Union Pacific on Aug. 15 said it is “shifting its network planning and operations function to better align with its strategic vision” and has made four executive management appointments, as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Cameron Scott relinquishes his post and moves toward a Feb 28, 2019 retirement. (He will serve as a vice president until then.)
Walead Atiyeh has joined HNTB Corp.’s national rail systems group as project manager. He is based in the firm’s Santa Ana office and currently supports the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have joined forces to deploy “a new advanced portable passenger screening technology that will help detect weapon and explosive device security threats on the county’s transit system.”
Bentley Systems, Inc.’s annual Year in Infrastructure Awards honors the work of Bentley customers advancing infrastructure design, construction, and operations throughout the world. For the 2018 awards, 12 independent jury panels of industry experts selected 57 finalists from 420 nominations submitted by more than 340 Bentley customers.
Extreme cold doesn’t have to have an extreme effect on railroad operations and maintenance. As published in the August 2018 issue of Railway Age, following are several examples of how the supply industry has warmed up to the task.
Rescar Companies (Rescar) has appointed railcar repair industry veteran J. Andrew (Andy) Schaffer as President-Plant Division. Schaffer will oversee operations for Rescar’s six full-service plants at Channelview, Longview and Orange, Tex.; Savanna, Ill.; Dubois, Pa.; and Gordon, Ga.
It’s going to take a while for New Jersey Transit to dig itself out of the oversize trench that oversize-ego, oversize-mouthed “Bridgegate” Chris Christie gleefully dug for it during his eight interminably long, interminably loud and intrinsically corrupt years as governor of the Garden State. Meanwhile, NJT customers are enduring the effects of Christie’s transportation starvation diet—a locomotive engineer shortage, cancelled commuter trains, and a PTC implementation program that’s behind schedule.
The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI) has named Sam Cotton as Senior Manager, Safety and Operations, replacing Mike Long, who recently accepted a position with the Federal Railroad Administration. Cotton will be responsible for management of SLSI’s Safety Culture Assessment program, a “voluntary, non-punitive and confidential five-to-ten-day onsite process with a rigorous methodology that includes an online survey of staff, discussions with management, and observations of a railroad’s daily practices.”
The Central Manitoba Railway (CEMR, owned and operated by Cando Rail Services) Pine Falls Subdivision Enhancement Project is an 8.8-mile infrastructure upgrade between CN’s Symington Yard (Beach Junction) and the Imperial Oil terminal at Birds Hill. The project “invests in Canada’s sovereign trade corridors and improves speed and reliability of trade, safety, and supporting short line railway operations in Manitoba.”
A pilot project utilizing advanced analytics software from GE Transportation is under way at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., the busiest port complex in North America. Designed to improve container movements at three of the port’s six container terminals—Long Beach Container Terminal, Total Terminals International and International Transportation Service—the two-month project incorporates GE’s Port Optimizer™ software to access data to move containers more efficiently.
