Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and Chief Executive Officer Edward Hamberger says that the industry will be targeting several key issues in 2016, such as maintaining balanced economic regulation at the Surface Transportation Board (STB), extending the shortline tax credit while laying the groundwork for overall tax reform and advancing security-safety legislation or regulation.
Richard Morsches, PE, has been promoted to chief executive officer of TranSystems Corp. He brings to this role more than 30 years of experience and progressive leadership from serving clients locally in the Chicago area, to managing offices throughout the region, to leading the firm’s strategy and sales efforts nationally.
Kansas City Southern (KCS) will invest approximately $15 million in 2016 on rail and bridge improvement projects on its Beaumont Subdivision between DeQuincy and DeRidder, La. These projects will help grow capacity, as well as maintain and enhance safety on KCS’ cross-border network.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) began the first phase of construction for the Arrott Transportation Center station on January 11, 2016. The project budget has been set at $38.5 million and construction is expected to last through winter 2018.
Charles W. Hoppe, who served as Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) 34th President, from April 2, 1990, to August 31, 1994, passed away December 22, 2015.
CSX appointed key leaders in sales and marketing as the company continues to focus on enhancing customer relationships and encouraging profitable growth.
As part of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ongoing commitment to improve accessibility throughout the city of Chicago, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has implemented a new initiative that will establish a blueprint for making it 100 percent accessible over the next 20 years.
The Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (JPB) welcomed new members Raul Peralez and Joél Ramos and elected its officers for 2016 at Caltrain’s January meeting.
Working within the three-year extension Congress granted in late 2015, the Association of American Railroads has set year-end 2016 goals for Positive Train Control implementation.
RailComm has been selected to replace an obsolete control system with its DOC® system at a Class 1 yard in Buffalo, N.Y. The system will be an upgrade to a modern computer-based operation of the receiving sections of the facility.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has unveiled the eighth signature proposal of his 2016 agenda, which is to modernize and fundamentally transform the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), improving the travel experience for millions of New Yorkers and visitors to the metropolitan region.
Canadian National has submitted a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) for its proposed logistics hub to be built in Milton, Ontario.
In 2015, CSX worked with its customers to locate 107 new plants or expanded facilities on the company’s rail network or its connecting shortline partners. These new projects comprise $2.2 billion in customer investments and are expected to generate approximately 1,500 new jobs in areas served by CSX.
“Strong customer investment activity in 2015 was driven by downstream energy projects spurred by low oil and gas prices, as well as a significant number of industrial and agricultural projects, which highlights the strength of CSX’s diverse business mix,” said Clark Robertson, assistant vice president, regional development. “In addition to our own efforts to generate new business, our network touches some of the most competitive economic development areas in the United States and we are grateful for the pivotal role that state and local economic development agencies play in aggressively competing for new industry. We appreciate and applaud their work to create new opportunities for their citizens.”
Once these facilities are fully operational, they are projected to generate more than 143,000 new annual carloads of business for CSX. In addition to these projects that will be built over the next several years, in 2015 more than 75 customer facilities located on CSX began operations.
Since 2000, CSX customers have invested more than $42 billion in rail-served facilities, creating more than 62,000 jobs across the company’s 23-state network. To support rail-oriented industrial development, CSX’s Select Site program pre-certifies properties that are suitable for manufacturing use. These sites meet rigorous criteria to increase development probability and reduce time and costs for CSX customers.
Association of American Railroads Senior Vice President-Law and General Counsel Louis P. Warchot has joined the Transportation practice of Sidley Austin LLP as counsel in its Washington, D.C. office.
This holiday season, from December 16, 2015, to January 5, 2016, VIA Rail Canada saw its highest passenger revenue in over four years, with an increase of 10.3 percent since 2012 and the busiest day, December 23, had VIA Rail trains transporting 16,377 passengers to their destinations.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposes a $3 billion plan to transform Penn Station and the James A. Farley Post Office into a world-class transportation hub.
Carl R. Ice, president and chief executive officer of BNSF Railway, has been named 2016 Railroader of the Year by railroad industry trade journal Railway Age. Ice is Railway Age‘s 53rd Railroader of the Year.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) has approved construction authorization from the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) directing the installation of mast-mounted flashing lights and roadway gates at rail crossings in Allen, Sandusky and Wood counties.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has identified California Rail Builders as the apparent best value proposer for the design-build services contract for Construction Package 4, the next segment of construction through the counties of Tulare and Kern and the cities of Wasco and Shafter.
Ansaldo STS was awarded a $31.5 million contract to design, furnish, test and commission a signaling and train control system for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) West Side Subway Extension.
