OmniTRAX Inc.‘s Billie Johnson, general manager for Newburgh & South Shore Railroad and Northern Ohio & Western Railway, has been named the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s (ASLRRA) 2014 Safety Person of the Year. Johnson will receive the award at the ASLRRA Convention in Orlando, Fla., March 28-30.
Canadian National has planned its annual major work program for the Quebec Bridge.
The Low Level Road Project in North Vancouver, BC, Canada, is now complete.
Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) has introduced legislation he says will provide a dedicated revenue source to invest in rebuilding crumbling freight infrastructure.
Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-IL-3) and Mike Quigley (D-IL-5) introduced the Reassuring Adequate Investment in Lifesaving Systems (RAILS) Act, which reauthorizes the Rail Safety Technology Grant program to improve the safety of the nation’s railroads.
U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who serve as the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, introduced S. 808, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization Act of 2015.
U.S. Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) introduced the Track, Railroad, and Infrastructure Network (TRAIN) Act, which the senators say will reform the environmental permitting process for rail projects in order to facilitate a more efficient way to approve rail infrastructure.
Norfolk Southern held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the expansion of its “Railroad University” and redoubled its commitment to superior transportation services for its present and future rail customers.
Members of the Unifor shopcraft group representing 2,100 Canadian National car mechanics, heavy-duty equipment mechanics and electricians, have ratified a four-year labor agreement.
AXION International Holdings, Inc., received $1 million in orders for ECOTRAX® rail ties to be installed in a northeast-based transit line’s rail yard and station.
Canadian National plans to build a CA$250-million ($US200-million) intermodal and logistics hub adjacent to its mainline in Milton, ON, located approximately 30 miles west of Toronto. Milton has ready access to major highways reaching key industrial and commercial areas in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).
Kansas City Southern is investing approximately $18 million in construction and improvement projects on its Laredo Subdivision from Laredo to Corpus Christi, Texas.
Unifor ratified agreements with Canadian National, including the clerical/intermodal, Savage Alberta Railway, excavator-operator and CNTL owner-operator collective agreements. CN is awaiting the results from the mechanical bargaining unit represented by Unifor Local 100R.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton proposed 75 grade-crossing projects to improve safety and improve congestion across the state.
The Amtrak Hoosier State service between Indianapolis, Ind., and Chicago, Ill., will continue through the end of April. The announcement follows a Federal Railroad Administration phone call with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) Commissioner Karl Browning, during which Acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg committed to reconsider the position that would force the Hoosier State service to end.
RailComm has completed cutover of a completely new switch interlocking at a North American Class 1 yard located in Indiana. Each switch machine or crossover in the interlocking can be controlled individually or in combinations to set entrance/exit routes through the yard.
U.S. Rep. and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Jeff Denham (R-CA) joined representatives from HDR, Inc., and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) for a tour of the Colton Crossing Rail-to-Rail Grade Separation Project.
The U.S. railroad industry has been scrambling since 2008 to meet the requirements of an unfunded federal government mandate—namely, having Positive Train Control installed and fully operational by Dec. 31, 2015 on 60,000 miles of track where hazmat and passenger trains operate. Parallel to the PTC initiative has been a battle waged on Capitol Hill to extend the end-of-the-year deadline. That effort may be paying off, and the railroads may one day be grateful that they have a Thune on their side.
The Indiana Rail Road Company (INRD) released plans for a $17.5-million capital program in 2015 that will focus heavily on bridge projects, a trend it anticipates will continue in the future.
