Late Breaking Rail Industry News
| October 7, 2008 |
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"At some point, we have to consider whether now is the right time" to continue proceeding with the proposed sale, Germany's finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, said. A public offering still is scheduled for Oct. 27.
The uncertain financial climate has exacerbated disagreement between the German government and banks involved in the proposed sale concerning the value of the sale itself. Those banks have urged the government to consider a lower sale price, noting that the banks otherwise could be forced to hold overvalued stock.
| October 7, 2008 |
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"There's a significant economic uptake you don't get with Bus Rapid Transit," Eisenberger said Monday in addressing the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. The mayor's appearance preceded that of Metrolinx head Rob MacIsaac, who was scheduled to address the Chamber of Commerce Tuesday. Metrolinx is committed to serving Hamilton with transit, but has yet to decide on the mode.
By contrast, Eisenberger and city council representatives recently toured LRT operations in Calgary, Charlotte, N.C., and Portland, Ore., and were impressed by both economic development and ridership numbers attributed to the systems. The mayor said he's counting on Metrolinx, to include at least one Hamilton light rail transit line in its first five-year budget due in November.
"Light rail appeals to everyone. There's a stigma attached to buses in every community that does not attach to light rail," Eisenberger said.
| October 6, 2008 |
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BNSF loaded a monthly record average 54.8 coal trains per day in the PRB in September, up from the previous monthly record of 54.1 trains per day set last November. September's average was up more than two trains a day from the 52.4 trains per day loaded in September 2007.
On Wyoming’s Joint Line, served by both BNSF and Union Pacific, average trains per day loaded by both railroads totaled 71.1 in September, also a monthly record, BNSF said. The previous record of 70.9 trains per day was set in August. Both railroads combined loaded an average of 68.7 trains per day in September 2007.
BNSF said the September records were set while its engineering teams continued work on construction projects, such as crossover and signal work on the fourth main track completed at Logan Hill on the Joint Line earlier this year, and shifting tracks to increase spacing between them. Wider track spacing will allow for increased throughput during future track maintenance projects in the area.
For the nine-month year-to-date period through September, BNSF has loaded 204.0 million tons of coal in the PRB, up 2.6% from the 198.8 million tons loaded through the same period in 2007. BNSF loaded a total daily average of 51.0 trains per day in the PRB through September, compared with an average of 49.7 trains per day loaded through the same period in 2007.
| October 6, 2008 |
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Jackson South Terminus will open in September 2009, coinciding with the opening of the Green Line to Clackamas Town Center in Clackamas County, south of Portland. The north-south line, roughly parallel to I-205, also will run the length of the Portland Mall and connect Portland State University with Union Station. Jackson South Terminus will also be served by the Yellow Line, which serves the Expo Center.
| October 6, 2008 |
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Davey, who served under O'Leary as deputy general manager, said he will continue to focus on system reliability and customer satisfaction as priorities. O'Leary's tenure followed a wave of mechanical and customer-service breakdowns. O'Leary will remain on the railroad's board of directors.
"Rich's experience and knowledge of the MBTA commuter rail system ensures that MBCR will continue to pursue its mission of providing superior commuter rail services in Eastern Massachusetts," O'Leary said in a statement. "Rich fully understands the MBTA's key initiatives, including accommodation of increased ridership and continuous service improvements."
MBCR, which runs commuter rail service under contract for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, is a partnership of Veolia Transportation, Bombardier Transportation, and Alternate Concepts, Inc.
| October 6, 2008 |
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The company says the alternative to proprietary components allows for extreme flexibility and ease of installation and maintenance.
Highlights of the system include: auto calibration; loggers; graphic playback; realtime hump list display; eBlock™, electronic track blocking; automatic report generation; NX route control, AEI Integration; redundant system and I/O; hot standby; wireless PC tablet; and remote diagnostics and maintenance. Automatic calibration delivers the highest levels of accuracy quickly and the user-friendly data storage allows users to receive reports that are as detailed as requested, displayed graphically, pictorially, and/or historically per user request.
| October 3, 2008 |
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"Reauthorizing Amtrak does not guarantee funding," cautioned Ross B. Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers; funds still must be approved through the congressional appropriations process. Still, the Senate bill authorizes $2.5 billion a year for Amtrak, covering operating and capital expenses, over five years. About $1.4 billion would help pay down Amtrak debt.
A separate $1.9 billion would provide federal matching funds for states seeking to invest in rail expansion and repair, which could benefit Amtrak or other passenger rail or freight rail services.
| October 3, 2008 |
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For the week, U.S. railroads originated 329,350 carloads, down 4.7% from the year-ago period. Intermodal volume declined 2.7% versus one year ago, though volume was the highest weekly total so far in 2008;. Total volume of 34.6 billion ton-miles was down 3.6% from the equivalent week last year.
Canadian carloads declined 6.2% for the week compared with the year-ago period, but intermodal volume defied the downward trend, gaining 7.6%.
In Mexico, Kansas City Southern de Mexico S.A. saw weekly carload traffic decline 26.4% compared with the year-ago period, though intermodal traffic gained 19.3%.
For the month of September, U.S. freight carloads declined 4.6%, while intermodal volumed fell 4.7%. Only three of 19 major categories tracked by AAR recorded gains, with coal gaining 3.0% and metallic ores up 16.8%.
Declining commodities for the month included motor vehicles and equipment, down 24.7%; chemicals, down 12.1%; crushed stone, sand, and gravel, off 16.1%; and grain, down 8.3% for the month.
September Canadian carload traffic fell 6.6%, but intermodal traffic gained 4.6% versus September 2007. September carloads on Kansas City Southern de Mexico were down 18.1% but, as in Canada, intermodal units rose versus the year-ago period, up 9.5%.
"September was not kind to U.S. freight railroads," said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. "Hurricane Ike caused significant damage, both to rail infrastructure and to rail customer facilities on the Gulf Coast, including many chemical facilities. And, of course, railroads and their customers are not immune to the upheaval in the general economy due to the credit crunch."
| October 3, 2008 |
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The National Carriers Conference Committee, which represents the railroads in national bargaining, announced the final agreement Oct. 2. It covers more than30 railroads, including he five major Class I's: BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific.
| October 3, 2008 |
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The move follows a report in The New York Times that cataloged widespread disability payments to a high percentage of former LIRR employees, out of line with sister railroad Metro-North and with other passenger rail operators in the United States. Former employees had collected about $250 million in disability payments from the Railroad Retirement Board; the LIRR pays $91 million a year to the retirement board.
Investigative efforts into the issue already are under way by the United States attorney in the Eastern District of New York, inspectors general from LIRR's parent Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the retirement board, and New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.
| October 3, 2008 |
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| October 2, 2008 |
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The short term looked anything but good in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. At 12:30 p.m. Norfolk Southern shares were down 13.11%; CSX, down 10.01%; Kansas City Southern, down 15.23%; and Union Pacific, down 10.87%.
Seidl saw a number of forces at work: "There is a general reluctance of investors to put money to work in this market. The railroads have started to break technical support levels, which have nothing to do with their fundamentals. Redemptions (are) occurring at hedge funds that have been decimated in this market."
The breaking of technical support levels appeared to be the reason for the unusually precipitous drop of railroad shares.
An immediate contributor to the fall could have been a report on the CNBC Fast Money website Thursday, attributed to an Oppenheimer market strategist, suggesting that patterns in a market-volatility chart indicated "transports are a sell. Although the Dow has come back to its highs and global markets have come back to their highs, the transports have not." He said he would "get out of the rails, including Union Pacific, Burlington Northern, and Norfolk Southern, as well as trucking stocks such as J.B. Hunt and Ryder." He would also downgrade FedEx and UPS.
What is a "support level" in the financial markets? Wikipedia defines it as "a price level where the price tends to find support as it is going down. This means the price is more likely to 'bounce' off this level rather than break through it. However, once the price has passed this level, even by a small amount, it is likely to continue dropping until it finds another support level."
Railroad economist Frank Wilner, also a Railway Age contributor, put it this way:
"Chartists hold that the statistical relationship of sector stocks to the broad market and other sector stocks is relatively stable over time--much like the relationship of the planets to each other and the sun.
"When those relationships don't behave, chartists buy or sell to restore the so-called natural order," Wilner said.
"Chartists ignore current events and other traditional drivers of the stock market. They are wedded solely to their own statistical tables," he said.
| October 2, 2008 |
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In addition, a microprocessor has been designed and manufactured to replace the older PLC system, which will allow greater flexibility and efficiency in unit startup and operational controls, Westcode says. A 12-inch Touch Screen Status-Display-Panel has also been incorporated for each car which can be expanded to monitor the functions of other systems in each car, including doors, battery charges, and toilet operations.
Westcode says it will feature these new systems at the American Public Transportation Association's Annual Meeting and Expo in San Diego Oct. 6-8.
| October 2, 2008 |
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TriMet will operate three self-propelled diesel multiple-unit (DMU) cars and one trailer provided by Colorado Railcar Manufacturing, which TriMet notes is the only U.S. firm building DMUs that meets federal safety standards and complies with the Buy America requirement. TriMet says the manufacturer has fallen six months behind delivery schedule, thus delaying revenue service, originally scheduled for this fall.
Commuter service will share space with Portland & Western (P&W) Railroad freight operations; TriMet has purchased a signal system for WES that will be fully integrated with P&W's freight service. All 35 P&W freight locomotives that will operate in this corridor, as well the WES vehicles, will include cab signals that are part of an overall signal system that will prevent train-to-train collisions.
WES will offer intermodal connections with the Beaverton Transit Center, served by 11 bus lines and MAX Blue and Red lines, for access to Portland and other points.
| October 2, 2008 |
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Although data collected by the Surface Transportation Board shows a diesel locomotive can move a ton of freight 436 miles using a single gallon of diesel fuel, NIU hopes to improve even that advantage, noting that at current prices even a 1% improvement in fuel efficiency could save the industry more than $100 million a year. "We are very excited about this opportunity and look forward to devising some ground-breaking solutions," said Promod Vohra, dean of NIU's engineering school, in a statement.
Faculty teams assisted by students at the NIU campus in DeKalb, Ill., will explore options such as fuel cells, alternative fuels, alternative locomotive materials, reducing emissions and heat loss, and improved lubrication, including utilization of nano-particles to reduce locomotive engine wear and increase efficiency.
| October 2, 2008 |
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Ohio Central Railroad operates over 445 miles of track and owns 64 locomotives. The railroads handle approximately 140,000 annual carloads, primarily in the coal, steel and solid waste industries.
Georgia Southwestern owns 10 locomotives and operates over 220 miles of track between White Oak, Ala., and Smithville, Ga., between Cuthbert, Ga., and Bainbridge, Ga., and in and around Columbus, Ga. eorgia Southwestern connects to GWI's Chattahoochee Industrial Railroad in Saffold, Ga., via trackage rights. It interchanges with Norfolk Southern, CSX, and the Heart of Georgia Railroad, carrying about 10,000 carloads per year, primarily serving customers in the peanut, general agriculture, aggregate, animal feed, and ethanol storage markets.
| October 2, 2008 |
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The agreement is part of a larger package in which Massachusetts also will buy CSX tracks west of Boston and add trains to serve Worcester. The state also is buying two CSX properties involving rail yards and tracks in Boston.
"I think it removes a major hurdle, and it's a significant step forward," said state Lt. Gov. Murray, commenting on plans to restore passenger rail service to southeastern Massachusetts.
Total purchase cost of the properties is roughly $100 million; purchase of the Boston-to-Worcester line accounts for roughly half the total; the other $50 million pays for the SouthCoast rail, plus the two CSX properties in Boston. Funds will come from state transportation bond authorizations. Commuter rail service to Fall River and New Bedford is anticipated to commence in 2016
Liability issues remain to be resolved; state officials said such issues are a larger concern on the Boston-to-Worcester route, which still handles substantial CSX freight traffic. Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited also plys the route.
| October 2, 2008 |
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MTA's effort to curb stormwater flow is in response to a storm Aug. 8, 2007, that severely disrupted subway service throughout the system. The design of the units has been a joint effort in partnership with other city organizations, including the New York City Department of Transportation, the Public Design Commission of the City of New York, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Municipal Art Society.
The street furniture for lower Manhattan, designed by Grimshaw Billings Jackson with Systra/HNTB, is on view to be tested by cyclists, pedestrians and the local community before the additional units are installed. An earlier installation, in Jamaica, Queens, features raised grates and benches in Jamaica, and was designed by Rogers Marvel Architects with di Domenico Partners.
"This was an unprecedented collaboration for the MTA," said MTA Executive Director and CEO Elliot G. Sander in a statement. "By partnering with so many leaders of the design community, we achieved both the highest caliber of design excellence and a much needed functionality, to improve the MTA's ability to serve customers during intense rainstorms."
| October 1, 2008 |
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Described as "the most comprehensive rail safety bill in more than 30 years," the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008’s major provisions include:
* Conductor certification: Within 18 months of the bill's becoming law, the FRA must establish a program to certify conductors, including minimum training standards.
* Positive Train Control: Requires installation of PTC by Dec. 31, 2015, on all main line track where intercity passenger and commuter railroads operate, and where TIH (toxic-by-inhalation hazmat) is transported. Also, grants are provided to assist railroads in implementing ECP brakes and switch-position indicators. The railroads, represented by the AAR, supported these provisions, which are less ambitious than the originally proposed 2012 PTC implementation timetable .
* Hours-of-service: Requires at least 10 consecutive uninterrupted hours off duty following 12 hours on duty. There is a three-year exception for passenger train employees, during which time their hours of service limitations will be studied by the FRA. No freight railroad employee covered by the hours-of-service law may be called to work unless they have had at least 10 uninterrupted hours off during the prior 24-hour period. And following each six days of work, a covered employee must be given 48 hours of uninterrupted time off at their home terminal. If the carrier requires that employee to work a 7th day--even if it is to return them to their home terminal--then the uninterrupted time-off at the home terminal must be at least 72 hours. As to limbo time, no employee covered by the hours-of-service law may be placed in limbo time after they have been on duty, waited for deadhead transportation, or been in any other mandatory service for more than a total of 276 hours in any month. Total limbo time per month is restricted to no more than 40 hours--reduced to 30 hours on the first anniversary of the bill’s becoming law.
* Locomotive cab safety: Requires the FRA study the safety impact of the use of train crews using personal electronic devices (personal cell phones, Blackberries, iPods and other electronic devices), except for company business, and then only when two crewpersons are in the cab. In the wake of the Sept. 12 Metrolink crash in California that killed 25, the FRA said it will issue an emergency order "explicitly prohibiting the use of personal electronic devices by railroad employees while operating trains and in other settings." The NTSB has determined that Metrolink engineer Robert Sanchez, who was killed in the wreck, sent a cell phone text message 22 seconds before his commuter train crashed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train. His cell phone records show he sent a text message after receiving one about a minute and 20 seconds before the crash. They also show that he sent 24 text messages and received 21 messages over a two-hour period during his morning shift, and during his afternoon shift he received seven and sent five messages, according to the NTSB. In the days after the crash, several teenage railfans told a Los Angeles Times reporter that Sanchez sent them a text message just before the collision. (FRA Thursday afternoon issued an emergency order banning the use of all electronic devices in locomotive cabs.)
* Medical attention: Prohibits railroads from denying, delaying, or interfering with the medical or first aid treatment of injured workers, and from disciplining those workers that request treatment. Also requires railroads to arrange for immediate transport of injured workers to the nearest appropriate hospital.
* FRA inspector staffing: Increases the number of federal rail safety inspectors and supporting staff by 200.
The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 contains provisions to invest in Amtrak and expand intercity rail passenger. It supports a five-year cumulative $13.1 billion federal subsidy to Amtrak, provides seed money for the development of additional high-speed rail corridors, and permits the STB to fine host freight railroads that delay Amtrak trains, should it be determined after an investigation that a delay was indeed the fault of the host freight railroad. Federal grants are provided to states to develop new services, increase capacity on heavily used rail lines, and attract new riders. For high speed, grants are provided to construct 11 to-be-determined corridors. Advocates cautioned, however, that reauthorizing Amtrak does not guarantee funding.
Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) voted for the bill. His opponent, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) voted against it. Remarked one industry observer, "McCain's 'no' vote is clearly a 'say no to Amtrak' statement. It's incredible that he would vote against a comprehensive safety bill the railroads themselves support simply because he's against Amtrak."
The complete, 315-page bill can be downloaded in PDF form by clicking on this link.
| October 1, 2008 |
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In the January-July period this year, there were 1,424 train accidents, down 7.9% from last year and 26.0% from 2005; 112 collisions, up 5.7% from 2007 but down 28.78% from 2005; 1,033 derailments, down 9.5% from last year and 24.4% from 2005; and 770 yard accidents, down 3.3% from 2007 and 28.3% from 2005.
| October 1, 2008 |
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These grants were announced:
--Arizona: $1 million for an environmental impact study in connection with planned new intercity rail service in the 140-mile Sun Corridor between Phoenix and Tucson.
--California: $5 million for a 4.5-mile double-tracking project in the San Joaquin Valley at Kings Park—“one of the worst congestion points in the corridor and a priority for capacity enhancement on the BNSF sections of the San Joaquin route operated by
Amtrak.”
--Illinois: Two grants-- $1.8 million for installation of a Cab Signal and Advance Activation System on a 118.4 mile Amtrak route on the Chicago to Sts. Louis high speed line; and $1.55million or installation of CTC and cab signals from Joliet to Mazonia.
--Maine: $500,000 to the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority for a track improvement project on a Pan Am Railways line in the Portland area.
--Minnesota: $1.1 million for a preliminary EIS for new passenger rail service from Minneapolis to Duluth.
--Missouri: $3.3 million for construction of one 9,000-foot passing rack and preliminary engineering for a second on the UP line between Jefferson City and Kansas City to ease freight-train interference for two state-supported passenger trains.
---New York: $1.25 million for engineering of a reconfiguration of interlockings in and around Albany-Rensselaer Station serving four passenger services.
--Ohio: $62,500 to support a Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati Planning and Alternatives analysis in connection with the proposed startup of two round trips per day between Cleveland and Columbus and possibly to Cincinnati.
--Vermont: Two grants--$450,000 for rail replacement/bridge redecking on the Vermonter route; and $581,775 for two miles of track reconstruction on the Amtrak Ethan Allen route.
--Virginia: $2 million for a passing track south of Fredericksburg Station in Spotsylvania County.
--Washington: $6 million for preliminary work on the 19.5-mile Point Defiance Bypass project from Tacoma to Nisqually to redirect passenger trains from the circuitous BNSF freight route to a passenger-oriented inland route.
--Wisconsin: $5 million to install 17.85 miles of welded rail on the Canadian Pacific between Milwaukee and the Illinois-Wisconsin state line to eliminate slow orders required by on-going maintenance of jointed rail.
| October 1, 2008 |
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The vote also is taking place following Monday's successful cloture vote, where bipartisan support for Amtrak funding was substantial. The measure would authorize $13 billion for Amtrak during a 10-year period, allowing the national passenger railroad to invest in several oft-delayed capital projects.
| September 30, 2008 |
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Capital Metro in 2006 asked FRA for a waiver for its six-car fleet, citing the similarities of its proposed system with DLRT operations in New Jersey and northern San Diego County, and noting both of those operations were overseen by the Federal Transit Administration. But FRA, noting Austin's system had been originally identified as "commuter rail," had insisted on heightened safety precautions for the system. Among other issues, FRA expressed concerns over Capital Metro's non-FRA compliant rolling stock.
Cap Metro has agreed to design and install a steel cage to surround the fuel tanks on its six Stadler-Bussnag diesel units; FRA, in turn, has agreed to allow the line to open prior to having all cages put in place.
Capital Metro still is racing to complete two stations on the route that have suffered delays in construction, as well as two passing sidings.
| September 30, 2008 |
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STB's decision came 13 months after CP announced that it proposed to buy DM&E for nearly $1.5 billion in cash in a deal that could approach $2.5 billion.
The board said its decision "addressed the potential environmental impacts of future coal train movements over the lines operated by CP and/or IC&E if CP decides to construct the new line into the Powder River Basin authorized in Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation Construction into the Powder River Basin, STB Finance Docket No. 33407."
STB also said that it "held that CP and Soo Holding [an indirect CP subsidiary] may not transport over CP's and/or IC&E's rail lines any coal originating on the new Powder River Basin line until the agency has prepared an Environmental Impact Statement addressing the environmental impacts of those movements and issued a final decision allowing such operations to begin."
The Board's decision is accessible at www.stb.dot.gov by selecting "E-Library," then "Decisions and Notices" beneath the date "9/30/08."
| September 30, 2008 |
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Born into a working-class family in Bellevue, Ky., in 1927, Yeager went to work in 1952 for the Pennsylvania Railroad, at that time s a veritable testing ground for iintermodal innovation.
When he left the Pennsylvania in 1971 to start his own intermodal freight forwarding business, Yeager took with him an insider's knowledge of the fastest growing segment of railroading. His strong relationships within the industry and a reputation for straight dealing attracted customers in great numbers, and by 1985 Hub was doing business in 25 major rail cities.
Hub describes itself today as "a leading asset-light freight transportation management company, providing comprehensive intermodal, truck brokerage, and logistics services." It operates over a network of over 30 offices in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Yeager never retired, and at the time of his death was chairman of the company.
| September 29, 2008 |
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The operation, said to be modeled after DLRT lines in New Jersey and San Diego County, Calif., would include five or six stations in Marion and Hamilton counties, and begin service in 2012, to coincide with Indianapolis' being host to the Super Bowl. Conventional diesel multiple-unit (DMU) equipment, possibly used equipment, is being considered for initial commuter service, with DLRT gear being purchased sometime later.
The council, which is the metropolitan planning organization for eight counties, approved the measure as the first of seven possible transit lines proposed for the area. But funding remains uncertain, and Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, though in favor of the proposal, said he wanted to consider taxation only after pursuing other options, such as private investment.
| September 29, 2008 |
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At midday Monday senators voted 69-17 to proceed to a final vote on the bill, which requires more rest for workers and the addition of positive train control technology on rail routes shared by freight and passenger operations.
Final passage is scheduled for Wednesday, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Last Thursday the House passed a comparable measure; Senate approval would send the measure to the White House for President Bush to sign.
The Senate bill caps the hours per week rail crews can work, adds 200 new safety inspectors for the Federal Railroad Administration, and requires the installation by 2015 of PTC (or comparable) technology.
The same bill also reauthorizes Amtrak for a five-year span and provides the passenger railroad with $13 billion, much of that for enhancement and expansion of existing services. Also included is $2 billion in grants to states for rail projects, including passenger rail improvements, deemed desirable by state departments of transportation.
| September 29, 2008 |
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The five carriers failing to earn the STB-determined cost of capital for the industry were: Grand Trunk (including Canadian National U.S. affiliates), with a return on investment of 10.11%; BNSF, 9.97%; Union Pacific, 8.90%; Kansas City Southern, 9.37%; and CSX, 7.61%.
In announcing its latest finding, the STB noted that it uses the cost of capital figure "in evaluating the adequacy of individual railroads’ revenues each year, as well as in various types of regulatory proceedings (such as determining the reasonableness of a challenged rail rate, considering a proposal to abandon a rail line, or valuing a particular railroad operation in certain other types cases)."
The STB's cost of capital decision in Ex Parte 558 (Sub-No. 113) and its revenue adequacy decision in STB Ex Parte No. 552 (Sub No. 112 may be viewed and downloaded at www.stb.dot.gov under E-Library, then under Decisions and Notices under the date 9/26/08.
| September 29, 2008 |
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The bill was introduced in reaction to Canadian National's plans to acquire the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway, which critics contend would pose numerous safety and health problems.
Opponents were able to mount enough concern about the bill's potential to discourage rail mergers and rail investment. The bill would have applied to transactions that were not approved by Aug. 1, which observers say specifically targeted the CN/EJ&E proposed merger. STB is set to rule on the merger by year's end.
House members from Chicago's outer suburbs support the legislation, reflecting concerns over the merger voiced by constituents. By contrast, representatives from Chicago and its inner suburbs generally support CN's proposal and voted against the bill.
| September 26, 2008 |
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"In addition to investing about $2 billion to maintain the railroad, replace existing infrastructure, and ensure safety, we tentatively expect to invest approximately $1 billion in new capacity in 2009, assuming returns on each investment look promising," said Young. "Returns on investment will dictate the capacity of this railroad."
| September 26, 2008 |
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"Mazda is one of Russia's most popular brands with double-digit growth every month," said Jorden Olseen at Mazda Motor Europe. "Rail transport is intended to supplement existing delivery, which will continue to come by ship and road from the west."
The vehicles will be transported over the 5,565-mile Trans-Siberian from a point near Vladivostok to Moscow in unit trains of 30 railcars. Delivery time to Moscow will be 10 days, the same as by passenger train.
| September 26, 2008 |
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| September 26, 2008 |
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throughout the massive subway system, following successful pilot implementation on its 7 and L lines, which began last year. The agency says the decentralization move is the first major managerial reorganization of the Department of Subways since the MTA was created more than 50 years ago.
The agency seeks more localized operation aimed at cutting through the red tape and inertia, and believes line managers can be more responsive, more quickly, to customers, employees, and situations as needed.
"The prime focus of the reorganization of the Department of Subways is to move the area of responsibility closer to the employees who provide the services and to the customers – who are the end users of those services," said NYC Transit President Howard H. Roberts, Jr. "Our experience with the 7 and L demonstrates that services are more efficiently delivered when they aren't filtered through a large, unwieldy bureaucracy."
The 7 and L lines, under the new program since last December, have both a Line General Manager and a deputy. MTA New York City Transit expects about 19,000 employees to move from central divisions into the decentralized line structures, and anticipates more than $7 million in cost savings.
When complete, 18 Line General Managers will oversee the city's 26 individual subway lines. The Line General Managers would in turn report to five Group General Managers. Decisions regarding which lines were combined to create a group were based on a number of criteria, including service corridor, service level, route and track miles, and the number of employees.
| September 26, 2008 |
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The revised plan would retain other features, including the birdlike design of the main building at street level. The revisions also would expedite completion of several non-transit elements of Ground Zero's reconstruction, such as the memorial plaza, which will sit directly above the station mezzanine. Despite the changes, the station itself isn't expected to be completed until 2014.
The changes were requested by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns the site and which operates PATH rail service. A report by PA is scheduled for release next week.
| September 26, 2008 |
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The $91 million pledged to he Warm Springs extension originally was designated for rehabilitation of the old Dumbarton Rail bridge and the launch of a new commuter rail service. MTC said the Dumbarton Rail project remains alive.
"The bottom line is that the Warm Springs BART extension is ready to go and the Dumbarton Rail project isn’t," said MTC Vice Chair and Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerety. "But without the RM 2 money BART probably wouldn’t have been able to start on he Warm Springs project until 2014 at the earliest."
Both the Warm Springs and Dumbarton projects are part of a wide-ranging $17.4 billion Regional Transit Expansion Program that MTC adopted in 2001 and updated this year.
The Warm Springs commitment does not come without strings. Before MTC will fulfill its pledge, the Alameda Corporation Management Agency must agree to assign to the Dumbarton Rail $91 million of state transportation funds it expects to receive in future year, and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority must commit to a full funding plum for an operable BART segment in Santa Clara County.
| September 26, 2008 |
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The multiyear plan, now being presented at public meetings in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties, does not yet address or identify funding sources. It does target incremental improvements with target dates of 2011, 2015, 2020, and 2025.
In the first stage, to be met by 2011, planners envision a streetcar line along Woodward between Jefferson and Grand funded by private interests, a commuter rail line between Detroit and Ann Arbor with stops at Dearborn and Metro Airport, and "hub connectors" for small bus shuttles.
BRT would be introduced by 2015, while "[e]stablishing BRT or light rail lines along Gratiot (Woodward to 9 Mile) and Michigan (Woodward to Metro Airport)" is a prime target for 2020.
| September 26, 2008 |
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"Effective immediately, CN must confirm a minimum of 80% of the grain shippers' requested rail cars; deliver 90% of these confirmed cars on time or in the subsequent two weeks; and meet these performance standards on a 12-week rolling average throughout each crop year," CTA said in a statement.
| September 26, 2008 |
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The DOC® software-based control system is an advanced command, control, communications and information (C3i) server-based platform that supports a wide variety of integrated solutions for indication, control, access and distribution of critical operational data across the corporate enterprise. RailComm says the system is designed with built-in expansion capabilities to enable adding workstations, new functionality and additional controlled territory without interrupting operation of the current system. The system also includes Electronic Train Sheets. The train sheets are maintained by the system for a three year period, in accordance with Federal Railroad Administration regulations.
| September 25, 2008 |
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| September 25, 2008 |
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According to a summary prepared by the United Transportation Union’s Frank Wilner, the legislation also includes grants for deployment of various PTC technologies as well as ECP (electronically controlled pneumatic) brakes, rail integrity inspection and warning systems, switch position indicators, remote control power switch technologies, and track circuitry technology.
An hours-of-service reform provision provides train crews with additional rest, bars them from working in excess of 12 hours, extends hours-of-service standards to contractors, limits limbo time, requires retrofitting or replacement of camp cars, and requires railroads to develop fatigue management plans through a mandatory risk reduction program.
The new law requires at least 10 consecutive uninterrupted hours off duty following 12 hours on. (There’s a three-year exemption for passenger train workers, during which their hours service will be studied by the FRA.)
Following six days of work, an employee must given 48 hours of uninterrupted time off at his/her home terminal. If an employee is required to work a seventh day, even to return to a mhome terminal, the uninterrupted time off must be at least 72 hours.
| September 25, 2008 |
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BNSF will use Wi-Tracker to maximize locomotive asset utilization and fuel savings. Wi-Tracker provides statistics on utilization, engine shutdown and duty cycles, fuel monitoring using geo-fencing, and locomotive fault and exception-based alerting. Its Wi-FuelSensor™ ultrasonic fuel sensor provides BNSF with real-time fuel levels, fuel inventory, refuel events, and low fuel alerts. The system includes onboard Wireless Processing Units (Wi-PUs) and back-office hosting, providing real-time information to BNSF management. The system’s Wi-DownloadER™ feature can remotely download locomotive onboard data from any equipped locomotive in any location, 24/7.
| September 25, 2008 |
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The South Yonge area consists of approximately six miles of main line track and portions of the Davisville Yard. The area is divided into three interlocking zones and includes 15 stations. Ansaldo STS-US&S will supply a MicroLok® II-based Seamless Redundant Interlocking System (SRIS) and AF-900 series audio frequency track circuits for train detection on all main line tracks except crossovers. The SRIS features fully synchronized operation of redundant units for seamless failover. A MicroLok® Object Controller will distribute vital input/output control to field locations, reducing the amount of trackside cabling.
“The new system represents the TTC’s first major step in a long-term technology and passenger capacity upgrade of the YUS line,” said Dr. Alan E. Calegari, president and CEO of Ansaldo STS-US&S. “We look forward to this new venture with them. Our system will provide the TTC with enhanced interlocking control functions for present operations, and it will allow for expansion and integration of future systems and upgrades.”
| September 25, 2008 |
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The legislation, which now goes to the House and Senate for vote, responds to concerns of Chicago suburban communities that lie along the lines of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern, which Canadian National wants to acquire in order to route its trains around rather than through Chicago. The legislation would require the STB to consider, in addition to the competitive effects of a merger, such issues as grade crossing safety, emergency response times, and the impact on commuter rail operations as freight train traffic increases. Supporters of the new rules, including three Republican and two Democratic Congressmen from Illinois, want them to be made retroactive.
| September 25, 2008 |
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Reid called the plan “grossly incomplete . . . barely a crude sketch of the comprehensive planning that should actually be done for a massive nuclear waste shipping campaign.” Ensign commented: “I have bad news for those of you with working nuclear reactors in your state who think that the opening of Yucca will rid your state of nuclear waste—you’re wrong.” He said dangerous waste would have to move across states throughout the country the get to the Caliente Line.
A witness from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which must decide whether to give DOE permission to open the nuclear waste dump, told the hearing that computer modeling had shown nuclear waste casks to be safe, though he said there had been no actual testing.
In June, the Surface Transportation Board agreed to consider DOE’s request for authority to build the Caliente Line despite a protest from the State of Nevada that the application was incomplete.
| September 24, 2008 |
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"The Metro system is aging. It requires rehabilitation at a time when we are trying to meet growing ridership demands. Additionally, capital improvements are necessary to address customer concerns," said Metro General Manager John Catoe. “We need a significant amount of funding in the next decade to protect a transit system that is critical to maintaining the vitality of our region, and one that is used by federal workers, who make up about 40% of Metrorail’s rush hour riders.”
Metro hopes to have a funding agreement in place by July 2010.
Notably, the funding request, covering a decade between 2010 and 2020, does not include money for numerous rail expansion proposals and projects either under WMATA's direct authority or in conjunction with other agencies. More than 50% of the funding request targets WMATA's aging infrastructure; roughly 30% is focused on ridership growth, while another 6% identifies customer-oriented improvements. A WMATA spokesperson told Railway Age that various projects, including the Anacostia streetcar in the southeastern portion of the district and the Purple Line route just northwest of the city in Maryland, are "just about off the table [for active consideration] right now."
Despite that, by 2020 Metrorail ridership is expected to grow 22% to about one million trips a day, while Metrobus ridership is expected to grow 9% to nearly 600,000 trips a day. WMATA seeks power upgrades to run longer trains on all lines during rush and non-rush hours.
WMATA's capital needs are funded by the federal, state, and local governments served by the authority in the District of Columbia, northern Virginia, and Maryland. The authority does not currently receive a significant source of dedicated capital funding.
| September 24, 2008 |
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"Google Transit, a feature of the Google Maps online mapping service, provides point-to-point public transit trip planning that will now include transit services throughout the MTA service territory—New York City Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, MTA Bus, Long Island Bus, and Staten Island Railway—as well as other regional connecting services participating in the initiative, such as New Jersey Transit, the Port Authority's AirTrain, and Staten Island Ferry," said the MTA announcement. "For the first time, travelers can access streamlined, regional trip-planning based on up-to-date schedule data going across the subway, bus, and commuter rail systems. The application even includes walking directions to the beginning or end of the trip."
Google said that user-friendly features of the system include 360-degree street level views of the destination with Google Street Maps View, which can be rotated by a user with a computer mouse; a "My Location" feature that triangulates the user's approximate cell-phone position on Google Maps and indicates distance from destination; still-photo entries for popular destinations; and icons for Wikipedia entries for places of interest at stations.
| September 24, 2008 |
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The Association of American Railroads, while still studying details of the compromise, indicated that it would support the bill, though it pointed out there there is still “significant technological work” to be done.
The House-Senate bill’s provision on PTC is less tough than that contained in legislation introduced by Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, which mandates nationwide installation of PTC by 2012.
The compromise bill would provide $50 million to help pay for the PTC technology. The AAR was not able to put a price on such a project, but one estimate has put it at $2.6 billion.
In addition to PTC, the bill contains provisions to cut the number of hours freight train crews can work each month to 275 hours from the current limit of more than 400 hours. It would require the U.S. DOT to draw up limits for passenger crews, and would order the Federal Railroad Administration to increase its safety staff. (Metrolink has said it is considering adding a second crew member to its trains.)
| September 24, 2008 |
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The Times report, by an investigative team led by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Walt Bogdanich, claimed that 93% to 97% of LIRR career employees in every year since 2000 have retired early and received disability benefits from the RRB. “The retirement board almost never turns down a claim and since 2000 has paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars in disability checks to former Long Island Rail Road workers,” The Times said.
| September 23, 2008 |
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In the five other categories, employment in transportation (other than train and engine) was down 5.74% to 6,601; transportation (train and engine), down 2.66% to 67,946; professional and administrative, down 1.9% % to 13,584; executives, officials and staff assistants, down 0.92% to 10,105; and maintenance of equipment and stores, down 0.55% to 30,175.
| September 23, 2008 |
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UP said falling diesel fuel prices and rising efficiency "more than offset the impact of recent hurricanes and lower volumes." The third-quarter average fuel price is expected to be around $3.70 per gallon. vs. an original forecast of $4.00, a decline that adds roughly 10 cents per share to earnings (effectively canceling out the 10 cents per share cost of recent hurricanes, including Ike). UP has also increased network velocity, with average speeds up more than 10% from a year ago., and terminal dwell time is down.
UP Chief Financial Officer Rob Knight said the "stronger than expected third-quarter performance will change our full-year earnings targets as well, but the magnitude is somewhat uncertain as we continue to review our outlook for fourth -quarter volumes and fuel price."
| September 23, 2008 |
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"We welcome The Andersons to our Utah railroad and look forward to further expanding our relationships to our other rail properties in the future," said Patriot Rail Chairman, President, and CEO Gary O. Marino. "These car shops provide one-stop shopping for railcar owners needing to have their railcars repaired at a convenient location."
| September 23, 2008 |
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“The technology involving global-positioning satellites and other components to stop trains from running red signals is already in limited use on BNSF Railway. Due to common use of a single vendor (Wabtec Railway Electronics) by the four biggest private railroads and Metra, the big Chicago area commuter railroad, a de facto national standard for PTC already exists,” said NARP Executive Director Ross B. Capon.
Capon noted that BNSF tested PTC on the 135-mile Beardstown-Centralia, Ill., line starting in October 2004, with federal regulators approving BNSF use of the system over a wider part of its network last January. BNSF’s system is called ETMS (Electronic Train Management System).
“The Federal Railroad Administration has estimated that nationwide deployment of PTC would cost $2.3 billion,” said Capon. “This cost—when divided among the public and private sectors—could easily be justified for our vast railroad network that, in 2007, carried 26 million Amtrak passengers, 461 million commuter train passengers, and 40% of all freight ton-miles. The growing importance of getting this done parallels the growth in rail traffic driven by high energy costs and rail’s superior energy efficiency.”
| September 23, 2008 |
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The responsibility web pages organize critical information about the company into four categories: marketplace, workplace, environment, and community. Specific topics range from safety and security to diversity and training.
"We emphasize responsibility in all of our interactions and decisions at CSX," said Chairman and CEO Michael Ward. "We have always worked hard to be a good corporate citizen, upholding the highest standards of conduct and improving the world beyond our rails. This new website illustrates our continued commitment to being a leader in examining and enhancing the role of business in society."
| September 22, 2008 |
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The TBCR Program is designed to identify and assist international land border states “with implementing innovative solutions to help address land border travel time and to facilitate trade and travel without compromising the vital mission of securing America’s border,” according to FHWA. Such designation “makes them priority projects for the U.S. government’s support in the future.”
“This means that our East Loop Bypass Project is one of only three priority border crossing projects in the U.S. to receive the government’s priority designation for accelerated review and support,” said Warren K. Erdman, KCS executive vice president-corporate affairs. “The priority access to discretionary federal programs, including innovative financing, makes the designation extremely important and will help insure that the East Loop Bypass Project moves forward.” Government review of the East Loop Bypass Project is expected to begin next year.
The other two projects are San Diego’s Otway Mesa East Port of Entry project and Blaine, Wash.’s Cascade Gateway Expanded Cross-border Advanced Traveler Information System project.
| September 22, 2008 |
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“Virtually every career employee—as many as 97% in one recent year—applies for and gets disability payments soon after retirement, a computer analysis of federal records by the New York Times has found,” wrote investigative reporter Walt Bogdanich in a front-page article in the newspaper's Sunday editions. “Since 2000, these records show, about a quarter of a billion dollars in federal law disability money has gone to former LIRR employees, including about 2,000 who retired during that time.”
“The LIRR's disability rate,” added Bogdanich, “suggests it is one of the nation’s most dangerous places to work. Yet in the last five years, the railroad has won national awards for improving worker safety.”
Bogdanich is no newcomer to railroad reporting: He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for a series of articles on railroad safety.
Bogdanich blames the LIRR compensation situation on “a combination of factors, including highly unusual LIRR contracts that allow longtime workers to retire with a pension as early as age 50, federal rules that let railroad retirees claim disability for jobs they no longer hold, and an obscure federal agency called the Railroad Retirement Board that almost never says no to a disability claim.”
The Times article says the LIRR’s disability rate in recent years has been “three or four times that of the average railroad,” and far higher than that of Metro-North, another New York MTA commuter rail operator.
As one example, Bogdanich cites disabilities from arthritis and rheumatism: “From 2001 through 2007, Metro-North had 32 cases, compared with 753 at the LIRR. In one year, Metro-North had two cases. The LIRR had 118. For certain diseases of the musculoskeletal system, like a herniated disc, Metro-North had 49 cases. LIRR had 850.”
Bogdanich cites an example of how work rules combined with disability benefits put one engineer in a higher income bracket: “In his last year on the job, during which he earned more than any other engineer, [his] paycheck swelled with $58,853 for tasks that had violated the normal work rules of his union’s contracts, including $2,309 for running diesel and electric trains on the same shift and $3,354 for working through a meal period, government records show. He also got $40,453 for overtime, $41,594 for a vacation buyout, and $47,337 for a sick leave buyout. For the year, [he] received $257,075—five times has base salary and $100,000 more than the highest paid engineer at Metro-North. Then, after retiring at age 56, he was classified as disabled by the RRB.”
| September 22, 2008 |
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Railpower says the RP2OCD locomotives “are ideal for hump service applications, which require high tractive effort levels at low speeds for the classification of railcars.”
| September 22, 2008 |
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Otherwise, said BNSF, “all BNSF trackage damaged by Hurricane Ike on the Gulf Coast is open and available to accommodate customers’ shipments, as is the Port Terminal Railway Association via which BNSF reaches many Houston facilities.”
BNSF said that more than 500 of its employees were affected by the storm, “with the impact ranging from evacuations to a loss of electric power to significant damage to their homes.” The railroad made generators available to employees in addition to the generators being used to maintain power to signal and communication systems.
| September 22, 2008 |
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“The size of the increase was caused by a 13% average increase in prices for metal products, and much of that can be attributed to prices for rail,” said the STB in a decision announced Sept. 22. “Prices for miscellaneous products, led by ballast and locomotive lube oil, increased by 7.4%. Prices for forest products, which is nearly all crossties, increased 5.1%.”
The quarterly index is required as a measure of productivity.
| September 22, 2008 |
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Former South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Miller last week concurred with representatives of landowners along the proposed route who seek more time to prepare for a hearing on the DM&E's proposed $6 billion expansion. A commission must act on DM&E's application to use eminent domain to acquire property for its proposed project. The new law, passed by the state legislature this year, limits that process to 90 days from application.
Canadian Pacific acquired the DM&E last October, in a move many said was prompted by CP's interest in accessing the Powder River Basin.
"I do not intend to fully or blindly comply with or enforce the 90-day limitation contained in the 2008 amendment," Miller wrote. "First, I am of the opinion that it is unconstitutional."
| September 22, 2008 |
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Christoph Katzensteiner, managing director of Munich, Germany-based Railpool, said, "Bombardier is a partner with which we can get fast access to the European leasing market. In addition, the TRAXX locomotive platform offers the kind of modularity we need to meet the requirements of our customers."
Ake Wennberg, president of the Locomotives and Equipment Division of Bombardier Transportation, said, "Railpool is a new leasing company. We are proud that it is taking its first steps in the market with us. This success is an achievement for Traxx, which leads the market in electric locomotives which are used all over Europe. The Traxx locomotive platform offers the perfect conditions for a successful leasing business with low residual value risk." Bombardier says it has sold more than 1,300 Traxx locomotives have already been sold.
The Traxx platform consists of three electric variants (multi-system, alternating and direct current locomotives) and a diesel-electric design. The car bodies will be produced at Bombardier's site in Wroclaw, Poland, and the bogies are to be supplied by Bombardier's site in Siegen, Germany. The propulsion and controls technology and the propulsion equipment will come from the German production sites in Hennigsdorf and Mannheim. News managed by NewsPro.
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