Illinois
Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig said that a historic public-private
partnership agreement on high-speed rail development is in place to bring
Illinois one giant step closer to achieving high-speed passenger service
between Chicago and St. Louis by 2014.
Charles W. "Wick" Moorman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Norfolk Southern Corporation, has been named 2011 Railroader of the Year by Railway Age.
"Wick Moorman provides the strong leadership that has enabled Norfolk Southern to make great strides in areas that are critical to the future of the railroad industry," said Railway Age Editor William C. Vantuono. "In addition to performing solidly, controlling costs, improving productivity and continuing to invest in growth capital in a recessionary economy, Norfolk Southern has excelled in technological innovation and development of public-private partnerships. Among the many examples of these accomplishments are the railroad’s building and testing of an all-electric, battery-powered yard locomotive and opening the Heartland Corridor, a major intermodal artery developed in partnership with several states. Norfolk Southern is strongly positioned for growth and is an example of why railroads are increasingly the mode of choice for the nation’s transportation needs. This is why we have chosen Wick Moorman as our 2011 Railroader of the Year."
"I am honored by this recognition. It reflects on the entire Norfolk Southern team-talented, dedicated, and committed to safety-who make our company a success. They are the very best in the business, and I’m proud to be one of them," said Moorman.
Wick Moorman is Railway Age’s 48th Railroader of the Year. Modern Railroads magazine founded the award, one of the most prestigious in the railroad industry, in 1964 as the "Man of the Year." Railway Age acquired Modern Railroads in 1991 and has presented the award annually since then. Moorman will be honored on March 15, 2011, at Chicago’s Union League Club. He follows in the footsteps of several railroad industry icons from the Norfolk Southern, Norfolk & Western and Southern railroads: Stephen C. Tobias (2008), David R. Goode (2005 and 1998), Arnold B. McKinnon (1990), L. Stanley Crane (1974) and D. W. Brosnan (1964), the first Railroader of the Year.
Railway Age will tell the story of Wick Moorman and the remarkable, innovative organization he leads at Norfolk Southern with a cover story in the magazine’s January 2011 issue.
Railroader of the Year recipients under Modern Railroads:
1964: D. W. Brosnan, Southern Railway System
1965: Stuart T. Saunders, Pennsylvania Railroad Co.
1966: Stuart T. Saunders, Pennsylvania Railroad Co.
1967: Louis W. Menk, Northern Pacific Railway
1968: William B. Johnson, Illinois Central Railroad
1969: John W. Barriger, Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad
1970: John S. Reed, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway
1971: Jervis Langdon, Jr., Penn Central Transportation Co.
1972: Charles Luna, United Transportation Union
1973: James B. Germany, Southern Pacific Transportation Co.
1974: L. Stanley Crane, Southern Railway System
1975: Frank E. Barnett, Union Pacific Railroad
1976: Dr. William J. Harris, Jr., Association of American Railroads
1977: Edward G. Jordan, Conrail
1978: Robert M. Brown, Union Pacific Railroad
1979: Theodore C. Lutz, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
1980: John G. German, Missouri Pacific Railroad Co.
1981: Lawrence Cena, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway
1982: A. Paul Funkhouser, Family Lines Rail System
1983: L. Stanley Crane, Conrail
1984: Hays T. Watkins, CSX Corp.
1985: John L. Cann, Canadian National
1986: Raymond C. Burton, Jr., Trailer Train Co.
1987: Willis B. Kyle, Kyle Railways
1988: Darius W. Gaskins, Jr., Burlington Northern
1989: W. Graham Claytor, Jr., Amtrak
1990: Arnold B. McKinnon, Norfolk Southern
1991: Mike Walsh, Union Pacific Railroad
Recipients under Railway Age:
1992: William H. Dempsey, Association of American Railroads
1993: Raymond C. Burton, Jr., TTX Co.
1994: L. S. "Jake" Jacobson, Copper Basin Railway
1995: Edwin Moyers, Southern Pacific Transportation Co.
1996: Robert D. Krebs, AT&SF, and Gerald Grinstein, Burlington Northern
1997: Paul M. Tellier, Canadian National
1998: David R. Goode, Norfolk Southern
1999: Edward A. Burkhardt, Wisconsin Central Transportation Co.
2000: The Railroad Worker (award presented as "Railroader of the Century" for 2000)
2001: Michael R. Haverty, Kansas City Southern Railway
2002: E. Hunter Harrison, Canadian National/Illinois Central
2003: Richard K. Davidson, Union Pacific Railroad
2004: Robert J. Ritchie, Canadian Pacific Railway
2005: David R. Goode, Norfolk Southern
2006: Richard F. Timmons, American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association
2007: William E. Wimmer, Union Pacific Railroad
2008: Stephen C. Tobias, Norfolk Southern
2009: Michael J. Ward, CSX
2010: Matthew K. Rose, BNSF
2011: Wick Moorman, Norfolk Southern
Agreements between Huron
Central Railway and the federal and provincial governments are being finalized,
paving the way for infrastructure improvements along the rail line, the Sault
Star reports. Sault Ste. Marie CAO Joe Fratesi said Huron Central will sign
separate agreements with the federal and provincial governments that will see C$15
million from each level of government flow for the upgrades.
A consortium of European
companies is vying to finance and operate Florida’s high-speed rail line
between Tampa and Orlando, the Sunshine State News reports. The group, headed
by train maker Alstom SA of France, will undoubtedly face spirited competition
in its bid for the multi-billion-dollar project. But the seven-company
multinational consortium says no one can rival its combined experience and
financial wherewithal.
The Gary/Chicago
International Airport on reached a pivotal deal for its runway extension
project, the Gary Post-Tribune reports. The agreement with Canadian National
Railway allows the Gary airport to proceed with the removal of CN’s embankment
at the end of the runway — one of the biggest undertakings of the project. The
Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority approved the deal Oct. 28, with CN
expected to sign on within 10 days.
After years of fits and
starts, the U.S. Transportation Department awarded Fort Worth, Texas, a $34
million grant Friday to upgrade the Tower 55 rail intersection near downtown,
the Star Telegram reports. Tower 55 is one of the most congested rail
intersections in the country. Fort Worth officials had been pushing for years
to secure the funding to construct a new north-south rail line there.
President Obama on Monday lobbied for Republican support from Capitol Hill for a burst of spending on transportation projects, calling his proposal a jobs creator for the middle class and an overdue investment in the country’s foundation, reports the Associated Press.
"There’s no reason why we can’t do this," Obama said in a brief Rose Garden event. "There’s no reason why the world’s best infrastructure should lie beyond our borders. This is America. We’ve always had the best infrastructure … All we need is the political will."
Obama is proposing a $50 billion plan as an initial step toward a six-year program of transportation programs. It calls for building, fixing or maintaining thousands of miles of roads, rail lines and airport runways, along with installing a new air navigation system to reduce travel delays, and other projects.
The president unveiled the idea over Labor Day. Monday’s event amounted to another chance to promote it.
The president met privately with governors, mayors, transportation officials and Cabinet secretaries and then stood with some of them before the cameras as he made his case.
The timing also comes as Obama is eager to show action on the sluggish economy just a head of the Nov. 2 congressional elections, with his party in jeopardy of losing a sizable number of seats in the House and Senate.
Obama asked for Republican support, saying infrastructure work typically draws bipartisan support. But such cooperation seems unlikely in the current partisan atmosphere.
The economy continues to dominate public concern. The public sector slashed 159,000 jobs in September, including the largest cuts by local governments in 28 years. Obama said his program would boost employment right away and help make up for what he called years of costly inattention to the country’s infrastructure.
"Everywhere else, they’re thinking big. They’re creating jobs today, but they’re also playing to win tomorrow," Obama said of some of the top economic competitors to the United States. "So the bottom line is our shortsightedness has come due. We can no longer afford to sit still."
The administration released a new analysis of Obama’s plan that said it would particularly help with middle-class jobs in construction, manufacturing and retail.
Mario Brault, president
of Huron Central Railway, sees on the horizon for the first time, a profit for
his company, Sault Ste Marie This Week reports. He doesn’t look for huge sums
of money. Brault, upbeat and forthcoming, pointed out few companies can survive
without "a little bit of profit," and a C$33-million contribution
from the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario has opened the way.
(The following column,
"Don’t let this opportunity slip away: Keep Hudson rail tunnel project on
track," was written by Martin E. Robins and appeared Sept. 23, 2010, in
the Newark, N.J., Star Ledger. Robins is director emeritus of the Alan M.
Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, was the original project
director of Access to the Region’s Core from 1994 through 1998.) No one can blame Gov. Chris
Christie for his 30-day moratorium on the Access to the Region’s Core project,
the enormous undertaking to build a new passenger rail tunnel under the Hudson
River. But he must do everything in his power not to let this extraordinarily
valuable public works project slip away over exaggerated fears of future costs
that may never materialize.
The NEW METRO’s Board of
Directors in Houston, Texas, named George Greanias, president & CEO of the
agency. Greanias, a former Houston City councilman and city controller, has
served as METRO’s acting president & CEO since May 2010.
As soon as early next year,
the amount of freight rail traffic on the main line that runs through Pottstown,
Pa., is likely to increase, the Mercury reports. Also likely to increase is the
amount of tractor-trailer traffic in the vicinity of the former Bethlehem Steel
plant off Industrial Highway and South Keim Street.
Norfolk Southern’s
Heartland Corridor – one of the most extensive railroad engineering projects in
modern times and a template for public-private partnerships that strengthen the
nation’s transportation infrastructure – officially opened for business Sept. 9.
Colmar USA, Inc., said that its first Hi-Rail machine T7000 has been sold to the Toronto Transit Commission, their first North American customer. The introduction of Hi-Rail machinery in North America complements the scrap metal equipment line that has been Colmar USA’s primary product since it was established in 2002.
SEPTA announced a pilot project that would capture electricity generated by braking subway trains, similar to how a hybrid automobile produces power when it slows down.
The electricity will be stored in a large, railside battery array and reused when the train accelerates, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The system is expected to reduce electrical power purchases 10 percent to 20 percent at each location of the batteries, said Andrew Gillespie, SEPTA’s chief engineering officer for power.
The power-storage system is potentially so large – each battery array would store one megawatt of power – that SEPTA could further reduce its electric bill by buying cheap power at night to use or resell during expensive peak hours.
And SEPTA also could collect fees from the regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection L.L.C., by providing power on short notice – one or two seconds – to stabilize regional power flows on the grid.
The pilot project, involving a single battery array at a SEPTA electric substation in Kensington, would cost about $1.5 million.
The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority is underwriting the project with a $900,000 grant. Viridity will underwrite the remaining capital cost, Zibelman said.
If the project proves economic – Viridity estimates one battery array will generate $500,000 a year in value – SEPTA envisions installing the technology at all 33 electric substations that serve its subway and trolley lines.
The system will take advantage of regenerative-braking capacity already installed in the Market-Frankford Line and SEPTA’s electrified buses and trolleys.
When applied, the brakes now convert the train’s kinetic energy into electricity, which is transmitted into the third-rail system for use by other trains.
But when there are no other trains nearby to consume the electricity, the power is lost. Excess electricity from the brakes is converted into heat that is dissipated from vents in the carriage rooftops.
About half the power produced by the regenerative brakes is now lost, Gillespie said.
SEPTA says the batteries, in addition to capturing the regenerated power that is now lost, will help increase the system’s electrical efficiency and stabilize the voltage – it operates on 600-volt direct-current power.
A new study of the Port
of Vancouver’s signature project – a planned 27-mile expansion of rail tracks
to speed cargo and handle more of it – says the port will have to borrow as
much as $75 million to cover a shortfall and should adopt plans to avoid cost
overruns, The Columbian reports.
DART staff briefed the Board of Directors during a August 10 Board meeting armed with a proposed budget for FY 2011 and a revised 20-year financial plan that keeps the Orange Line extension on track and includes an extension of the Blue Line.
(The following column by
Michael Dresser appeared on The Baltimore Sun Website on August 9, 2010.) Baltimore
received a relatively gentle reminder last week of some unfinished business
that it can ill afford to ignore. A CSX Transportation freight train derailed
last Thursday in the Howard Street tunnel, the scene of the nearly disastrous
July 18, 2001, derailment and fire that paralyzed much of downtown for a week.
Thirteen cars of a 79-car train left the tracks – 11 of them in the tunnel
under Howard Street and two outside the portal at Mount Royal Avenue.
Sound Transit released
updated long-term revenue forecasts to the agency’s Executive Committee that
show ST2 funding levels down by about 25 percent, or $3.9 billion. Last fall
Sound Transit estimated long-term revenue levels to be down by about 20
percent, or $3.1 billion through 2023. The latest estimates come from updated
forecasts the agency received showing an additional $767 million shortfall.
The Village of Leipsic,
Ohio, was awarded a $3.5-million grant to assist in developing its 244-acre
industrial site served by three railroads, the Putnam County Sentinel reports.
At
a Leipsic Council meeting, Leipsic Mayor Kevin Benton and village administrator
Kevin Lammon informed council members that the village has been selected to
receive this grant.
The
state could buy 233 miles of northern Maine freight rail tracks slated for
abandonment within several weeks if it and track owner Montreal, Maine &
Atlantic Railway agree on a price, officials said July 28, according to the
Bangor Daily News. The railway and Maine Department of Transportation are
working to find common ground between DOT’s argument that the tracks and other
equipment are worth $18.1 million and MMA’s contention that they should fetch
$26.2 million as a whole or $23.7 million if broken into smaller pieces or
parcels.
