Rail Link receives Wyoming Governor’s award for safety and health

Rail Link, Inc., a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc., has received the Wyoming Governor’s Award for Safety and Health in the Large Mine-Site Contractor category for the second consecutive year. The award is the highest honor given by the state of Wyoming for recognition of an employer’s commitment to excellence in workplace safety and health.

Oregon port’s South Rivergate Expansion boosts export flow

A major rail yard expansion project in Portland, Wash., is improving efficiency and capacity for exports at the city’s largest industrial park. Completed in June and now fully operational, the South Rivergate Yard expansion project was the last in a series of four recent rail and road improvement projects located in Rivergate Industrial District.

KCS promotes Ebbrecht to EVP & COO

Kansas City Southern promoted David Ebbrecht from executive vice president operations to executive vice president and chief operating officer for KCS and its U.S. subsidiary, The Kansas City Southern Railway Company. In this position, Ebbrecht will continue to coordinate closely with the leadership of Kansas City Southern de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. Ebbrecht reports to KCS president and chief executive officer David Starling.

2012 chief enigneers’ survey: WISH LIST

Safety remains at the top of engineering department’s list of equipment guidelines.

You want to impress a railroad engineer with a piece of maintenance equipment? Make sure it’s versatile, reliable, as well as easy to maintain, to transport and to use. Above all else, it must be safe.

Maintaining ballast below the ties

Optimal track conditions rely heavily on ballast maintenance.

Ballast doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. For those outside of the industry, the flashy signals, rail and crossties are what railroad lines are made of.

CREATE program update: keeping Chicago fluid

The CREATE program continues to improve movement through the nation’s rail nucleus.

The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program marked nine years of existence in June 2012.

Metra breaks ground on Cicero Station rehab project

Illinois State Senator Martin Sandoval and Cicero Town President Larry Dominick joined Metra Acting Chairman Larry Huggins and Executive Director/CEO Alex Clifford on August 7 at a groundbreaking ceremony for the rehabilitation of Metra’s Cicero Station on the BNSF Line.

RailComm provides system to BNSF yard in New Mexico

BNSF’s Belen Yard in New Mexico has added RailComm’s Blue Flag Indicator (BFI) System to their facility. The RailComm BFI System allows a user to apply blue flag protection to the fueling tracks through the use of strategically located field control panels. These panels are outfitted with keypad security that will only allow verified personnel to operate the system. The BFIs are positioned in pairs at different locations along the track.

Amtrak celebrates Seattle maintenance facility upgrades

Phase 1 and Phase 2 of a major upgrade of the Seattle Maintenance Facility in Washington State has been completed by Amtrak and its partners. The facilities support Amtrak operations and maintenance agreements in the Pacific Northwest for the Empire Builder, Coast Starlight, Amtrak Cascades and Sounder commuter trains.

X Train chooses R&O Construction Company as general contractor

Las Vegas Railway Express, Inc. (X Train), the company building a luxury passenger train with planned rail service between Southern California and Las Vegas, Nev., selected R&O Construction as the general contractor for the X Train’s Las Vegas Station. R&O Construction is a national general contractor firm.

Ohio utility commission OKs seven crossing upgrades

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) approved construction authorization from the Ohio Rail Development Commission for the installation of flashing lights and gates at seven highway-rail grade crossings in Ashtabula, Fayette, Medina, Summit and Wayne counties.