From the editors at Railway Age.

The Surface Transportation Board announced that it will hold a public hearing March 22 "to explore the impact of the Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. acquisition of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. on certain costing determinations." The board will look at the effect of the $43 billion purchase price on its annual Uniform Rail Costing System (URCS) and revenue-adequacy findings for BNSF.

URCS is the general purpose rail costing system used to estimate variable and total unit costs for Class I railroads. The Western Coal Traffic League and other parties argue that BNSF's acquisition price produced an $8.1 billion write-up in the railroad's net investment base for URCS costing purposes, and decreased BNSF's 2010 annual depreciation calculations by $128 million. WCTL suggests that the Board should, beginning with its 2010 findings, adjust BNSF's URCS costs by removing the $8.1 billion write-up and correspondingly adjusting the railroad's annual depreciation.

The replacement of century-old catenary wire that powers the New York Metro-North New Haven Line trains will resume on Monday March 19th, on two tracks between Southport and Bridgeport and will continue through the end of November.

To accomplish this next phase of work, which includes catenary wire replacement, bridge construction and installation of interlocking wire, Metro-North will take out the adjacent westbound track in order for the Connecticut Department of Transportation's contractor to continue work.

Each bridge or span carries two tracks and the contractor needs an adjacent track for work equipment.

During the phase of work that begins March 19, Track 1 and Track 2, the two inside tracks, will be out of service. Much will be accomplished, including:

• Four open-deck bridges in Bridgeport and Fairfield (at North Benson Rd., Fairfield Ave., South Ave. and Main St.) are being replaced with closed deck, ballast-style ones to provide a smoother ride. The support girders of these bridges rest on two tracks, making it necessary to take them out simultaneously. This work is scheduled to take place from April to November.

• New interlocking wire (basically the wire for track switches) will be replaced at Bridgeport Station where Tracks 1 & 2 intersect. This work is slated from July to September.

• About seven miles of new catenary wire will be installed over Track 2 between Bridgeport and Southport. This work will occur from September to November.

Underway since 1991, this project will replace the original catenary wire, which was first erected in 1907.

Currently, about 70 percent of the catenary replacement work has been finished.

Wires over the Connecticut portion of the New Haven Line have been replaced from Port Chester to just east of South Norwalk and from Milford to New Haven, including an interface with the Amtrak Shoreline East catenary system east of New Haven Terminal.
The upgrade of the power system for the entire New Haven Line is set to be complete in 2017.

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will expand the operation of test trains along the LACMTA Expo Line corridor beginning Sunday, March 18, running trains from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week, on a schedule of every 12 minutes to simulate regular service on the line once the system opens in early 2012.

Test trains had been operating along the alignment from approximately 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. The additional train testing is needed in an effort to test the operation of the trains and the integration of Expo Line service with the Blue Line service in downtown Los Angeles. No date has been set for the opening of the line. LACMTA will select an opening date for the public once all systems and trains are thoroughly tested and operated.

Due to the increased frequency of trains traveling along the entire Expo Line corridor, LACMTA is reminding the public to be alert and stay updated on rail safety tips.

As part of the rail safety awareness program, rail safety ambassadors have been placed at various intersections along the Expo Line during the testing of trains to educate the public about the service and how to safely navigate around the system. The rail safety ambassadors are all retired LACMTA bus and rail operators that are fully trained in safety rules and regulations so they can assist at crossings, observe situations that may occur and report back to staff.

Phase I of the Expo Line is a new $932 million, 8.6-mile light rail line under construction from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City. It will have 12 stations with two stations shared with the Blue Line. The new light rail line will serve USC, Exposition Park, The Mid-City communities, the Crenshaw District and Culver City.

Phase II of the Metro Expo Line, a $1.5 billion 6.6-mile extension from Culver City to Santa Monica, is funded under the Measure R half-cent sale tax initiative approved by the voters in 2008. Phase II will have seven stations serving West Los Angeles/Santa Monica and is expected to be completed in 2015.

Both Phase I and II of the Metro Expo Line are being built by the Expo Construction Authority. Once completed, they are turned over to Metro to operate.

Union Pacific's board of directors named Eric Butler executive vice president marketing and sales. Butler succeeds Jack Koraleski, who recently was appointed acting president and CEO while Chairman Jim Young is on medical leave.

Butler has nearly 26 years' experience with the railroad, most recently serving as vice president and general manager industrial products. He previously held a variety of leadership roles in departments such as supply, finance and human resources.

UP also promoted Bradley Thrasher to vice president and general manager industrial products, succeeding Butler. Thrasher has 24 years' experience with UP, most recently serving as assistant vice president and general manager Union Pacific Distribution Services.

Kate M. Betsworth has been promoted to assistant vice president and general manager UPDS. She has more than 18 years' experience with UP, most recently as assistant vice president industrial products.

The board of directors also named Gayla Thal senior vice president law and general counsel. Thal succeeds J. Michael Hemmer, who will serve in an advisory role until retiring later this year.

Thal has nearly 32 years' experience with the railroad, most recently serving as vice president law and chief compliance officer. She previously held leadership roles in the areas of law, claims and risk management.

UP promoted Michael Whitcomb to vice president law and chief compliance officer, succeeding Thal. Whitcomb has more than 33 years' experience with UP, most recently serving as assistant vice president law.

Bob Belt has been promoted to assistant vice president law. He has 13 years' experience with UP, most recently serving as general solicitor.

BNSF Twin Cities Division employees in Northtown, Minn., braved freezing temperatures, wind and snow flurries to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge for the second consecutive year, so far raising more than $27,200 for Special Olympics of Minnesota.

Employees participated for the first time last year, with 17 employees raising $13,000 for Special Olympics of Minnesota. This year's event brought in even more BNSF participants, 53 employees and family members. The team expects to raise about $29,000 once all the dollars are in, much more than the $20,000 goal! This also includes a donation from the BNSF Railway Foundation as well as Matching Gift donations.

"We said last year that we wanted to do this again in 2012," said Terminal Superintendent Phillip Mullen. "Special Olympics of Minnesota approached us and asked us to be a sponsor, which we did at the bronze level."

The idea for the team began in 2011 with Mullen, when he heard a spot for the plunge on local radio station during his daily commute. "The announcer was talking about how, although the jump might be painful, it was nothing compared to the challenges that the kids and folks who participate in Special Olympics may face every day," Mullen said.

Terminal Manager Rob Skuza again led the effort, starting last fall, to recruit participants and begin gathering pledge commitments. Many salaried and scheduled employees participated, including Tom Albanese, division general manager and Tom Packer, assistant vice president, finance.

This year, the plunge was colder because the lake levels were deeper. "If you jumped in, you went under," Mullen explained. "Last year, you might not get completely soaked, but this year, you didn't have a choice."

Mullen said the team plans to make participation an annual event.

Canadian National will offer new import/export container train services between the Port of Prince Rupert, B.C., and Calgary (now in operation) and Edmonton, starting in June 2012. According to CN, Alberta is one of the fastest growing industrial and consumer-based economies in North America and has a fast increasing need for efficient supply chains.

To support Alberta's growing transportation requirements, CN is relocating its Calgary Intermodal Terminal to a new, larger 680-acre logistic park in Rocky View County, near the airport in Calgary. Construction is underway and the facility will open in January 2013.

Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN executive vice-president and chief marketing officer, said, "The C$200-million (US$201.7 million) new logistics park, along with new connectivity to both the Port of Prince Rupert and Vancouver, will provide Alberta fluid access to world markets for consumer goods and industrial materials, as well as two prime export routes for its forest products, plastics and agri-products. As for CN, it puts us in a lead position."

BNSF customers reduced carbon dioxide emissions in 2011 shipping freight by rail instead of its products moving entirely over the road. In 2011, customers avoided emitting more than 30 million metric tons of CO2 by using BNSF, which is equivalent to reducing the annual fuel consumption and resultant greenhouse gas emissions of more than six million passenger vehicles.

For the fourth year in a row, BNSF provided its intermodal, automotive, industrial products and agricultural products customers with customized letters that analyzed their total rail carbon footprint and savings compared to movements of those shipments exclusively over the highway.

Calculations are based on commodity type and weight and distance traveled by rail. The calculation also considers the different fuel efficiencies of trailer, container or carload shipments. The calculation methodology was developed in consultation with Clear Carbon Consulting.

"We believe our chief contribution to sustainability is the major fuel efficiency and emissions reductions our customers achieve shipping with BNSF instead of solely over the road," said John Lanigan, BNSF executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "Rail provides enormous value in reducing the country's overall transportation emissions and carbon footprint."

Regional Transportation District in Denver, Colo., has received a proposal for the I-225 Light Rail Project from Kiewit Infrastructure Company.

Kiewit led the design-build construction team on the Transportation Expansion (T-REX) project, a joint highway/light-rail project of RTD and the Colorado Department of Transportation. Kiewit is also currently constructing the transit improvements at Denver Union Station, which are more than 50 percent complete.

RTD staff will conduct an evaluation of the proposal consistent with the agency's Unsolicited Proposals Policy to see if the proposal has merit. Upon a successful evaluation, RTD would then determine whether to pursue a competitive procurement process and release a Request for Proposals for competing proposals.

Over the past year, RTD has publicized the agency's desire to seek out innovations to complete the FasTracks program as soon as possible, enhance the RTD customer experience and reduce the cost of RTD operations. This was the premise behind RTD's first industry forum called, Transformation Through Transportation.

"We've been encouraging the industry to think outside the box and come up with innovative ways to invest in our projects and get them done sooner rather than later," said RTD Board Chair Lee Kemp.

FasTracks is RTD's voter-approved transit expansion program to build 122 miles of commuter rail and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, add 21,000 new parking spaces, redevelop Denver Union Station and redirect bus service to better connect the eight-county District.