Ansaldo STS, a Hitachi Group Company, has been awarded a $53.2 million contract from Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) for the full design and build of the agency’s Media-Sharon Hill Lines Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system, the company announced Nov. 13, 2015.
Following three days of debate, during which more than 100 amendments were considered, the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 5, 2015 “overwhelmingly” approved the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763), “a bipartisan, multi-year surface transportation bill to reauthorize and reform federal highway, transit, and highway safety programs.”
Wi-Tronix®, a Bolingbrook, Ill.-based supplier of wireless systems to “improve the operational efficiency, service reliability and safety of locomotives” announced Nov. 4, 2015 its launch of the Mobile Phone Detection System. This new solution, integrated into Wi-Tronix’s Wi-PU™, detects mobile devices located in a locomotive’s cab that transmit or receive communications over cellular frequencies.
In this series published in Railway Age‘s September, October and November 2015 issues, Contributing Editor Alfred E. Fazio examines the possibilities and engineering requirements for high- or higher-speed rail in the U.S., with emphasis on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, including an improvement project in New Jersey.
Classification yard performance has a direct impact on network velocity and efficiency. Process control systems are helping improve that performance.
The rail industry’s frenzied push to extend the Congressionally imposed deadline for implementing Positive Train Control—one of the largest unfunded mandates ever foisted upon a U.S. industry—finally came to fruition on Oct. 29, 2015.
Atlanta, Ga.-based Predikto, Inc., announced Oct. 27, 2015 the opening of its first European office located in Vilvoorde, Belgium, and the expansion of its worldwide team to “meet rapidly growing demand for industrial-scale predictive analytics that can help global industrial and transportation organizations capitalize on the explosion of data driven by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).”
ZTR Control Systems, a London, Ontario-based global provider of control and monitoring systems for the railway market, announced Oct. 27, 2015 that its Manager of Engineering, Amarjit Soora, has been honored by the Locomotive Maintenance Officers Association (LMOA) Executive Board with the 2015 Most Valuable Person (MVP) award “in recognition and appreciation of the meritorious service and significant contributions made to the LMOA Diesel Electrical Committee.”
Worldwide railway maintenance and construction company Harsco Rail, a division of Harsco Corporation, announced Oct. 27, 2015 the senior leadership appointment of Andre Schoen as Vice President for the international regions.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Oct. 22, 2015 unanimously approved the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763). Among the STRR Act’s numerous provisions is a minimum three-year extension of the looming PTC deadline.