Search Results for: technology

BNSF seeks PTC slowdown






BNSF is pushing Congress to
scale back a requirement for carriers to install automatic-braking systems on
most of their tracks, reports Bloomberg News. "Heavy-handed" legislation
enacted last year would cost Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF almost $2 billion,
Chief Executive Officer Matt Rose said.

Exploratory drilling completed for LA Metro extension






Joined by local elected
officials from Los Angeles County and nearby cities, Los Angeles City Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa said the completion of exploratory drilling in West Los
Angeles is a key part of the planning and environmental process for the
proposed Westside Subway Extension, a regionally beneficial Measure R
transportation project.

New Hampshire competes for $1.5 million grant

Peter Burling, chairman of
the Rail Transit Authority in New Hampshire, envisions a rail line running
between Boston and Concord, N.H., at speeds of up to 90 mph, the Concord
Monitor reports. The rail would carry Massachusetts shoppers to Nashua and
travelers to Manchester Airport. It would take sports fans to Celtics games and
workers to their jobs in Boston.

 

UP marks silver anniversary of SPRB coal trains

Mid-day 25 years ago August
16, the first Union Pacific and former Chicago & North Western coal train
moved out of Wyoming’s Southern Powder River Basin (SPRB) coal field over a new
107-mile rail line connecting Union Pacific to the region. The C&NW merged
with Union Pacific in 1995. Since the line was opened
between Joyce, Neb., and Shawnee Junction, Wyo., in 1984, several milestones
have been met including the operation of the 100,000th train March 17, 2001 and
the movement of the 200,000th loaded coal train May 10, 2009 out of the SPRB.

        

AAR urges FRA to stick to Congressional scope of PTC mandate

 
The Association of
American Railroads urged the Federal Railroad Administration to faithfully
follow the Congressional statutory mandate requiring railroads to implement
positive train control technologies across certain portions of the national
freight rail network. In 2008, Congress passed a law requiring the nation’s
freight railroads by Dec. 31, 2015 to implement PTC on certain main line tracks
used for transporting passengers or toxic chemicals. However, AAR notes that
FRA’s proposed rule would impose a financial burden above and beyond what Congress
intended, potentially adding hundreds of millions of dollars in additional cost
to the railroads as they face using private capital to pay for the federal PTC
mandate.

 

NS selects Greencastle, Pa., site for intermodal facility

Norfolk Southern will
construct a new intermodal terminal in Greencastle, Pa., to serve the
Mid-Atlantic region, as part of the railroad’s multi-state Crescent Corridor
initiative to establish a high-speed intermodal freight rail route between the
Gulf Coast and the Northeast. The $95-million facility, at which freight moving
in containers and trailers will be transferred between train and truck, will
occupy a 200-acre site adjacent to the planned Antrim Commons Business Park and
is expected to open in late 2011.

 

Summer heat takes toll on railroad tracks

More than roads are
buckling under the extreme heat. Iowa’s railroad tracks also are susceptible to
the high temperatures, and this is keeping railroad crews and Iowa Department
of Transportation track inspectors busy, the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier
reports.

 

ARINC works with D.C. Metro on train system

ARINC is helping
Washington Metro officials design a new system to avoid rail collisions just
weeks after a deadly train crash near the Maryland state line, according to The
Capitol in Annapolis, Md. Officials from the Parole-based company said they are
providing expertise as its workers develop technologies to position the company
as a frontrunner in helping trains everywhere run more safely. That’s in
response to a federal mandate requiring rail operators to upgrade their systems
to help prevent collisions and deaths of railway workers by 2015.

Miner provides ballast systems to Brazil mining corporation

Miner Enterprises, Inc., has been chosen by Vale, the Brazilian multinational mining corporation to supply 70 AggreGate® ballast systems. The state-of-the-art air-powered dual cylinder AggreGate® system was specified for the order, demonstrating Miner’s international reach and reputation for high-quality freight car components around the world.

New Jersey official push passenger rail for Bergen County

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and Congressman Steve Rothman said that they are teaming up to deliver passenger rail to Bergen County with an extension of light rail service. Joined by N.J. Senator Loretta Weinberg, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney and Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, as well as other state and local officials, the announcement came after the conclusion that another long-studied rail technology being advanced by NJ TRANSIT did not offer a practical alternative for Bergen residents in the near term.

“The time has come to put the Bergen in Hudson-Bergen Light Rail. The twin facts that NJ TRANSIT has settled on a mode of service and Governor Corzine is here pledging his personal support for the Northern Branch gives me renewed hope that the dream of passenger rail will be realized for Bergen County,” said Rothman.

“We can no longer wait for emerging technologies that make the perfect the enemy of the good. Light rail will enable thousands of Bergen residents to get to work on the Waterfront, or make easy connections to PATH and ferries into Manhattan,” said Corzine.

Bergen light rail will provide significant environmental benefits, including reduced carbon emissions, taking 8,500 cars off the road each day. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system has been a catalyst for economic development and a national light rail transit model with nearly 45,000 passenger trips daily, with a 24th station under construction at 8th Street in Bayonne.

NJ TRANSIT submitted a Draft Environmental Impact Statement to the Federal Transit Administration last year that studied both light rail and re-emerging Diesel Multiple Unit types of equipment. However, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the only manufacturer of DMUs that met American safety standards for operating in mixed freight/passenger territory filed for bankruptcy. A global search for another manufacturer that could meet strict Federal Railroad Administration safety requirements led NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Richard Sarles to conclude recently that the possibility of new DMUs rolling off the production line is several years away at best.

Sarles also acknowledged the Federal Transit Administration’s efforts to advance multiple New Jersey rail projects, noting that NJ TRANSIT has received the Record of Decision for the Mass Transit Tunnel; the MOS FONSI for the Lackawanna Cutoff; completed environmental review for the Edison Station Parking Expansion Project, the Lower Hack Bridge Phase II project, and HBLR’s Danforth Interlocking project over the last several months.

“We appreciate the leadership of FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff and hard work of the Regional Administrator and staff to continue to effectively move many projects forward at once,” said Sarles.

FTA’s release of the revised Northern Branch DEIS will trigger local public hearings as soon as this fall. The hearings will give communities along the planned service route an opportunity to raise any additional issues that need to be incorporated into ?NJ TRANSIT’s service plan. NJ TRANSIT expects preliminary engineering to begin in 2010.

At full operating capacity, the light rail service is planned to operate from early morning through late evening hours, seven days a week, with trains departing every 6-12 minutes in the peak travel periods. A trip from the northernmost portion of the line will take 21 minutes to Tonnelle Avenue, 25 minutes to Port Imperial for ferries to New York, and 37 minutes to Hoboken for PATH and NJ TRANSIT commuter rail connections.

Light rail ridership is estimated to be about 24,000 passenger trips daily. While the cost estimate for extending light rail has not yet been finalized, preliminary estimates set the price at about $800 million to $900 million. The Northern Branch project is included in the joint long-range capital program of the NJ Department of Transportation and ?NJ Transit, benefitting from a mix of federal and state Transportation Trust Funds.

Visiting motor cars mark Fairmont’s 100th anniversary

More than 40 railroad motor cars from all over the United States will be stopping in Albert Lea, Minn., during part of a 100th anniversary celebration of Fairmont Railway Motors Inc., now Harsco Track Technologies, the Albert Lea Tribune reports.

The celebration will include a display of about 45 North American Rail Car Operators Association motorcars during an open house at the Harsco facility in Fairmont. The 45 restored cars were originally built at the Fairmont plant and shipped to railroads around the United States and Canada.