Keith Barksdale has accepted the position of assistant vice president of transportation safety at Watco Transportation Services. As assistant vice president of transportation safety, his responsibilities include leading the regional safety quality and assurance managers in carrying safety initiatives to the field level and ensure that the company has rule compliance on existing programs.
The Federal Railroad Administration has finalized the grant agreement with local stakeholders unlocking $16.5 million in U.S. Department of Transportation funding for the Niagara Falls Intermodal Transportation Center in New York. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer wrote to FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo in July, urging the administrator to finalize this important grant agreement and allow this long awaited project to finally move forward.
The University of Alberta in Canada has launched a new partnership that will support jobs and long-term success in the Canadian rail sector. This new partnership, the Canadian Rail Research laboratory, is a joint initiative between the Government of Canada, Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures (AITF), the Association of American Railroads, Canadian Pacific, Canadian National and the University of Alberta.
The Federal Railroad Administration prepared a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require commuter and intercity passenger railroads to develop and implement system safety programs (SSP) to further improve the safety of their operations.
KCS president and CEO Dave Starling, executive vice president and chief operating officer Dave Ebbrecht and several others from the transportation, engineering, mechanical, sales and marketing and purchasing teams participated in an inspection trip of the lines between Heavener, Okla. and Shreveport, La., between Shreveport and Wylie, Texas, and south from Shreveport to the intermodal shipper facility in Kendleton, Texas.
United Transportation Union-represented maintenance-of-way employees on Georgia & Florida Railway are voting through September 22 on a tentative new agreement, their first since joining the union.
Southern California’s Caltrain Board adopted a proclamation for Railroad Safety Month. The agency addresses safety through a comprehensive, ongoing program that focuses on the “three E’s of railroad safety” – education, enforcement and engineering.
Crews joined the Minneapolis – St. Paul Central Corridor light-rail track to existing Hiawatha light-rail track as they welded the two lines together between the Metrodome and Cedar Riverside stations.
Union Pacific is enhancing Iowa’s transportation infrastructure by investing nearly $14 million in the rail line that runs between Grand Mound and Boone. The project is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by mid November.
The Chicago-area Metra Acting Chairman Larry Huggins and CEO Alex Clifford joined Alderman Ameya Pawar and Representative Greg Harris on September 5 to break ground on the construction of the new Ravenswood Station on the Union Pacific North Line.
On August 22, Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO) joined representatives from L.B. Foster and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association for a tour of the L.B. Foster facility in Pueblo, Colo.
Phillip Allen has accepted the position of chief engineer of structures for Watco Transportation Services. In this new role, Allen will be responsible for the bridge management program.
BNSF has increased capacity in 2012 to enable the railroad to haul one million barrels per day out of the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana. This increased capacity will allow the energy industry to continue the record expansion of oil production in the Williston Basin and to ship the new production to markets throughout the U.S.
RailAmerica, Inc., now has a new industrial development website that will help current and prospective customers who are interested in building or expanding a rail-served facility or developing transloading solutions. Additionally, this tool provides a listing of all locations accessible to RailAmerica railroads.
Crews have completed placement of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Central Corridor light-rail line’s first traction-power substation just south of the Raymond Avenue Station. Fourteen substations, located about one mile apart, will convert alternating electrical current to direct current, which will power the light-rail vehicles using a system of overhead catenary wires. Throughout the next year, the 13 other substations will be installed at a rate of one a month.
L.B. Foster Company has completed of the sale of Precise Structural Products to Cianbro Fabrication and Coating Corporation. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Precise Structural Products is engaged in manufacturing fabricated steel products for the highway, bridge, transit and construction markets and providing custom fabrication and related services including welding, sawing, cambering, blasting and painting.
United Transportation Union-represented employees of Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway and Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway have ratified new five-year agreements.
The Federal Railroad Administration and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) have issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for two routes connecting the Hampton Roads area to Richmond and the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor in Virginia. The newly identified route south of the James River recommends a new, 90-110 mph alignment from downtown Norfolk through Petersburg to Richmond, while maintaining Amtrak’s current service from Newport News through Williamsburg to Richmond.
The San Diego Trolley’s Green Line will run through Downtown San Diego past the Convention Center and Petco Park all the way to the 12th and Imperial Transit Center starting September 2,
Beginning Monday, September 3, segments of New York City Transit’s 4, 5 and 6 lines will be shut down from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., suspending all Lexington Avenue Line service between Grand Central-42nd Street and Atlantic Avenue in both directions for three consecutive weeknights for FASTRACK work.