Watco Transportation Services named Steve Beske general manager of the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad. Beske will be responsible for the day-to-day operations on the WSOR and will report directly to the director of operations.
Florida East Coast Industries, Inc., is developing a privately owned, operated and maintained passenger rail service to connect South Florida and Orlando, which will be operational in 2014.
Last month, I wrote about safety as it pertains to the elimination of the Harriman awards. Safety is again at the forefront, this time thanks to legislation introduced to the Illinois General Assembly.
RailComm has been selected to provide the GCOR dispatch system for Genesee and Wyoming’s Arizona Eastern Railway. RailComm’s Domain Operations Controller (DOC®) train control system will be accessed through a web-enabled Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model.
Southern California’s Caltrain will conduct construction on the San Bruno Grade Seperation Project and perform maintenance at several locations.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority released its Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report for the Westside Subway Extension Project.
John Orrison has joined HDR as the practice leader for railroad operations. He is based in the firm’s Fort Worth, Texas, office. His responsibilities include developing and expanding HDR’s freight rail program in North America and abroad.
Scott Henderson has accepted the position of general manager for Watco Transportation Services’ Pacific Sun Railroad. He most recently served as general manager for the Baton Rouge Southern Railroad in Louisiana.
Union Pacific is enhancing Nebraska’s transportation infrastructure by investing $8.7 million in the rail line that runs between Sarben and Joyce. The project is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by the end of August.
Effective March 15, 2012, Norfolk Southern lowered the railroad operating speed limits on certain sections of the Michigan Line between Dearborn and Kalamazoo that handle both Amtrak’s passenger service and Norfolk Southern’s freight service. These lower speed limits, 25-30 mph, have been imposed to reflect the maximum safe operating speeds for the line, given the line’s condition.
Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo visited the Port of Vancouver to review early construction work on a critical rail connection that will link the Port of Vancouver to BNSF Railway’s east-west mainline.
Shortline Railroad, Anacostia Rail Holdings, has appointed Eric Jakubowski chief commercial officer, a newly created position, effective March 19, 2012. He is based in Chicago, where he reports to Peter Gilbertson, Anacostia president and CEO.
Recent Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority system ridership numbers show an increase in weekday boardings during January and February of 2012.
In January, Railway Age announced that it had named KCS president and CEO Dave Starling its 2012 Railroader of the Year.
Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo visited King Street Station in Seattle, Wash., to celebrate the Pacific Northwest Passenger Rail Corridor construction project, which will help increase the station’s capacity while transforming it into a modern transit hub.
For the third straight year, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority expects to defer critical improvement projects due to funding cuts, according to the authority’s Fiscal Year 2013 Capital Budget proposal.
Canadian Pacific Railway entered into a multi-year agreement with Unimin Corporation of New Canaan, Conn., for the movement of frac sand from Unimin’s facility in Wisconsin.
Scott Henderson has accepted the position of general manager for Watco Transportation Services’ Pacific Sun Railroad (PSRR). Henderson most recently served as general manager for the Baton Rouge Southern Railroad (BRS) in Louisiana. He will be responsible for the day-to-day operations on the Pacific Sun and will report directly to the director of operations
His duties will be to achieve performance goals with op¬timum safety, economy, efficiency and effectiveness along with overseeing customer relationships in accordance with Watco’s Customer First Foundation Principles.
Henderson began his railroad career as a locomotive engineer in 1996 with Conrail and transferred to Canadian National in 2000 before joining the Watco Team in March of 2009 with the Grand Elk Railroad in Kalamazoo, Mich. He then moved to Kansas to serve as assistant general manager for the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad before heading south to Louisiana as the BRS general manager.
From the editors at Railway Age.
The Surface Transportation Board announced that it will hold a public hearing March 22 “to explore the impact of the Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. acquisition of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. on certain costing determinations.”
The Chicago Transit Authority previewed upcoming track renewal work that will affect primarily weekend service in the Loop beginning in mid-April through late-2012. The project will involve special trackwork at the Loop junctions and the replacement of nearly 11,500 feet of elevated rail and track components that were installed in the mid-1980s, which are nearing the end of their useful life.
