New Jersey Transit Executive Director Steve Santoro, who has spent 18 years with the agency, submitted his resignation to New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Rick Hammer on Jan. 5. He will be leaving in April and said he is “committed to ensuring a smooth transition for the new administration” of incoming Governor Phil Murphy.
CSX Corp. on Dec. 22 named James Foote as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. Formerly chief operating officer, Foote had been acting CEO since Dec. 14 after E. Hunter Harrison was placed on medical leave.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV, aka, drones) are becoming an important tool in railroad engineering and maintenance. Keolis Commuter Services, which operates regional/commuter rail for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, is among the latest to adopt the technology.
It took Conrail maintenance-of-way forces less than three days to repair heavy damage to its Lehigh Line, a busy main line used by New Jersey Transit Raritan Valley Line (RVL) passenger trains and CSX and Norfolk Southern freights, following the derailment of a 141-car CSX mixed freight late on the afternoon of Dec. 8.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYMTA) has awarded RailWorks Corp. subsidiary L.K. Comstock & Company Inc. two contracts worth a combined $74.3 million for underground electrical substations on the New York City Transit (NYCT) Canarsie “L” line in Brooklyn. Both projects will increase power capacity.
Andy Byford, who has forged a rail transit career on three continents, will join the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority as President of New York City Transit, the agency responsible for New York City subways, buses, paratransit services and the Staten Island Railway, effective in January 2018.
Parsons has begun providing technical advisory services for Metrolinx’s Enhanced Train Control and Conventional Signaling (ETCCS) project, part of the Canadian agency’s 10-year GO Transit regional/commuter rail expansion program consisting of C$13.5 billion in capital projects and $7 billion in state-of-good-repair works.
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has appointed transit industry veteran Paul P. Skoutelas as president and CEO, effective Jan. 8, 2018.
The League of Railway Industry Women (LRIW) has named Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) Executive Director Business Services Kari L. Gonzales to its board of directors.
Three top CSX executives will be leaving the railroad on Nov. 15—Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Cindy M. Sanborn; Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Fredrik J. Eliasson; and Executive Vice President Law and Public Affairs, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Ellen M. Fitzsimmons. Sanborn and Eliasson are resigning “to pursue other interests.” Fitzsimmons is retiring. All “will remain engaged in supporting the transition until early 2018,” CSX said.
Kansas City Southern has formed a new Health, Safety and Environmental group within the Operations department “to consolidate occupational health, workplace and public safety, and environmental functions under a single management to better align and coordinate with the company’s Operations groups,” KCS reported on Oct. 17.
WMATA Metrorail extensions, capacity and service enhancements for Virginia Railway Express (VRE) and new light rail transit (LRT) are among the numerous projects proposed by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) in a TransAction Plan Update adopted Oct. 12.
Charah®, LLC has opened a fly ash storage and rail-to-truck transloading terminal in Colorado, in partnership with OmniTRAX. The new terminal, located in Kelim, Co. near Denver, is part of Charah’s expanding MultiSource™ network, a distribution system of multiple sourcing locations across the country that ensures a steady and reliable supply of Class C and Class F fly ash for ready-mix concrete producers.
The Denver-area terminal will provide concrete producers in the Metro Denver and surrounding region with a reliable source of quality Class F fly ash.
Siemens has made a “significant strategic equity investment” in Wi-Tronix, a supplier of remote monitoring, video analytics, and predictive diagnostic systems for rail rolling stock and infrastructure and other industrial markets.
Organizers for Railway Interchange, North America’s largest railway industry exhibition and technical conference, report that the 2017 event, held in Indianapolis Sept. 17-20, posted total registered attendance of 8,150, with a record-breaking 738 exhibitors. There were 1,099 international attendees and 108 international exhibitors representing 46 countries.
Amtrak’s $22-million project to restore and improve historic Chicago Union Station’s Great Hall is under way. The year-long project will result in a public space painted in its original colors, and made brighter by a restored and protected skylight with improved lighting.
Dockets for the fatal Sept. 29, 2016, New Jersey Transit commuter rail collision in Hoboken, N.J., and the Jan. 4, 2017, Long Island Rail Road collision at the Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn, New York, were opened to the public Sept. 21 by the National Transportation Safety Board as part of its ongoing investigations of the two accidents.
Tacoma, Wash.-based shortline Tacoma Rail has selected Herzog Technologies, Inc. (HTI) to provide Positive Train Control (PTC) Hosting services.
Rails Co. released a new wireless 900 MHz radio control system.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Sept. 8 announced completion of the Tier II Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the 123-mile section of the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor linking Washington, D.C. to south of Richmond, Va.