Maintenance of Way Archives

Commentary

December 08, 2014
M/W

Signals lit for Lamphier and company

On a recent drive past BNSF’s Hauser Yard, just a few miles north of my home in Post Falls, Idaho, I noticed the routine glow of signals standing alongside main tracks that lead into the run-through, semi-enclosed refueling facility.

November 26, 2014
M/W

Arcadis lands NYCT post-Sandy work

Arcadis US has been awarded a $26 million “task order” contract by MTA New York City Transit to, essentially, weatherproof huge swaths of the city’s subway system inundated by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.

November 20, 2014
Class I

BNSF bumps capex to $6 billion for 2015

BNSF’s planned capital expenditures for 2015 will be $6 billion, another record for a company that, including next year’s amount, will have made more than $50 billion in capital investments since 2000. BNSF also updated its planned capital expenditures for 2014, which now are expected to be $5.5 billion, $400 million more than initial projections.

November 13, 2014
M/W

Emmerson named Managing Director Harsco Rail UK

Harsco Rail has appointed Mark Emmerson Managing Director of the company’s United Kingdom operation. He has been in this role in an interim capacity over the past nine months, along with his previous role of International Finance Director.

November 13, 2014
Class I

Thelen creates scholarship fund for Penn State Altoona RTE program

Penn State alumnus Gerhard A. Thelen, who retired in 2013 as Norfolk Southern Vice President, Operations Planning and Support, has created a scholarship fund for Penn State Altoona that will support students enrolled in the college’s Rail Transportation Engineering (RTE) program.

November 13, 2014
Class I

Suit filed to block CSX D.C. tunnel plan

A suit filed in federal court seeks to block CSX from improving and expanding its Virginia Avenue Tunnel in Washington, D.C.

October 31, 2014
M/W

PB lands Australian coal project

Parsons Brinckerhoff has been named project management consultant for Adani Mining Pty. Ltd.’s multi-billion-dollar Carmichael integrated coal mine, port, and rail project in the Galilee Basin in western Queensland, Australia.

October 31, 2014
Class I

BNSF: We’re ready for winter

BNSF says it will go into the 2014-2015 winter season “better prepared than ever before, especially if the U.S. experiences a return of the polar vortex. The 2013-2014 winter was one of the most severe winters the U.S. has experienced in decades, with extreme temperatures that persisted for long periods and created special challenges for operating the railroad.”

October 29, 2014
Freight Cars

L.B. Foster to acquire Balfour Beatty unit

L.B. Foster Co. announced on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, an agreement to acquire the railroad tuning unit, FWO, of Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH. The German business provides track lubrication and switch roller equipment for international railway applications.

Commentary

October 28, 2014
Finance/Leasing

Unknotting rail congestion compels investment

Unraveling the knot restricting rail network fluidity cannot be achieved through Surface Transportation Board (STB) intimidation of rail CEOs, or by the agency’s issuance of an emergency service order instructing one railroad to operate over the tracks of another, or by merging the nation’s seven major rail systems into a North American duopoly.