Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been granted $545.9 million under a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan to proceed with construction of the Crenshaw/LAX light rail transit poject.
A New Brunswick provincial judge has approved an adjusted arrangement that will see 14 VIA Rail cars refurbished in Moncton, New Brunswick, during the next 19 months, as a part of the former Industrial Rail Services contract.
The Department of Transportation and Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Monday announced $120.9 million had been released by the Federal Railroad Administration to upgrade Amtrak’s New Haven-Springfield (Mass.) route, part of the New England “Knowledge Corridor.”
Continuing a three-year decline, train accidents on U. S. railroads dropped 19.2% to 980 in this year’s first seven months, compared with the same period last year, according to a preliminary account by the Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Safety Analysis.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Monday said it has completed its acquisition of RailAmerica, Inc., and also “entered into a new five-year Senior Secured Credit Facility comprised of a $1.875 billion term loan and $425 million revolving credit facility.”
AECOM Technology announced Monday it has landed a final desgn contract to assist Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) in the first two segments of RTD North Metro Rail Line, a regional (commuter) operation.
Bombardier Transportation on Monday said it had landed two significant orders, one for 32 streetcars (trams) by Innsbruck, Austria, and a second involving TWINDEXX Vario double-decker electric multiple-unit (EMU) trains for Germany’s Deutsche Bahn AG (DB).
Fort Worth, Tex.-based CTC, Inc. says it will install Wyoming’s first wayside horn systems at nine grade crossings in Newcastle and Torrington, Wyo. The project was awarded by Wyoming’s Department of Transportation.
The Surface Transportation Board has directed BNSF Railway’s parent, Berkshire Hathaway, to “promptly remedy its noncompliance with railroad control requirements” stemming from its acquisition of BNSF in 2010.
A $20 million upgrade to the Horseheads (N.Y.) Sand & Transloading Terminal (HOST) will give Norfolk Southern trains hauling sand used in extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation the ability to unload 100 freight cars within 48 hours, five times faster than they presently do.
BNSF announced Sept. 29 that an updated Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) released by the Port of Los Angeles found that a proposed BNSF Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) facility “will result in an overall improvement in air quality, health risk, and traffic in both the immediate neighborhoods around the site and throughout the region.”
The California Transportation Commission has voted to release $39.8 million in allocations toward work to advance the Caltrain Modernization Program and prepare the rail corridor, which connects San Francisco with San Jose and Gilroy, for a future “blended” system with California High Speed Rail.
CN announced Sept. 28 a revamped and revitalized employee training program that it said will be anchored by two modern training centers to be built in Winnipeg, Man., and in suburban Chicago, Ill.
The Pacific Northwest Association of Rail Shippers fall meeting in Eugene, Ore. was instructive, to say the least. I thought the session theme—“What do you want your railroad to look like in five years?”—was particularly fitting, given the slow volume improvement from the 2006-7 peaks and the better operating metrics over the same time.
In October of each year, we put on our thinking caps and attempt to divine what is coming at us in the New Year—rail equipment and rail finance, that is.
Friction modification has morphed from art to science. Suppliers are spending a lot of time in the lab developing and testing products for proper lubricity, and that can withstand the temperatures and pressures of the wheel/rail interface.
CN is testing two main line diesel-electric locomotives fueled principally by LNG (liquefied natural gas) in revenue service in northern Alberta, Canada.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) on Thursday said that, on behalf of the departments of transportation from Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri, it has issued a Notice of Intent to Award to Sumitomo Corp. of America to design, build, and deliver 130 bilevel passenger railcars for use in regional intercity rail corridors in California and the Midwest.
U.S. freight carload traffic declined 4.1% for the week ending Sept. 22, 2012, measured against the comparable week in 2011, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday. U.S. intermodal volume sustained its winning streak, though in relatively modest fashion, up 0.7% for the week compared with a year ago.
Charlotte, N.C., has received $18 million in funds to support expansions for its Lynx Blue Line light rail transit, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the offices of U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx.
