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“As we continue to prioritize the enhancement of our transit system, I am thrilled to announce the purchase of nine additional new low floor light rail vehicles,” SacRT General Manager/CEO Henry Li said March 19. “By investing in these state-of-the-art trains, we are not only elevating the transit experience for our riders but also reinforcing our dedication to a sustainable future for the Sacramento region.” (Screen Grab from SacRT social media video post, courtesy of SacRT)

Transit Briefs: SacRT, TTC, Phoenix Valley Metro, Colorado General Assembly

Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) in California is exercising an option with Siemens Mobility for more LRVs (light rail vehicles). Also, Canada’s three biggest transit agencies, including the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), are urging the federal government to advance the next wave of transit funding; Valley Metro in Phoenix, Ariz., is installing new fare machines; and the Colorado General Assembly aims to leverage millions in federal infrastructure funding to bring passenger rail service to the state.

Commentary

ZE Power for Short Lines

Since the second half of the 20th century, four-axle diesel-electric switcher locomotives have been used extensively on short lines. The most common are the EMD SW1500 (1,500 hp/1,119 kW), GP9 (1,750 hp/1,305

Cathcart, which operates Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad (pictured), is investing more than $10 million to expand its Kansas City, Mo., railcar repair facility. Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad was a Railway Age 2021 Short Line of the Year Honorable Mention. (Photograph Courtesy of Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad)

Industrial Development Briefs: Cathcart, Buffalo, Virginia CTB

Cathcart Rail (Cathcart) is expanding its railcar repair facility in Kansas City, Mo. Also, Buffalo Rail & Infrastructure Corporation (Buffalo) acquires Canfor Pulp Products’ pulp mill assets, including 300-plus acres of heavy industrial land, in Taylor, B.C.; and the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) approves increasing the Rail Industrial Access fund.

AAR: Carloads Down, Intermodal Up for Week 11

U.S. rail traffic for the week ending March 16, 2024 (Week 11) was up 6.7% from the prior-year period, as intermodal gains more than offset carload losses, according to the Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) latest report.

Port of Charleston Capacity Set to Expand

South Carolina Ports plans to purchase the former WestRock paper mill site in North Charleston, S.C., to expand port capacity at the Port of Charleston. The roughly 280-acre industrial waterfront property sits adjacent to

David C. Lester Photograph

NS Files Definitive Proxy Statement With SEC

Norfolk Southern (NS) announced that it has filed its definitive proxy materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and will hold its 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders on May 9. Shareholders

UP has implemented new policies and enhanced training for craft professionals across its 23-state network. (Caption and Photograph Courtesy of UP)
Commentary

UP Invests in Safety, Launches New Training

Union Pacific (UP) continues making progress toward its goal to be the best in safety, investing in people, enhancing infrastructure, transforming culture and harnessing the transformative power of technology.

STB: Rail Cost Adjustment Factor Set for 2Q24

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has adopted for second-quarter 2024 the rail cost adjustment factor (RCAF), defined as “an index formulated to represent changes in railroad costs incurred by the nation’s largest railroads over a specified period of time.”

How It Works: FLOW Data Inputs and Outputs—Members of the FLOW program (e.g., beneficial cargo owners, ocean carriers, ports, terminals, railroads) share individual logistics data (highlighted in bold in the graphic above) with the USDOT and in return receive an aggregated, anonymized, and holistic view of the relationship between incoming containers (demand), the available assets to move containers (supply), and throughput within a supply chain region. Incoming demand is shared up to 90 days in advance of arrival. (USDOT Graphic)

USDOT Marks Milestone on Second Anniversary of FLOW

The Freight Logistics Optimizations Works (FLOW) platform is now publishing data on inland freight hubs, including rail terminal and warehouse end destination data, that will provide an “enhanced view” of future container import volumes and traffic, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) reported March 20, the second anniversary of the platform’s launch to provide an integrated view of supply chain conditions in the United States and to help users forecast how current capacity and throughput will fare against future demand.

MaxAccel’s SafeTrack platform offers a core set of crew management functions, including employee certification status, extra board management, employee communications, HOS compliance, job/territory qualification, and payroll with claims and arbitraries. (Image Courtesy of MaxAccel)

MaxAccel Joins ASLRRA Member Discount Program

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has selected MaxAccel, which supplies electronic recordkeeping applications, to become its newest Member Discount Program provider.

Rail Vision systems are said to detect objects on and along the tracks from a distance of up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometers)—in real time, as well as in all weather and light conditions. When an obstacle is detected, the system sends visual and acoustic alerts in real-time to both the operator and the command-and-control center. (Image Courtesy of Rail Vision)

Rail Vision Selects U.S. Distributor

Ra’anana, Israel-based Rail Vision Ltd.  on March 18 reported entering into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with a railway technologies company in the United States for the distribution of its Main Line and