Innovate or Die –– From Our Colleagues at Railway Age
ATLANTA –– This commentary is from David Peter Alan, a Contributing Editor with Railway Age and is made available to RT&S through colleagues at our sister magazine.
opinion
Report: Activist Investor Attempting NS Takeover — Commentary Through Our Railway Age Colleagues
ATLANTA ––According to an unsubstantiated late-Jan. 31 Wall Street Journal article, an investor group led by activist Ancora Holdings Group, LLC intends to run a proxy fight and replace Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw. Ancora has reportedly built a position in NS and would likely try to take control of the Board to enact management and operational changes. We highlighted this as the number one risk in our downgrade earlier this week. NSC was up ~5% after hours. Story by Jason Seidl, Matt Elkott, Elliot Alper and Uday Khanapurkar, TD Cowen
Keeping the Proper Focus
Louisville, Ky. – I have spent more than 50 years in the rail industry, all of it in the Communications & Signals segment. I will be retiring after the joint REMSA/RSSI Exhibition
RailWorks Co-Workers Performed Life Saving CPR on L.K. Comstock Project
LOS ANGELES – RailWorks Corp. shares its sincere appreciation for the heroism of three employees’ actions that saved a life on L.K. Comstock’s LAX ConRAC – Arbor Vitae Street Grade Crossing Improvements project in Los Angeles.
Editor’s Commentary: Women In Rail –– Progress, But a Long Way to Go
RAILWAY TRACK AND STRUCTURES DECEMBER 2023 ISSUE –– CHICAGO –– I was fortunate to participate in the Railway Age/Railway Track and Structures “Women in Rail” conference in Chicago on November 2, 2023.
Commentary – UP Narrowly Avoided Disaster
When we set the stage for Tropical Storm Hilary, it was a good exercise in knowing what to look for and what to worry about. Specifically, we expected some track washouts but didn’t worry about it, because they’re relatively quickly repaired within a few days, and it’s primarily bridge outages on key arteries that represent a threat to broader network health.
Sound Transit Link Construction: A Spring Update
Starting this summer, we’ll be launching new light rail service at least once a year, for the next several years. Here’s the latest on construction progress and opening timelines.
Watch: BNSF Completes Willmar Bypass
“And now I can retire,” Randy Anderson, a BNSF locomotive engineer based in Sioux City, Iowa, said recently. “For years I have said that as soon as the bypass is complete, I’m hanging up my boots. The new bypass allows train crews to keep on moving through this area. It’s a really good thing and will continue to benefit the railroad and community for years to come.”
Editorial: A Requiem for HSR in America
We won’t see high-speed rail in this country for at least 100 years.
Editorial: ESG–Worthwhile or a waste of time?
ESG is one of the latest business acronyms. If you haven’t run across it yet, you will soon.
Commentary—What will the future of public transit look like?
As much as we may try to ascertain, we do not know exactly what the future of public transit will look like.
Book review: Field guide contains ‘unbelievable knowledge’
“The Complete Field Guide to Modern Derailment Investigation” by Gary P. Wolf (Wolf Railway Consulting, 2021, spiral bound softcover, 436 pp., $75.00).
Rail safety week and infrastructure investments go hand in hand
Ed. Note: RT&S does not normally publish opinion pieces on our website. However, since this is Rail Safety Week, we believe that the following piece from Federal Railroad Administrator Ronald L. Batory
“The subways are facing a five-alarm fire”
“New York City cannot recover without a robust transit system, and the country cannot rebound without New York,” New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye and Transport Workers
LiDAR, a tool for the “virtual world”
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a form of remote sensing, uses laser light pulses to gather information from surfaces in the form of “points” (3D coordinates). The data is processed with point
A “Sully” moment for Amtrak’s Anderson
As America increasingly is sheltering in place, losing unprecedented numbers of jobs and retirement savings, fearful of COVID-19, and facing a stress level unfamiliar except to those who have endured war zones,