, with responsibility for projects in the Minnesota and Wisconsin region. His first assignment is serving as program manager for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District West Lake and Double Track projects.
Canada revises tank car phase-outs
Transport Canada on Sept. 19 issued Protective Direction 39, which accelerates phase-out of non-jacketed (no thermal layer of protection) CPC-1232 tank cars for crude oil service as of Nov. 1, 2018, 17 months earlier than originally mandated. In addition, non-jacketed CPC-1232 and older DOT-111 tank cars will be prohibited from transporting condensates as of Jan. 1, 2019, more than six years ahead of schedule.
Railroads go nine for ten
In reporting U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Sept. 15, 2018, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) noted that nine of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2017. Among them were petroleum and petroleum products, up 4,253 carloads to 13,335; chemicals, up 2,153 carloads to 32,650; and farm products excluding grain, and food, up 1,986 carloads to 16,583. Coal was the only commodity group that posted a decrease, down 3,457 carloads to 85,562.
UP: More like CSX?
Union Pacific late on Sep. 17 (following Wall Street close of business) announced a new operating plan, “Unified Plan 2020,” that “implements Precision Scheduled Railroading principles” that were deployed over the past 20-odd years at, in order, Illinois Central, CN, Canadian Pacific and CSX by the late E. Hunter Harrison.
Transition under way at AAR
After what the Association of American Railroads (AAR) termed “an exhaustive executive search,” the organization has chosen one of its own—Senior Vice President Government Affairs Ian Jefferies—to succeed President and CEO Ed Hamberger.
Ermewa Group selects Amsted Digital Solutions for telematics
Ermewa Group, a European lessor of industrial railcars and tank containers, has contracted with Amsted Digital Solutions for an end-to-end telematics platform for Ermewa’s digitalization initiatives.
Amtrak clarifies PTC position
Testifying on Sept. 13 at a House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials hearing on Positive Train Control, Amtrak Chief Operating Officer Scot Naparstek said—in contrast to what President and CEO Richard Anderson has stated in previous hearings—that the railroad will not discontinue long-distance train operations on freight railroad routes that lack fully functioning PTC by Jan, 1, 2019, and will apply to the Federal Railroad Administration for an alternative schedule with a Dec. 31, 2020 deadline.
Can you work fast and cheap? Contact FTA
The Federal Transit Administration is looking for transit agencies to participate in its “Pilot Program for Expedited Project Delivery,” which is “is aimed at faster delivery of new transit capital projects that by law must utilize public-private partnerships, be operated and maintained by employees of an existing public transportation provider, and have a federal share not exceeding 25% of the project cost.”