MBTA lights up solar infrastructure initiative
The MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board approved a plan on August 1 allowing for the installation of solar energy generating equipment at 37 T-owned parking facilities.
The MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board approved a plan on August 1 allowing for the installation of solar energy generating equipment at 37 T-owned parking facilities.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a new, final rule on July 29 that requires passenger railroads to proactively identify potential safety hazards across their operations and work to reduce and mitigate them. FRA believes this rule will help prevent safety problems from escalating and resulting in incidents, injuries or deaths.
American Railcar Industries, Inc. (ARI) reported in the second quarter 2016, decreased revenues in the manufacturing segment were partially offset by increased revenues in the railcar leasing and railcar services segments. Total consolidated revenues were $150.5 million for the second quarter of 2016, a decrease of 22% when compared to $192.0 million for the same period in 2015.
To celebrate its acquisition, Reading & Northern Railroad (R&N) welcomed over sixty guests on a passenger train trip through the Humboldt Industrial Park on Tuesday, July 26, 2016.
The Surface Transportation Board On July 27, 2016 proposed new regulations “to improve the availability of reciprocal switching,” an action the railroads have been anticipating for more than a year. The proposed rules “allow a shipper to gain access to another railroad if the shipper makes certain showings,” STB said.
Like most of its peers, Norfolk Southern’s second-quarter 2016 volume, revenues and income were down compared to the same period last year, but the railroad managed lower its operating ratio to below 70% and expects to sustain that for the remainder of the year.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) is opting for a full 18-month shutdown of the Canarsie Tunnel, versus a three-year partial shutdown, to rebuild the tunnel, which flooded during Superstorm Sandy.
In the midst of what CN President and CEO Luc Jobin called “a very challenging volume environment” that saw second-quarter declines in revenues and operating income, the railroad posted an operating ratio of 54.5%—a second-quarter record and an improvement of 1.9 points over the prior-year quarter.
Revenue declines in six traffic groups were a key contributing factor in Union Pacific’s second-quarter financials, for which the railroad reported diluted earnings per share of $1.17, a 15% decline from the prior-year quarter; operating income of $1.66 billion, down 15%; and an operating ratio of 65.2%, up 1.1 points.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced the establishment of the Build America Bureau, “which will drive transportation infrastructure development projects in the United States by streamlining credit and grant opportunities while providing technical assistance and encouraging innovative best practices in project planning, financing, delivery and monitoring.”