President Obama unveiled his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2016, which includes a six-year $478-billion surface transportation reauthorization proposal that contains rail funding sources through the Generating Renewal, Opportu¬nity, and Work with Accelerated Mobility, Efficiency, and Rebuilding of Infrastructure and Communities throughout America (GROW AMERICA) Act.
Norfolk Southern is targeting a $2.4-billion capital expenditure program in 2015 the railroad revealed during its fourth-quarter and full-year 2014 results presentation. This year’s program reflects a $277-million increase over the railroad’s 2014 program.
Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority (ACE) completed major construction on a four-lane roadway underpass and a two-track railroad bridge carrying freight trains over Baldwin Avenue, north of Valley Boulevard in the City of El Monte, Calif.
For the first time, Oregon’s TriMet operated an electrified MAX test train on the northern segment of the new Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Transit Project alignment, including Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People, on Wed., Jan. 21. A powered Portland Streetcar train also traveled across the bridge during the systems test.
Metro-North is starting 2015 with rebuilding efforts and attention to major safety initiatives. The track improvements that defined 2014 are moving along and the railroad also expects continued progress as the last of the 405 M-8 cars are placed into service on the New Haven Line this spring.
CSX Corporation had a lot of good news for investors during this mornings Quarter 4 2014 earnings conference call including record fourth-quarter 2014 net earnings. The railroad also unveiled that it will target a $2.5-billion capital expenditure program in the upcoming year. In 2014, the railroad targeted a $2.3-billion capital spend program.
Construction has been completed on a new passing siding and bridge on the North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR) corridor near the Lenoir-Wayne County line.
New York state has received federal approval for the plan to build a new arch bridge to replace the historic Portageville Bridge carrying the Norfolk Southern’s Southern Tier Line over the Genesee River in Letchworth State Park.
BNSF, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), the city of Willmar, Kandiyohi County and the Kandiyohi/Willmar Economic Development Commission have entered into a revised Memorandum of Understanding allowing the partners to apply for federal funds to help pay for a wye project.
“This year, the Kansas City Southern management team refined the company’s vision, restating it to be the leading transportation provider both within and between the U.S. and Mexico by consistently providing superior value to our customers, offering challenging careers to our employees and increasing value to our shareholders,” stated KCS’s President and Chief Executive Officer David Starling in his annual “State of the Railroad” memo.
In anticipation of the January 2015 release of the Draft North Carolina Comprehensive State Rail Plan, the N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has issued the Plan’s Executive Summary.
President Obama signed two key pieces of legislation last week that will impact the rail industry.
New York State awarded $17.8 million in funding from the State’s Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program to 12 rail projects that will repair and replace 65 miles of track and ties, rehabilitate grade crossings and bridges and construct new connections to improve safety and operations.
Four rail projects in South Dakota have received $56 million in public and private funds.
Following months of work, a multitude of inspections and an additional CA$10 million (US$8.6 million) investment, Central Maine & Quebec Railway (CMQ) got the go-ahead from Transport Canada.
On December 5, CMQ received the official revocation of a series of notices and orders, confirming immediate threats no longer exist on CMQ railway. The notices and orders were transferred to CMQ following its purchase of bankrupt Montreal Maine & Atlantic.
CMQ has spent the past four months installing more than 32,000 new crossties, 110,000 linear feet of rail and 25,000 tons of ballast, upgrading bridges, culverts and crossings, completing surfacing work and removing more than 300 in-track rail defects from its main tracks and sidings. The Sherbrooke subdivision is the 125-mile backbone of CMQ’s Quebec rail line and stretches from Lac-Mégantic to Brookport just east of Farnham.
“We had to make this investment. The line was covered in snow last February and March when we were finally able to begin our diligence, but we made a commitment to Lac-Mégantic Mayor Laroche and citizens, as well as many regulators, that we would address the years of neglect,” said CMQ President and Chief Executive Officer John Giles. “It was an extremely tough undertaking. We had industry peers questioning the amount of work that we signed up for with such a short construction season. I knew we were in good hands with Ron Marshall, general manager of engineering, leading this project with his team.”
When asked about the scope of project, Marshall commented, “This is one of the most challenging construction seasons I’ve ever been involved in. But I knew from my experience working with this team at RailAmerica that I would have the support I needed. This investment demonstrates our team’s commitment to operating the railway in a safe and responsible fashion.”
CMQ considers Phase 1 of its transformation now largely completed.
“Not to say we don’t have a lot more track and infrastructure work to do next spring, but we have already started Phase II, which focuses on growth, customers and interline partners,” said Giles.
National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) selected the winners of its 2014 Safety, Field Employee of the Year, Small Project of the Year and Large Project of the Year awards. The winners will be recognized at this year’s NRC Conference, January 7-10, 2015, in Hollywood, Fla.
The House and Senate’s effort to keep the federal government operating through the end of fiscal year 2015 was revealed late Tuesday in the form of a trillion-dollar-plus spending bill, Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015.
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) has finished installing the first mile of the 20-mile elevated guideway in west Oahu, Hawaii.
The 96th Annual Railway Tie Association Symposium and Technical Conference was held October 14 – 17 in Orlando, Fla., where 307 attendees gathered together to discuss the crosstie industry, as well as the railroading environment as a whole.
Work began December 4 on Caltrain’s San Mateo Bridges Replacement Project, an infrastructure project that will provide seismic upgrades to four aging railway passes on the Peninsula.