Wabtec Corporation has signed contracts worth about $45 million to provide equipment and services for a Positive Train Control (PTC) system for the Metra, the Northeast Illinois commuter rail system. The contracts are with Metra and Parsons Transportation Group (PTG).
Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS), a business unit of Cubic Corp., on Nov. 19, 2015 released the Ventra Mobile App for Chicago Transit Authority rapid transit, Metra regional/commuter rail and Pace suburban bus riders. The “one-stop” mobile app gives transit riders the ability to plan, manage and pay for their journeys for each of the region’s agencies.
As part of ongoing work to improve Chicago Union Station, Amtrak, Metra and the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) have launched several initiatives aimed at advancing iconic station’s master redevelopment plan.
GATX Corporation, founded 117 years ago in Chicago, is helping to bring awareness to another iconic Chicago institution, John G. Shedd Aquarium. With support from GATX’s customer, Packaging Corporation of America (PCA), a boxcar was custom-designed to display various marine images and was unveiled at Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago on Oct. 13, 2015.
Union Pacific has promoted two public affairs officers to new positions, effective Oct. 1, 2015. Wes Lujan has been named Vice President Public Affairs, Western Region, and Liisa Stark has been named Assistant Vice President Public Affairs for Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Metra, Chicago’s commuter rail operator, has awarded Parsons a contract to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on its commuter rail lines.
In a historic first, and in a rail industry whose labor and management leadership ranks long have been dominated by Caucasian males, the first all-female Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) in the 78-year history of PEBs has been created to investigate and make recommendations in a collective bargaining dispute involving New Jersey Transit (NJT) and 16 of its rail labor unions.
Winners of the 2015 edition of Metra’s Safety Poster and Essay Contest were honored June 17, 2015 at the June meeting of the Metra Board of Directors.
Amtrak on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 dedicated its Chicago railroad operations center as the Joseph C. Szabo Chicago Control Center, “in recognition of Szabo’s contributions to the advancement of intercity passenger rail travel and railroad safety in the United States,” according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP).