Norfolk Southern is consolidating its three operating regions into two, effective March 15. The decision to further streamline railroad operations is part of the company’s ongoing execution of its five-year strategic plan.
HNTB Corporation promoted Jeff Konrad, PE, to vice president of rail in Pennsylvania District. The firm also expanded its team of transportation professionals within its New York and Pennsylvania offices.
BNSF ‘s 2016 capital expenditure program in Montana will be about $180 million, which will be focused on maintenance projects that help ensure BNSF continues to operate a safe and reliable network. The largest component of this year’s capital plan in the state will be for replacing and upgrading rail, rail ties and ballast.
CSX has appointed new engineering leaders following the announcement that John West, vice president-engineering, will retire on April 1 after 37 years of dedicated service to the railroad.
BNSF‘s 2016 capital expenditure program in North Dakota will be more than $100 million, which will focus on maintenance projects that help ensure BNSF continues to operate a safe and reliable network. The largest component of this year’s capital plan in the state will be for replacing and upgrading rail, rail ties and ballast.
In their first project of the year, the Kansas City Southern Maintenance of Way Production team relayed 25 miles of rail between Dequincy and DeRidder, La. As part of the job, they installed 175,000 tie plates, 175,000 rail anchors, 876,000 spikes and almost 13,000 feet of rail per day for a total of 264,000 feet of rail.
Less than a week before the rail industry gathers in Washington, D.C., to promote issues, such as the 45G shortline tax credit, legislation was introduced in both houses of Congress that would make the tax credit permanent.
BNSF‘s 2016 capital expenditure program in Missouri will be an estimated $140 million and will focus on maintenance projects that help ensure BNSF continues to operate a safe and reliable network.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is soliciting applications for a new grant program authorized by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.
BNSF‘s 2016 capital expenditure program in Colorado will be nearly $100 million, which will be focused on maintenance projects that help ensure BNSF continues to operate a safe and reliable network.
Kansas City Southern plans to invest approximately $5.6 million in 2016 in construction and improvement projects on its Shreveport Terminal Subdivision in Louisiana. The work will begin on March 8 and continue through March 22, including the installation of approximately 37,000 crossties and improvements to more than 20 public and private grade crossings in Shreveport.
A study released by the Van Horne Institute, based at the University of Calgary, suggests that it is feasible to build a railway for the transport of bitumen between Alberta to Alaska. The study was published by the Van Horne Institute with a Project Team including Shirocca Consulting, AECOM, Generating for Seven Generations, the University of Alaska and Michigan Tech Research Institute.
BNSF’s 2016 capital expenditure program in Nebraska will be more than $110 million, which will focus on maintenance projects that help BNSF to operate a safe and reliable network.
The Railway Association of Canada has created a Parliamentary Rail Caucus to be chaired by Sherry Romanado, Liberal Member of Parliament for Longueuil-Charles-LeMoyne, Quebec, and co-chaired by Marilyn Gladu, Conservative Member of Parliament for Sarnia-Lambton, Ont.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) will make $500 million available for transportation projects across the country under an eighth round of the successful Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) competitive grant program.
On Feb. 29, Kansas City Southern will begin Positive Train Control (PTC) Field Integration Testing (FIT), a set of intensive tests to help validate the safety of PTC technologies and hardware in a variety of scenarios, prior to full implementation across the KCS network.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded nearly $10 million in grants for nine projects in eight states to upgrade and increase the safety of railroad crossings along energy routes.
BNSF revealed more details about its planned 2016 capital expenditure program in New Mexico. The railroad said the $100-million plan is focused on projects that help ensure BNSF continues to operate a safe and reliable network and reflects the success BNSF has had in adding capacity in prior years to support customer demand.
BNSF’s 2016 capital expenditure program in Minnesota will be an estimated $130 million, which focuses on maintenance projects that help ensure the railroad continues to operate a safe and reliable network.
Vice President Joe Biden toured the Port of New Orleans’ new Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal before making remarks commemorating the seventh anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Louisiana.