Author: William C. Vantuono

With Railway Age since 1992, William C. Vantuono has broadened and deepened the magazine's coverage of the technological revolution that is so swiftly changing the industry. He has also strengthened Railway Age’s leadership position in industry affairs with the conferences he conducts, among them Next-Generation Train Control, Light Rail, and Rail Insights. He is the author or co-author or editor of several books, among them All About Railroading; John Armstrong’s The Railroad: What It Is, What It Does; Railway Age’s Comprehensive Railroad Dictionary; and Planning, Engineering, and Operating Light Rail, With Applications in New Jersey.

STB: “We want more collaboration”

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is looking to revisit and modify its longstanding rules on ex parte* communications in informal rulemaking proceedings, which up until recently have mostly been prohibited.

ONT, BAYL turn to portable CNC wheel truing

Ontario Northland Railway (ONT), Canada, and Bay Line Railroad (BAYL), Panama City, Fla., have adopted CNC (Computer Numerical Control) portable wheel truing machines for maintaining and repairing locomotive wheelsets. The machines are from Delta Manufacturing, Escanaba, Mich., a supplier of portable, under-floor and above-floor wheel truing systems.

BrightRed under way to Florida

BrightRed, the fifth and final higher-speed trainset for All Aboard Florida’s Brightline passenger rail service, has departed the Siemens USA plant in Sacramento, Calif., and is on its way to South Florida, traveling 3,052 miles across the southern U.S. via the Union Pacific and CSX through eight states (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida).

Siemens and Alstom announce “merger of equals”

It’s official: Siemens AG and Alstom SA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding “granting exclusivity to combine mobility businesses in a merger of equals.” The combination is largely viewed as a move to remain competitive in a global market in which Chinese rolling stock manufacturers have gained considerable market share. Based on how the merged company, “Siemens Alstom,” will be structured and named, Siemens is the lead company, with 6 of 11 board members.

Amtrak CUS Great Hall work under way

Amtrak’s $22 million project to restore and improve historic Chicago Union Station’s Great Hall is under way. The year-long project will result in a public space painted in its original colors, and made brighter by a restored and protected skylight with improved lighting.

Siemens+Alstom+Bombardier?

Germany’s Siemens AG and France’s Alstom SA are discussing a merger to create a European rail transportation manufacturing conglomerate to counter growing competition from China, according to a report in the Sept. 23, 2017 Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, Siemens continues to engage in talks with Canada’s Bombardier, Inc. about merging their railway businesses.

CSX restores service post-Irma

CSX reports that it “rapidly restored service throughout the areas affected by Hurricane Irma,” which struck Florida on Sunday, Sept. 10, with devastating winds and flooding. The railroad says it re-established rail service “in most of the southeast U.S. within hours, into and out of northern Florida within 24 hours, and throughout the vast majority of the state within one week.”