CN has added 60 units to its initial 200-unit order of GE Transportation Tier 4 Evolution™ Series locomotives placed in December 2017. All the CN locomotives are being produced at the GE Manufacturing Solutions facility in Fort Worth, Tex.
Financial Edge, September 2018: According to the good people at Railinc (a perennial speaker at the annual Rail Equipment Finance Conference, www.railequipmentfinance.com), as of July 1, 2018, 12,581 tank railcars had been retrofit to the DOT117R standard. In the first seven months of 2018, 5,349 tank railcars were retrofit (an average of 764 per month). If retrofits continue at the same pace for the remainder of the year, the total number of retrofit cars completed in 2018 would be more than double the total number of retrofits completed by the end of 2017.
Siemens AG and Bentley Systems are extending their existing 2016 agreement “to further develop their joint business cooperation and commercial initiatives.” The two companies at the same time embarked on a new software offering.
Reading and Northern Railroad has appointed Susan Ludwig as Vice President Customer Service, oversee all RBMN Customer Service Managers and all business including Anthracite Coal, Forest Products and General Merchandise for more than 70 customers. Ludwig reports directly to RBMN President Wayne A. Michel.
The Greenbrier Cos. Inc. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Lorie Tekorius has been appointed EVP and Chief Operating Officer, a newly created position with expanded responsibilities, reporting to Chairman, President and CEO William A. Furman.
Harsco Rail has been doing business with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) for 15 years. The relationship has just been extended by LTA’s purchase of a specialized 16-stone grinder.
I’ll keep my remarks brief—which is unusual for me—and let the photos do most of the talking.
A white paper issued by the Rail Passengers Association, “Amtrak’s Route Accounting: Fatally Flawed, Misleading & Wrong,” contends that Amtrak’s fully allocated cost methodology “grossly exaggerates the cost of operating the national passenger train system. This, in turn, has lead to the conclusion adopted by many elected leaders and other affected stakeholders that abandonment of key long-distance trains will save Amtrak significant sums and lead to a more financially secure national passenger operation.”
BNSF on Aug. 21 officially debuted Logistics Center Oklahoma City, the railroad’s newest logistics center. Located in Moore, Okla., within the city limits of Oklahoma City, the Center is designed to accommodate manifest and unit train customers, in addition to providing a storage site.
Louis J. Gambaccini, New Jersey Transit’s founding Chairman, died at his home in Skillman, N.J., on Sunday, Aug. 19. He was 87.
