How many times can Amtrak spruce up its aging yet dependable Amfleet* cars, originally supplied by the long-defunct Budd Company in the 1970s and 1980s, and based on an electric multiple-unit design the Pennsylvania Railroad commissioned in the mid-1960s for New York-Washington, D.C. service?
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Sept. 8 announced completion of the Tier II Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the 123-mile section of the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor linking Washington, D.C. to south of Richmond, Va. The DEIS is a NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) requirement.
CSX has begun operations at its new Pittsburgh intermodal rail terminal in McKees Rocks, Pa. The facility “provides shippers a new transportation option to move freight to and from western Pennsylvania, while enhancing their competitive advantages through greater connectivity to this major consumption market,” CSX said.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has approved freight car castings from TVSZ (Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant, Russia, a subsidiary of United Wagon Co.) for unrestricted interchange service on North American railroads. TVSZ has begun shipping the castings; the planned scope of supply is up to 5,000 carsets per year.
The Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.), the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology, has sanctioned Penn State University-Altoona’s Rail Transportation Engineering (RTE) degree program. The validation makes Penn State Altoona “home to the first and only ABET-accredited RTE program in the U.S.”
As railroads in the Southeast brace for Hurricane Irma’s projected landfall Sept. 11 on the east coast of Florida, BNSF Railway reports that its operations in southeastern Texas are back to normal, with residual delays.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, along with 15 other elected officials from New York and New Jersey, met with President Donald Trump at the White House Sept. 7 to discuss the Gateway Project. Accounts of the meeting vary, but are somewhat positive.
Reporting on Cowen and Co.’s just-concluded 10th Annual Global Transportation Conference, analyst Matt Elkott said that railcar demand recovery is “likely sustainable but not at the same level as second-quarter 2017.” Cowen is projecting third-quarter 2017 orders for 9,400 units, below the second quarter’s 12,000 but significantly higher than the first quarter’s 4,800 and similarly low prior levels.
Patrick Allen, P.E., has joined HNTB Corp.’s national rail systems group as Manager of Vehicle and Rolling stock products, which includes locomotives and passenger cars and associated components, among them PTC (Positive Train Control) equipment. He is based in the firm’s Boston office and works with clients nationwide.
The U.S. House of Representatives late on Sept. 6, by a 128-293 vote, rejected an amendment offered by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) to eliminate $1.1 billion in federal subsidies for Amtrak as part of its Fiscal Year 2018 federal budget bill.