As Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairman Martin J. Oberman’s retirement took effect May 10, the Board reported that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. intended to designate Board Member Robert E. Primus as the next STB Chairman.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on May 9 announced that it has appointed nine people as voting members of the Surface Transportation Security Advisory Committee (STSAC).
CSX commits $50,000 to Penn State Altoona to create a railroad engineering scholarship program, and will continue to serve the Kearney Companies-Savannah Garden City, Ga., facility. Also, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) releases a “teaser” video of a locomotive in its new paint scheme.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) publishes a compliance guide to help organizations comply with its crew size rule. Also, the FRA publishes a two-part technical report describing researchers’ study of the tank car vent and burn process and publishes a sample template for its Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Grant Program.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a preliminary report for its ongoing investigation of the April 15, 2024, head-on collision of a CSX train with a CSX stationary, loaded rock train in Folkston, Ga. The agency said future work will focus on “the industry-wide operational procedures for train movements during a signal suspension, training standards on the manual operation of dual-controlled switches, and the effectiveness of job briefings.”
More than 300 participants from Class I and short line freight railroads, along with representatives from suppliers and supporting associations, visited more than 270 bipartisan offices on May 8 for Railroad Day on Capitol Hill.
Chicago’s Metra speaks out on the Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act that proposes merging the commuter railroad, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Pace bus, and Regional Transit Authority (RTA). Also, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) outlines its nearly $300 million in capital program savings; City of West Palm Beach, Fla., adopts a “Rail S.A.F.E.” policy, aiming for zero railway fatalities; and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) weighs Haverhill station shutdown during bridge replacement project.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is distributing a total of $9.6 million in grants to 11 freight railroad improvement projects that it said will support economic development in different regions of the state.
Report from California, courtesy of the Victorville Daily Press: “Barstow Leaders Rally Legislative Support to Save BNSF’s $1.5 Billion Railway Project,” the headline read. “Barstow city leaders traveled to Sacramento to gain
Twin Cities & Western Railroad (TC&W) appoints Victor (Vic) Meyers as President. Also, Adrian Granda joins Port of Long Beach (POLB), Calif., as Director of Government Relations; William (Bill) Dengler Jr. is tapped for Chief Acquisition and Administrative Officer at New Jersey-based consultancy Hill International, Inc.; and Neil Moyer transitions to Director of the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Office of Passenger Rail.
