Author: Marybeth Luczak

Metrolink to Pilot Track Intrusion Detection

From Our Colleagues at Railway Age:

LOS ANGELES –– Southern California’s Metrolink will use a $1.3 million federal grant for the development and demonstration of a track intrusion detection system that it said not only will improve the safety of its riders and crew, but also directly benefit pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and everyone else who interacts with the regional/ commuter rail system.

APTA Releases Ridership Trends Report

From Our Colleagues at Railway Age:

WASHINGTON ––After falling to 20% of pre-pandemic levels in April 2020, public transit has recovered to 79% of pre-pandemic levels as of March 2024, according to the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) latest ridership trends report.

PANY/NJ Launches $430MM ‘PATH Forward’ Program

NEWARK – The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANY/NJ) on April 5 reported kicking off a two-year, $430 million program to upgrade stations, tracks, bridges and railcars at PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp.), the fifth-busiest rapid transit system in the United States.

Metra Outlines 2024 Construction Plan

CHICAGO – Metra on April 3 detailed its construction program for 2024, covering station, track, road crossing, bridge, and signal/communications improvement projects along the Chicagoland commuter railroad’s 11 lines totaling nearly 500 route-miles. In addition

USDOT Awards $4.9B for Mega, INFRA Projects

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is distributing $4.9 billion to 37 nationwide projects through the FY 2023-24 Mega (National Infrastructure Project Assistance) and INFRA (Infrastructure for Rebuilding America) grant programs. Twelve rail-related projects will receive a total of $1.6 billion; the Pier B project at the Port of Long Beach and the Louisiana International Terminal project at the Port of New Orleans are among the winners.

Morrison Hershfield, the owner’s engineer on the Confederation and Trillium lines of Ottawa’s Light Rail Transit system, is slated to merge with Stantec, a global design and engineering firm based in Edmonton, Alberta. (Photo: Courtesy, City of Ottawa)

Supply Side: Stantec/Morrison Hershfield, Egis

CANADA, U.S. and FRANCE – Stantec will acquire Morrison Hershfield, a Markham, Ontario-based engineering and management firm. Also, McIntosh Perry, a consulting engineering company in Toronto, Ontario, and Beam Longest & Neff, LLC (BLN), an infrastructure engineering firm in Indianapolis, Ind., have rebranded as Egis, their French parent company, effective Jan. 1.

(R.J. Corman Image)

R.J. Corman Earns Two NRC Awards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) has recognized R.J. Corman Railroad Services with a 2023 Small Project of the Year Award for track construction at MxV Rail’s

CN to Acquire Iowa Northern

MONTREAL –– CN on Dec. 6 reported signing and closing an agreement to acquire Iowa Northern (IANR), an approximately 275-mile U.S. regional railroad that it interchanges with in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. Terms were not disclosed.

CSX: Failed Wheel Bearing Behind Kentucky Derailment

ROCKCASTLE COUNTY, Ky. – An investigation has determined that a failed railcar wheel bearing caused the Nov. 22 CSX train derailment just north of Livingston, Ky., the Class I railroad reported Nov. 26. Sixteen cars, including two molten sulphur cars that breached and caught fire, were involved.

(Jonathan Chalon Photograph)

ENSCO Lands Brightline Contract

ENSCO Rail, Inc. on Nov. 17 reported receiving a contract for its track geometry and rail wear measurement technology from private-sector railroad Brightline, which operates intercity passenger service between central and south

CPKC’s Coby Bullard Headlines Railway Interchange

Railway Interchange kicked off Oct. 2 with Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) Senior Vice President Coby Bullard covering his railroad’s April 14, 2023, merger to form North America’s first and only transnational, plus its partnership with short

The McCombs Road overcrossing in Kern County, Calif., is now complete, California High-Speed Rail Authority reported July 18. (Photographs Courtesy of CHSRA, via Twitter)

CHSRA Completes Fifth Structure of 2023

KERN COUNTY, Calif. – The McCombs Road overcrossing north of Wasco is the fifth structure to be completed this year for the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA), whose 119-mile Central Valley segment is

“In cooperation with federal, state, and local authorities, Norfolk Southern is advancing environmental recovery efforts in East Palestine,” reports the Class I, which says it has “reconstructed both mainlines after successfully excavating the impacted soil under the removed tracks and transporting it off-site.”

NS Reaches East Palestine Remediation Milestone

Norfolk Southern (NS) on June 26, nearly five months after the East Palestine, Ohio derailment, reported completing remediation of both tracks that run through the village, with rail traffic slated to resume “a normal schedule in the coming