An aerial view of the Dec. 18, 2017 derailment. (Photo courtesy of Washington State Patrol.)

Settled: Amtrak Cascades Derailment Case

A settlement has been reached more than four years after Amtrak Cascades train 501, on its inaugural Point Defiance Bypass run, derailed in DuPont, Wash., as it entered a 30-mph curve at approximately 79 mph.

Julie Timm, current CEO of Greater Richmond (Va.) Transit Company, has been recommended to serve as CEO of Sound Transit.

Timm Recommended for Sound Transit Leadership

The Sound Transit Board on June 23 will consider Julie Timm for CEO, succeeding Peter Rogoff.

Pictured: The first of five Liberty® LRVs prepares for departure from Brookville’s manufacturing facility in western Pennsylvania prior to its March 2022 shipment date.

Brookville Readies LRVs for Delivery to Sound Transit

Brookville Equipment Corp. will ship this month the first of five Liberty® NXT Light Rail Vehicles (LRV) to Sound Transit for operation on a 2.4-mile extension of the agency’s 1.6-mile Tacoma (Wash.) Link line, slated to open in 2023.

Pictured, from left to right: Don Filippi, COO, Metrolink; Arnold Hackett, CFO, Metrolink; Paul Hubler, Chief Strategy Officer, Metrolink; John Spiegleman, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, Broe Real Estate Group and OmniTrax; and Brooke Belman, acting CEO, Sound Transit, effective June 1.

High Profile: Metrolink, Sound Transit, The Broe Group

Southern California’s Metrolink; Seattle’s Sound Transit; and The Broe Group, parent company of transportation firm OmniTrax, have announced executive leadership appointments.

TriMet Appoints Bonnie Todd COO

Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) has named Bonnie Todd COO; she is the first woman to hold the agency’s top operating job.

Amtrak Service Returning to Point Defiance Bypass

Amtrak will resume Cascades service on the Point Defiance Bypass between Seattle, Wash., and Portland, Ore., on Nov. 18, nearly four years after an overspeed derailment stopped service there.

People News: Sound Transit, HDR

Andy Izquierdo has joined Sound Transit as Chief Communications Officer, and Nathan Macek has taken on the role of Infrastructure Finance Director at HDR.

For Sound Transit, $275.3MM ARP Grant

The Federal Transit Administration has awarded Sound Transit a $275.3 million grant for COVID-19 response under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021.

Sound Transit Northgate Link LRT: ‘Welcome Aboard’ (Updated)

Sound Transit on Oct. 2 opened its 4.3-mile Northgate light rail extension, marking the start of the Seattle-metro-area transit system’s three-year plan to triple its light rail network from 22 to 62 miles.

Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff Stepping Down in May 2022

The Sound Transit Board on Sept. 23 voted not to approve a full one-year contract extension for Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff. Chair Kent Keel said during the Board meeting that after more than six years of service, Rogoff recently informed Board members that “he did not foresee remaining in his role beyond the end of 2022”; Keel said he and others did not believe they should wait until 2022 to start searching for a new leader of the transit system serving the Seattle metro area.

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