The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) on Sept. 30 reported executing the $3.8 billion Federal-State Partnership Grant agreement with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), completing the $12 billion federal contribution for the Hudson Tunnel Project. The action also immediately obligated the initial $1.9 billion from the grant.
Norfolk Southern (NS) has awarded its 2023 Thoroughbred Chemical Safety Award to 59 customers, recognizing their safe handling of rail-shipped hazardous materials.
Canada’s Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx on Sept. 27 reported issuing a Request for Proposals (RPF) for the Stations, Rail and Systems (SRS) package for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, which will bring future Eglinton Crosstown LRT service 5.7 miles (9.2-kilometers) farther west, creating a transit line that will run from Scarborough all the way into Mississauga. Three teams have been prequalified and invited to bid.
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) Copper Line East County Connector, which replaces San Diego Trolley Green and Orange Line service north of El Cajon Transit Center, entered revenue service Sept.
This past summer, we reported in depth about the “fiscal cliff” that now confronts essentially the entire transit industry in the United States, due to the one-shot nature of COVID-19 relief funds
Watco, a transportation and logistics company based in Pittsburg, Kans., recently reported the opening of subsidiary Wisconsin & Southern’s (WSOR) newest locomotive shop and the upcoming launch of a $1.9 million warehouse at Port Birmingham (Ala.), to be served by subsidiary Birmingham Terminal Railway (BHRR).
Norfolk Southern (NS) on Sept. 26 named Brian Barr as Vice President and Chief Mechanical Officer. In this role, Barr, who will report to Chief Operating Officer John Orr, will lead mechanical
Michael Thomas is appointed as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA). Also, Anne Reinke is selected as the Intermodal Association of North America’s (IANA) new President and CEO; and GoTriangle President and CEO Charles Lattuca resigns.
The Oklahoma & Kansas Railroad, LLC (OKRL), a subsidiary of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, LCC (Rock Island), will lease and operate approximately 37.26 miles of rail line owned by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (OKDOT) and Blackwell Industrial Authority (BIA), according to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), which has approved the transaction.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is calling on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to reject petitions that seek to vacate its two-person crew rule, according to a Law360 report. The rule, issued earlier this year by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), was issued to establish “minimum safety requirements for the size of train crews.”
