Acting Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah Feinberg will respond to questions before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation at her confirmation hearing to become permanent FRA Administrator on Thursday, Sept.
Class I railroads have been seeking a rugged mobile AEI (Automatic Equipment Identification) application that will provide them with detailed railcar inspection and maintenance functions in addition to asset tracking. Several are currently evaluating a promising new device offered by Trimble, a manufacturer of rugged handheld computer devices.
The Association of American Railroads Coupling System and Truck Casting Committee has approved the new Strato Inc. E50BE Knuckle as meeting the AAR M-216 Knuckle Fatigue Test specification, which requires an average fatigue life of at least 600,000 cycles.
Rocla Concrete Tie, Inc., supplier of pre-stressed concrete ties, has entered in to a long-term supply agreement with All Aboard Florida and Florida East Coast Railway (FEC), which will require the construction of a new facility in Ft. Pierce, Fla.
2015 is adding up to be a year of innovation, and a few surprises, in the North American locomotive market.
To all my colleagues involved in railcar mechanical activities,
Once again this year, the Mechanical Association Railcar Technical Services (MARTS) is holding its annual railcar technical conference in conjunction with Railway Interchange 2015. As usual, our major topics to be discussed center on timely issues surrounding railcar design construction and maintenance of the North American railcar.
CSX President and Chief Operating Officer Oscar Munoz has left the railroad, effective immediately, to become President and Chief Executive Officer of United Continental Holdings, Inc., parent company of United Airlines, following the scandal-laced resignation of United head Jeff Smisek and two of his lieutenants. Munoz has served on the board for United Continental since 2010 and previously was a Continental director.
An assistant to the president of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company once said, “… let us direct our thoughts toward what would be required in the way of equipment or system for the safe operation of a train with no person at the controls. It is obvious that such a step must be made if we are to approach crewless train operation. It is equally obvious that the crewless train would have no one to look at wayside signals and therefore we should begin thinking in terms of an overall system that does not require wayside signals.”
Wi-Tronix LLC®, a provider of remote monitoring products and services for the rail, marine and mining industries, offersd its Wi-Power III, which it describes as “an intelligent power supply that provides customers improved asset utilization, availability and reliability.”
Metra, Chicago’s commuter rail operator, has awarded Parsons a contract to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on its commuter rail lines.