Bombardier Transportation’s trouble-plagued, behind-schedule contract with the Toronto Transit Commission for 204 new low-floor Flexity streetcars continues to be the public target of Toronto Mayor John Tory and TTC Board Chair Josh Colle.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced Dec. 15 a $499.39 million federal grant agreement with the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (FWTA) to build TEX Rail, a commuter rail line between downtown Fort Worth and the Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW) Airport.
OmniTRAX, Inc., announced Dec. 14 that it worked with the Port of Brownsville to help facilitate the lease of a large grain-handling facility to West Plains LLC at the Port. The 3,000,000-bushel capacity grain elevator, which is located near the GEOTRAC Industrial Hub being developed by OmniTRAX, will create up to eight new jobs for the area.
Cowen and Company recently hosted a roundtable conference call with four rail equipment experts. “An uptick in freight car inquiries has occurred for one builder but has not yet translated into increased orders,” notes analyst Matt Elkott.
Legislators and transportation officials from New Jersey and New York and Amtrak say the Gateway Program to rebuild aging infrastructure and expand capacity on the Northeast Corridor in the New York Metropolitan Area “is on track and all the major players are on board,” according to a report from NJTV News. But questions remain as to whether the incoming Trump Administration will be on board.
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff has appointed Michael S. Venter an Assistant Vice President and Senior Engineering Manager in its New York City office.
Helicopters, trains and trucks: That’s what it takes to harvest and deliver Christmas trees to big-box retailers like Home Depot that sell millions of trees every year.
GE Transportation announced it made the first shipment of its diesel-electric Evolution Series ES43ACi locomotives to Pakistan Railways, from its manufacturing plant in Erie, Penn. The locomotives are expected to arrive in Pakistan in first-quarter 2017.
The Surface Transportation Board announced Dec. 14 that it has adopted a final rule to establish procedures for Board-initiated investigations concerning railroad issues of national or regional significance pursuant to Section 12 of the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015 (Reauthorization Act), Pub. L. No. 114-110, 129 Stat. 2228 (2015). Before passage of the Reauthorization Act, the Board could commence an investigation only in response to a stakeholder’s complaint, rather than upon its own initiative. Today’s final rule also marks the last milestone in the Board’s implementation of the Reauthorization Act.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on Dec. 14 that for the week ending December 10, 2016, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 538,932 carloads and intermodal units, down 1.1% compared with the same week last year.