California has withdrawn its pending waiver and authorization requests that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not yet acted on. In a win for railroads, this includes the In-Use Locomotive Regulation.
The National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC) on Jan. 14 announced that members of the International Association of Sheet, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers’ Mechanical and Engineering Department (SMART-MD) have voted to ratify a national collective bargaining agreement.
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President announces his retirement from the agency. Also, Sound Transit (Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority) names first Chief Strategy Officer; Port of Los Angeles appoints new Chief Financial Officer; infrastructure firm HNTB Corporation hires National Practice Consultant to support its transportation practice; American Public Transportation Association (APTA) names General Counsel; and Railway Association of Canada (RAC) President and CEO is stepping down.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) will administer a $13.2 million federal grant to the town of Wake Forest to construct a “mobility hub” on the S-Line passenger rail corridor. Also, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) receives $11.6 million to expand service along the CTrail Hartford Line; and the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency is awarded $27 million to increase Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train service.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Duos Technologies Inc. a patent for the obliquevue® Oblique Vehicle Undercarriage Examiner. This is the railcar inspection technology supplier’s 11th granted patent; it has six pending applications.
The League of Railway Women (LRW) recently named Amtrak Corporate Secretary and Ethics Officer Eleanor “Eldie” D. Acheson the winner of its 2024 Railway Woman of the Year award, an annual award that “honors a woman who establishes a strong vision and a culture of continuous improvement and creativity, and brings excellence to her organization and community, all while supporting the personal and professional growth of others in the rail industry.”
The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) on Jan. 13 announced that it has been awarded $1 million from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its Louisiana International Terminal (LIT) Sustainability Management Plan (SMP).
Iowa Northern (IANR) railroaders have signed on with the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union reported Jan. 13.
Will the High Frequency Rail (HFR) in Canada be delayed? Also, Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) receives the final funding needed to construct the Dos Rios Station; Brightline, Florida’s private-sector passenger railroad, will boost capacity between Miami and West Palm Beach; MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) reports the strongest year in its nearly 200-year history; and applications are now being accepted for Transit Tech Lab’s challenges with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANY/NJ), New Jersey Transit (NJT), and New York City Department of Transportation (DOT).
The RailPulse™ consortium is offering a “Grandfathering Incentive” for railcar owners/lessors that have already equipped their railcars with telematics from a current RailPulse™ certified vendor partners but have not yet joined the
