If the new Amtrak management team is sincerely trying to improve safety, we ought to all support what they are doing. But if Amtrak is only using safety as a stalking horse to pursue another agenda (such as discontinuing L-D trains, as is believed in many circles), it should be called out on it.
Short lines Chicago Rail Link and Illinois Railway recently received federal grants to aid in the deployment of Positive Train Control technology.
Union Pacific released data as of Aug. 17, 2018, detailing its progress implementing Positive Train Control (PTC).
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded more than $200 million in funds to assist with the deployment of Positive Train Control (PTC), with a second solicitation expected soon for a remaining $46 million. As well, the agency released its second-quarter 2018 PTC progress report, which shows “significant improvement.”
Class II railroad New York, Susquehanna & Western (NYSW) has selected Rockwell Collins’ ARINC Railway Net hosted network, messaging and application platform for Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation requirements.
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) provided a second-quarter 2018 update to progress the commuter rail industry has made toward implementing Positive Train Control (PTC).
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.
New Jersey Transit, the nation’s third-largest public transportation agency, on Aug. 8 adopted a Fiscal Year 2019 budget consisting of $2.32 billion in operating expenditures and a $1.46 billion capital program. The budget, which NJT stressed does not include any fare increases, “supports continued investments in personnel, infrastructure and equipment to maintain the system in a state-of-good-repair and enhance the overall customer experience.”
BNSF Railway realized significant gains in operating income and revenue in this year’s second quarter and first half, attributable to volume increases in most commodities, tight truck capacity leading to highway-to-rail conversions, pricing and other factors.
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Director of Rail Transit and PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) General Manager Michael Marino is scheduled to retire in January 2019 after a distinguished 45-year railroad industry career. The Port Authority has launched a nationwide executive search for a replacement.
