Pacific Imperial Railroad, which provides freight services on the Desert Line servicing the Tijuana-Tecate region of Baja California, Mexico and eastern San Diego County through its 99-year lease with the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), has made changes to its senior management team. Donald Stoecklein has chosen to retire as president to focus on his family and other ventures.
BNSF’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Tom Hund will retire during the first quarter of 2014. Hund will be replaced by Julie Piggott, currently vice president, planning and studies and controller.
Lingering latent salt residue left by Superstorm Sandy’s extensive flooding inside the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s (PANYNJ) Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. (PATH) rail tunnels will be removed, with corroded cables, track and other equipment replaced, under a $50-million project authorization approved by PATH’s Board of Commissioners.
OmniTRAX Canada hired Trent Weber as director business development, reporting directly to Lenny Berz, vice president industrial development. He will be responsible for all commercial sales, marketing and account management for the Hudson Bay Railway Company and Carlton Trail Railway Company.
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is a national transportation asset and is aging, failure prone and lacks redundant systems to keep it operating in the event of failure, Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman told a Congressional committee October 28.
The Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) Board of Directors has named Bill O’Leary as president and CEO, succeeding Chris Aadnesen, who has served in the position since September 2010. O’Leary will start his new position November 1.
Sound Transit in Seattle, Wash., is currently reaching out to community members and asking, “Where should regional high-capacity transit services go next following the completion of currently funded projects in 2023?” and asking that they participate in Sound Transit’s Long-Range Plan update.
In Portland, Ore., TriMet‘s Steel Bridge, which sees 559 MAX light-rail trains crossings each weekday, has had signal issues recently and crews have been working to identify and fix them.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) held a public open house to detail a possible project that would add a second main track between Lee’s Summit and Strasburg. The route is experiencing capacity issues and currently serves four Amtrak trains and close to 30 freight trains a day.
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has moved to make permanent a temporary moratorium on a procedure known as “simple approval” in which trackside workers are responsible for their own safety.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) will re-open the newly refurbished northbound platforms of the B and Q Line stations at Cortelyou Road, Beverley Road and Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn on October 28, two weeks earlier than scheduled.
With Canadian National (CN) and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) locked in a dispute, the industries that rely on the railway to ship products will be stuck with significantly fewer options if they go to a strike after the cooling off period.
Editor’s note: The Association of American Railroads submitted the following commentary following the report “Industry leaders discuss PTC progress” RT&S posted earlier this month.
There has been debate about the railroad industry’s ability to meet the federal mandate for interoperable positive train control (PTC) technology across huge swaths of the U.S. rail network by 2015. There also have been some critics who have inferred that by seeking an extension of the 2015 deadline set by Congress for implementing PTC, the railroad industry is looking to dodge its commitment to safety. Nothing could be further from the truth and I would like to address this issue and hopefully provide some clarity for RT&S readers.
On October 23, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority hosted a kick-off meeting for the much-anticipated Azusa to Montclair segment of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension light-rail line.
Metrolinx in Toronto, ON, Canada appointed Greg Percy to president of GO Transit, following an extensive international search process. Percy will assume the role effective November 9, 2013.
October 23 marked the 100th anniversary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) Jamaica Station, a historic transportation hub and transfer point for 10 of the LIRR’s 11 branches that is used by 150,000 passengers every day.
BNSF plans to develop a $28-million logistics center and make improvements to an existing rail yard and mainline infrastructure in Sweetwater, Texas.
The Port of Oswego Authority in New York received a $192,000 grant, awarded through the Northern Border Regional Commission, which will be used to construct a rail spur and additional rail car storage to help accommodate the demands of increased rail traffic.
Hampton Roads Transit has resumed work on the Naval Station Norfolk Transit Extension Study, which was put on hold on October 8 during the 16-day shutdown of most federal government work.
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and its two largest unions reached a tentative agreement on labor contracts October 21, which will be presented to employees for a ratification vote.
