SELECTAMARK'S Dutch distributor, Rhine Group BV, has won a major contract to protect the main rail infrastructure in the Netherlands from metal theft, using forensic marking product SelectaDNA. Rhine Group has been awarded the contract by Dutch rail company ProRail BV to combat trackside metal theft. The increased risk of stealing, transporting and handling SelectaDNA-marked copper and other metals is expected to deter thieves and have a significant impact on the number of incidents.

RailComm has been selected to provide a shove track detection and indication system to complement its existing yard control system at CSX Transportation's Erwin Terminal in Tennessee. The system will provide remote indication of the shove track status, allowing the train operator to know when his/her train has reached the detected limits of the shove zone. The shove track system will interface to the existing DOC^® (Domain Operations Controller) System and will provide field indications and an indication of the shove track status on the DOC^® System graphical user interface.

BNSF has reduced transit schedules on 60 percent of its Domestic Intermodal Premium Container traffic, and added 16 more days of service.

Jan. 25 marked the formal launch of BART's expanded API. API stands for Application Programming Interface - sets of routines, data structures and protocols that support the building of applications. BART has a long commitment to making its data open to the public - such as the schedules for trains, and advisories when there are delays. We were the first Bay Area transit agency to provide public open data, starting in 2007.

The lawsuit probably couldn't have come at a worse time for BNSF Railway, the Kansas City Star reports. The federal government is getting close to announcing whether BNSF will get $50 million in federal stimulus money to start building a massive rail hub in Johnson County. The project has to be "shovel ready" to get the money, but its environmental permit is the target of a lawsuit, which could delay one of the area's biggest development projects.

Charlotte, N.C., is going to ask the federal government for $25 million to help build a streetcar line uptown, The Charlotte Observer reports. The City Council voted 7-4 Jan. 25 to apply for a grant that would pay for much of a 1.5-mile line from the Charlotte Transportation Center to Presbyterian Hospital on Hawthorne Drive in the Elizabeth neighborhood. If successful, the city would need to spend at least $12 million of its own money to finish construction.

Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) called on Metra to add weekday train service to the Heritage Corridor line, which currently offers three weekday round trips between Joliet and Chicago's Union Station, with stops in Summit, Willow Springs, Lemont, and Lockport.

A new report on moving BNSF tracks out of central Fresno to relieve traffic congestion says it would cost at least $803 million, by far the highest such estimate yet, the Bee reports. As a result, an organization formed 10 years ago to advocate shifting the BNSF tracks to the Union Pacific corridor is giving up, its president said.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has appointed Joe Calabrese to a two-year term on the Intelligent Transportation Systems Program Advisory Committee. Since 2000, Calabrese has been CEO and general manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. He has more than 30 years experience in public transit.