Effective March 15, 2012, Norfolk Southern lowered the railroad operating speed limits on certain sections of the Michigan Line between Dearborn and Kalamazoo that handle both Amtrak’s passenger service and Norfolk Southern’s freight service. These lower speed limits, 25-30 mph, have been imposed to reflect the maximum safe operating speeds for the line, given the line’s condition.
Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo visited the Port of Vancouver to review early construction work on a critical rail connection that will link the Port of Vancouver to BNSF Railway’s east-west mainline.
Shortline Railroad, Anacostia Rail Holdings, has appointed Eric Jakubowski chief commercial officer, a newly created position, effective March 19, 2012. He is based in Chicago, where he reports to Peter Gilbertson, Anacostia president and CEO.
Recent Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority system ridership numbers show an increase in weekday boardings during January and February of 2012.
Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo visited King Street Station in Seattle, Wash., to celebrate the Pacific Northwest Passenger Rail Corridor construction project, which will help increase the station’s capacity while transforming it into a modern transit hub.
For the third straight year, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority expects to defer critical improvement projects due to funding cuts, according to the authority’s Fiscal Year 2013 Capital Budget proposal.
Canadian Pacific Railway entered into a multi-year agreement with Unimin Corporation of New Canaan, Conn., for the movement of frac sand from Unimin’s facility in Wisconsin.
Scott Henderson has accepted the position of general manager for Watco Transportation Services’ Pacific Sun Railroad (PSRR). Henderson most recently served as general manager for the Baton Rouge Southern Railroad (BRS) in Louisiana. He will be responsible for the day-to-day operations on the Pacific Sun and will report directly to the director of operations
His duties will be to achieve performance goals with op¬timum safety, economy, efficiency and effectiveness along with overseeing customer relationships in accordance with Watco’s Customer First Foundation Principles.
Henderson began his railroad career as a locomotive engineer in 1996 with Conrail and transferred to Canadian National in 2000 before joining the Watco Team in March of 2009 with the Grand Elk Railroad in Kalamazoo, Mich. He then moved to Kansas to serve as assistant general manager for the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad before heading south to Louisiana as the BRS general manager.
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 Chicago Transit Authority previewed upcoming track renewal work that will affect primarily weekend service in the Loop beginning in mid-April through late-2012. The project will involve special trackwork at the Loop junctions and the replacement of nearly 11,500 feet of elevated rail and track components that were installed in the mid-1980s, which are nearing the end of their useful life.
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.
Improvements to make Newark Light Rail’s Bloomfield Avenue Station accessible to customers with disabilities and more convenient for all customers will begin this spring, under a contract approved today by the NJ Transit Board of Directors.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Regional Transportation District in Denver, Colo., has received a proposal for the I-225 Light Rail Project from Kiewit Infrastructure Company.
CTA ridership grew by more than 15 million (three percent) in 2011, with more than 530 million boardings on trains and buses across the city, the highest total in 20 years and one of the highest increases among big-city transit operations across the United States.
Invensys Rail Corp. and Lilee Systems have joined forces to bring a new Wayside Messaging Server (WMS) to PTC applications across North America. Invensys Rail will provide sales, application engineering and field service support for the WMS-2000, which was developed by Lilee.