AAR: Mixed report for U.S. rail freight during Christmas week






The Association of American
Railroads issued the following on December 30, 2009

Intermodal volume was up but
both carload freight and total volume as measured in ton-miles slipped from
year-ago levels during the week ended December 26, the Association of American
Railroads reported today.

The AAR also reported that
volume during the most recent week remained sharply below levels reported
during the comparable 2007 week. In order to offer a complete picture of the
progress in rail traffic, AAR will now be reporting 2009 weekly rail traffic
with year over year comparisons for both 2008 and 2007. Comparison weeks from
all three years included the Christmas holiday.

Intermodal traffic totaled
141,699 trailers and containers, up 14.2 percent from a year ago but down 10.7
percent from 2007. Compared with the same week in 2008, container volume rose
21.6 percent and trailer volume dropped 14.5 percent. Compared with the same
week in 2007, container volume fell 4.5 percent and trailer volume dropped 34.4
percent.

Carload freight totaled
197,754 cars, down 1.1 percent from 2008 and 22.3 percent from 2007. In the
Eastern U.S., carloads were up 1.3 percent compared with the same week last
year, but off 25.2 percent compared with 2007. In the West, carloads were down
2.3 percent compared with 2008, and 20.7 percent compared with the same week in
2007.

Carload volume was down
largely because of a more-than 21,000 carload (19.1 percent) drop in coal
loadings. Seventeen of the other 18 carload freight commodity groups were up
compared with the same week last year, with fourteen reporting double digit
increases, including motor vehicles (52.1 percent); lumber and wood products
(44.8 percent); grain (31.1 percent); metals (31.7 percent) and chemicals (18.7
percent).

Total volume was estimated
at 22.1 billion ton-miles, down 0.9 percent from the comparable 2008 week, and
down 17.5 percent from the comparable 2007 week.

For the first 51 weeks of
2009, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 13,585,290 carloads, down
16.3 percent from 2008 and 18.2 percent from 2007; 9,731,474 trailers or
containers, down 14.3 percent from 2008 and 17.8 percent from 2007, and total
volume of an estimated 1.47 trillion ton-miles, down 15.4 percent from 2008 and
16.3 percent from 2007.

Canadian railroads reported
volume of 55,572 cars for the week, up 33.5 percent from last year, and 30,653
trailers or containers, up 49 percent from 2008. For the first 51 weeks of
2009, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 3,192,327 carloads, down
18.2 percent from last year, and 2,084,051 trailers or containers, down 14.2
percent from last year.

Mexican railroads reported
originated volume of 10,718 cars, up 37.7 percent from the same week last year,
and 5,462 trailers or containers, up 53.3 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican
railroads for the first 51 weeks of 2009 was reported as 594,083 carloads, down
9.5 percent from last year; and 284,211 trailers or containers, down 12.9
percent.

Combined North American rail
volume for the first 51 weeks of 2009 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and
Mexican railroads totaled 17,371,700 carloads, down 16.4 percent from last
year, and 12,099,736 trailers and containers, down 14.2 percent from last year.

WMATA implements $7.5 million station enhancement program






While it’s not an extreme
makeover, over the next year-and-a-half, 42 Metrorail stations will receive a
thorough cleaning as part of the agency’s station enhancement program.

The station enhancement
program, initiated in April 1991, was designed to restore the appearance of
Metrorail stations. The $7.5 million program sees each station restored about
every four years.

The work is being organized
into "mini" and "major" enhancements.

A mini enhancement includes
the cleaning of masonry surfaces, painting interior surfaces, repairing
interior masonry surfaces, painting exterior surfaces, fabricating, installing
or repairing signs, refinishing bus and station platform shelter benches and
spot finishing bronze surfaces such as railings. A major station enhancement
includes all responsibilities under a mini enhancement but also includes
pressure washing the ceilings and walls, and painting interior surfaces.

A major station enhancement
takes three months, which is approximately 25 percent longer than the
mini-enhancement.

For a list of stations
slated to receive a mini or major cleaning enhancement through June 2011, visit
WMATA’s website by clicking here .

RIDOT purchases land for station, parking garage






Rhode Island’s planned
extension of commuter rail service from Boston and Providence to Warwick and
North Kingstown is on track.

The Rhode Island Department
of Transportation (RIDOT), with approval from the State Properties Committee,
completed the purchase of property needed for the Wickford Junction train
station and parking garage. The purchase price for the land and easements
located on Route 102 in North Kingstown, near its intersection with Route 4, was
$3.2 million, of which 80 percent came from federal funds.

The Wickford project, along
with the Warwick Intermodal Facility currently under construction, will provide
the infrastructure necessary to support the initial start-up phase of the South
County Commuter Rail Service. This service will extend existing Massachusetts
Bay Transit Authority trains through Providence an additional 20 miles with
stops at T.F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction. The new service is intended
to provide an alternative mode of travel to the already congested I-95 and
Route 4 corridor, which is the State’s fastest growing region, and provide
access to major employment, retail and recreational centers in Providence and
Boston. MBTA is expected to add commuter rail stops at T.F. Green Airport in
2010 and at Wickford Junction in 2011.

Once built, Wickford
Junction Station, with an estimated construction cost of $30 million, will
feature a train station and platform along with a 1,100-space parking garage.
It is expected that once construction begins it will take approximately 16
months to build the station and garage. Commuter rail service would start
shortly after that. Daily ridership is projected to be approximately 1,750
passengers, with eight weekday round trips planned.

New North Dakota rail facility sends oil to Oklahoma







A new rail shipping terminal in northwestern North Dakota is
moving oil from the state’s oil patch to Oklahoma.

Houston-based EOG Resources Inc. expects the
first shipment from the terminal near Stanley, N.D., on Jan. 4, following a
four-day trip. The new terminal is capable of loading 60,000 barrels of oil
onto a 100-car unit train each day and unloads in Stroud, Okla., where it is
then sent through a 17-mile pipeline to a terminal in Cushing, Okla.

Tony Chambers joins Encore Rail Systems, Inc.

Encore Rail Systems,
Inc., named Tony Chambers Eastern Region Sales Manager based in Ravenswood, W.Va.
Chambers brings to this position many years of railroad sales experience from
his career with Burke-Parsons-Bowlby Corporation.

 


NJ TRANSIT cuts ribbon at new parking lot at Edison Station






Senator Robert Menendez
and Congressman Frank Pallone joined NJTRANSIT Executive Director Richard
Sarles and other officials at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new 477-space
parking lot that more than doubles parking capacity at Edison Station on the
Northeast Corridor rail line. The lot opens to customers January 1.

Strategic investments allow CTA to Improve fleet, facilities






With the onset of the
recession this year, government agencies, private businesses and individual
households all faced budget challenges and the Chicago Transit Authority was no
exception. Due to the significant consequences presented by the slowing
economy, as the CTA developed its 2009 Budget, staff sharpened their pencils
and looked for ways to streamline operations and reduce costs without impacting
the quality or level of service provided. Despite financial constraints, the
CTA continued to innovate in 2009 and apply the best solutions to keep Chicago
moving.

Amtrak to begin serving renovated Castleton, Vt., depot






As the result of growing
and anticipated demand for passenger rail service to Castleton State College
and Lake Bomoseen, Amtrak and the Vermont Agency of Transportation said that
state-supported Ethan Allen Express trains will make twice daily stops at the
recently renovated Castleton, Vt., station beginning January 2, 2010. The
southbound Ethan Allen Express, train #292 scheduled to arrive Saturday at
11:02 a.m., will be the first train to officially stop at the station.

Port buys rail line, city prepares for train service







After a decade, a train may
be returning to Snohomish, Wash., by next summer, the Snohomish County Tribune
reports. The Port of Seattle purchased the Eastside rail corridor Dec. 21 from BNSF
in a deal totaling $81 million. The purchase covers 42 miles of rail line from
Renton to Snohomish.


Funding keeps Metra in neutral






Two planned Metra stations
could transform neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and North Sides — spurring
economic development, curbing carbon emissions and making it just plain easier
for residents to choose public transportation, proponents say, according to a
report in the Chicago Tribune. But when that vision will become reality is
uncertain.

Appointment boosts LACMTA expansion






A top adviser for Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be transferred Jan. 4 to a new job
aimed at bringing a light-rail system to Los Angeles and L.A./Ontario
international airports, the Los Angeles Times reports. Deputy Mayor Diego
Alvarez will serve as the regional transportation coordinator for Los Angeles
World Airports, which operates both airports, according to Villaraigosa’s
office.

CREATE completes strategic rail connection in McCook, Ill.






A key rail connection and
capacity expansion project of the Chicago Region Environmental and
Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program is now operational in McCook,
Ill. The $13.1-million federally- and privately-funded McCook Connection
project (Project B6) provides additional connectivity between the Indiana
Harbor Belt, CSX Transportation and BNSF rail lines. Trains that had to wait or
travel at a maximum speed of 10 miles an hour are now able to proceed through
the area at 25 miles per hour as they move onto mainline tracks near the United
Parcel Service Willow Springs Distribution Center.

New Brooklyn LIRR terminal is on a roll






After nearly six years of
construction, the new entrance to the Long Island Rail Road’s critical Atlantic
Terminal at Flatbush Avenue is finally open to straphangers, according to The
Brooklyn Paper. Commuters looking for the LIRR ticket office will find that it
has moved to a new location on the concourse below the ground floor entrance,
where natural light shines through glass that spans from the road to the
ceiling, offering views of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower across the
street.

NS paid nearly $12 million for rail hub land at McCalla, Ala.






Norfolk Southern Corp. paid
nearly $12 million to purchase the 316 acres in McCalla, Ala., where it plans
to build a $112 million railroad hub, according to county records, The Birmingham
News reports. The railroad company bought land from six different property
owners in transactions ranging in price from $72,545.40 to more than $5.8
million, the property records show.

Faster trains top Amtrak’s list of needs






Amtrak has been working
hard to lure more business travelers to its trains, with advertisements highlighting
its advantages over air travel – roomier seats, power outlets on its Acela trains
and fewer annoyances, the New York Times reports. And its efforts have borne
some fruit: the number of riders on its Northeast corridor trains has been
rising.

WMATA sets January weekend track maintenance schedule






In January, in addition to
the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday weekend closure of the
Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail station on the Red Line, Metro in Washington,
D.C., will replace fasteners, make tunnel repairs, and make repairs to a rail
switch that will help ensure reliable Metrorail service. Customers should
expect travel delays during the weekends of Jan. 8 to 10, Jan. 15 to 18, and
Jan. 29 to Jan. 31.





Vandeventer Bridge is coming down






As construction to
replace the 80-year-old Vandeventer Bridge in St. Louis continues, work to
remove the old bridge will require a MetroLink system outage between the Grand
and Central West End MetroLink Stations from December 26 through January 3.
During this time, MetroBus shuttles will replace MetroLink light rail service between these two stations, enabling passengers to navigate around the
construction zone and continue their commutes.

Bypass still in the works for Victoria’s KCS rail line






Construction is complete on the Kansas City Southern rail line and
trains run through Victoria, Texas, daily, but there’s still more to go,
according to the Victoria Advocate. The next step is a bypass to offset rail
traffic through major arteries. It’s a work in progress and both KCS and the
Texas Department of Transportation are working toward a resolution, Victoria
County Judge Don Pozzi said.