The Federal Railroad Administration on Dec. 3 issued Safety Advisory 2016-03 “to stress to passenger and commuter railroads the importance of taking action to help mitigate human factor accidents, assist in the investigation of such accidents, and enhance the safety of operations in stations and terminals with stub end tracks.”
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Nov. 22 proposed updates for the passenger train safety standards used in the U.S. as the country looks to regional projects to add high-speed trains that can travel up to 220 mph and replace its aging passenger fleet.
I’ve heard some pretty disingenuous (that’s a polite word for “dopey”) things said about railroads in my nearly 25 years at Railway Age. Nearly all of them have come from uninformed generalist reporters who are mostly clueless about what we do, how we do it, and the technology we employ—and that they don’t take the time to understand.
Chicago Rail Link, LLC (CRL), a managed affiliate of OmniTRAX, Inc., is presenting a new and innovative grade crossing pilot project. It is the first such test of this technology in North America.
On Sept. 30, 2016, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a Railworthiness Directive (Directive or RWD) to all owners of Department of Transportation (DOT) specification 111 general purpose tank cars.
The NTSB has recovered the event recorder and Railhead Corp. video recorder from the control cab of the lead car of New Jersey Transit Pascack Valley Line train no. 1614, which crashed Sept. 29 in Hoboken Terminal. Data from both devices will be analyzed at the NTSB’s laboratory in Washington D.C.
While we’re waiting for the NTSB to analyze the event recorder data and forward-facing camera video on the NJ Transit cab car involved in the Sept. 29 Hoboken Terminal crash, assuming there is useable information (there is no data from the locomotive event recorder, because it was non-operational), let’s jump ahead a year or two and anticipate the conclusion of the NTSB’s investigation and the list of forthcoming recommendations.
Officials on opposite sides of the country outlined plans to enhance safety of local rail systems using recently awarded federal funds.
Eleven projects across six states and the District of Columbia will receive grants from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to assist in the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC).
The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) announced on August 16 that it has received a grant from FY2016 Railroad Safety Technology Grant Funds, made available through the Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration. The $2.5 million grant will support the development and implementation of a back-office product that delivers Positive Train Control (PTC). The product will be made available to all short line and regional railroads.