On Thursday May 10, 2012, the OneRail Coalition will host a briefing on “The American Rail Industry: Investing in Infrastructure, Creating Jobs” at 2:00pm in the Capitol Visitor Center, Meeting Room North (CVC 268).
Illinois, Indiana and Michigan have agreed to move forward with a comprehensive study that will help determine ways to reduce rail congestion and let trains achieve higher speeds along the Chicago-to-Detroit high-speed rail corridor.
HDR, Inc., has acquired the business of Stetson Engineering, Inc., a Wyoming-based firm with offices in Gillette and Riverton. Stetson Engineering, Inc., specializes in design, engineering and consulting services related to water, sewer, storm sewer, hydrology and transportation.
Ahmed El-Aassar, Ph.D., INCE, ASA, a vice president with Environmental Acoustics, Inc., an affiliate firm of Gannett Fleming specializing in noise and air quality, has been recognized by CSX Transportation with an Outstanding Service Award in the Environmental Services Category. Based in the firm’s Lemoyne, Pa., office, El-Aassar serves as a project manager for noise and air quality projects.
Lilee Systems, provider of communication systems designed exclusively for the railroad industry, has achieved Red Hat Hardware Certification for the company’s WMS-2000 wayside messaging server, making it the first wayside messaging server with internal 3G, GPS and IP KVM options to achieve Red Hat certification. Now, Lilee says customers deploying WMS-2000 with embedded Red Hat Enterprise Linux are offered proven performance and reliability.
BNSF plans to invest an estimated $202 million on maintenance and rail capacity improvement and expansion projects in Nebraska this year.
Caltrans, BNSF and Amtrak broke ground on a $38 million rail project that will add 3.8 additional miles of track to the Los Angeles area, increasing efficiency and rail capacity.
Norfolk Southern broke ground on the Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The facility, which will transfer trailers and containers between trucks and trains, will be capable of 200,000 lifts per year and will replace Norfolk Southern’s existing intermodal facility in downtown Charlotte.
Kansas City Southern’s subsidiary, The Kansas City Southern Railway Company, received the American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care Partner Award on April 30 at the 21st annual Responsible Care Conference and Expo in Hollywood, Fla.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc.’s newly-formed subsidiary, the Columbus & Chattahoochee Railroad, Inc., signed an agreement with Norfolk Southern to lease and operate a 26-mile segment of NS track that runs from Girard, Ala., to Mahrt, Ala. The CCR will interchange with NS in Columbus, Ga., where GWI’s Georgia Southwestern Railroad also has operations.
Patriot Rail Corp. newly-formed rail subsidiary, Kingman Terminal Railroad has been awarded a long-term license agreement to provide rail operating services to customers at the Kingman Airport & Industrial Park, located in Mohave County, Ariz.
Koppers Inc. and Union Pacific agreed to extend their existing sales contract for an additional five years through January 31, 2017. Koppers provides treated railroad crossties and other railroad-related products and services to Union Pacific.
Baltimore, Md., Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake urged CSX Transportation to abandon locating a proposed multi-million dollar Baltimore-Washington Rail Intermodal Facility in suburban Maryland and instead begin working immediately to identify an appropriate site within the city of Baltimore.
California’s North County Transit District, through its contract with Herzog Transit Service, Inc., will assume dispatching responsibility for the 60-mile coastal rail line that begins at the Santa Fe Depot in San Diego County and ends at the Orange County line.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved construction authorization from the Ohio Rail Development Commission directing CSX Transportation to install flashing lights and gates at three grade crossings in Freedom Township, Wood County.
The California Transportation Commission has allocated $950,000 for the Pacific Surfliner-Sea Cliff Siding and Track Realignment project in Ventura County to complete preliminary design and environmental review on the rail subdivision approximately 17 miles south of Santa Barbara.
With trespassing being the leading cause of rail-related fatalities in the United States, Canadian National is marking Rail Safety Week through May 6, 2012, with a public awareness campaign stressing the deadly risks of trespassing on railway tracks and property. CN police are urging the public to call CN Police at 1- 800-465-9239 to report unsafe behavior on railway property.
BNSF honored the accomplishments of employees from across its network at a recent awards ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas. The event recognized BNSF’s Safety Employees of the Year, Achievement Award winners and the “Best of the Best” leaders of teams that showed outstanding safety performance in 2011.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics added a new safety section to the Multimodal Transportation Indicators that will track seasonal and long-term rail fatality trends. The latest monthly rail data comes from the Federal Railroad Administration. The rail data exclude public grade-crossing accidents, eliminating double-counting that would occur with highway fatalities.
The general committees of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference representing the conductors, trainmen, yardmen, locomotive engineers and rail traffic controllers employed by Canadian Pacific said they have been authorized by their membership to launch a strike against the railway.