SEATTLE — The Sound Transit board has approved the one-year appointment of Goran Sparrman, a former Seattle Department of Transportation official, as its interim CEO. The board voted to approve Sparrman’s appointment at a special meeting on Thursday. The appointment is effective on Saturday, Jan. 13; today (Friday, Jan. 12) is the final day for CEO […]
GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Patriot Rail, a short line company that operates 32 railroads across the United States, is planning to revive passenger service on the Gettysburg & Northern Railroad in 2025, to capitalize on the millions of tourists who pour into this Civil War mecca each year. G&N will join two other active Patriot Rail […]
OAKLAND, Calif. — A computer network failure set in motion the events leading to the New Year’s Day derailment and fire involving a Bay Area Rapid Transit train, BART’s board of directors was told at a Thursday meeting. Nine people were injured in the incident in the East Bay between the Orinda and Lafayette stations […]
WASHINGTON — Network Rail Consulting Inc. has received a $73.2 million contract to provide system engineering for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the company announced. Among services to be supported by the company are asset management, engineering support and oversight, design and construction operations and maintenance oversight, network integration and program compliance, Federal Railroad Administration […]
LOMBARD, Ill. — The man behind the rail industry’s burst of cooperative competition (or, if you prefer, competitive cooperation) came to the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting — an event focusing a lot of attention on such alliances — and said it was all good. Understandably, CPKC CEO Keith Creel said his company’s […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has urged federal regulators to squash BNSF Railway’s request to gain access a proposed short line railroad in Utah. Last month BNSF told the Surface Transportation Board that it should have the right to connect with the Savage Tooele Railroad due to trackage rights it was granted over UP’s Shafter Subdivision […]
The Panama Canal Railway, which saw a 20% increase in container traffic last summer due to drought conditions affecting water levels in the Panama Canal, got another boost this week. Maersk, the largest container shipping line, announced yesterday that shipments bound to and from Australia and New Zealand are being diverted to the Panama Canal […]
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway completed a record year for employee safety in 2023 by posting the lowest injury frequency rate in the company’s history. BNSF’s 37,000 employees operated its 32,500-mile network without loss of life, and with the fewest number of employee injuries ever, the railway said today. Employee injury rates decreased more […]
BEAUFORT, S.C. — OptiFuel Systems will begin testing a prototype 5,600-hp zero-emissions renewable natural gas road locomotive and a companion 2,500-hp fuel tender next January at the Federal Railroad Administration’s Transportation Technology Center, the company announced today. After testing the prototype Total-Zero Renewable Natural Gas Line Haul Locomotive for 12 months, OptiFuel aims to launch […]
WASHINGTON — A coalition of labor unions representing railroad shop workers has asked the Federal Railroad Administration and Surface Transportation Board to take five steps to improve safety and service on the Class I railroads. In an 81-page letter posted on the STB website this week, the unions say the implementation of the low-cost Precision […]
LOMBARD, Ill. — Notes from Day 1 of the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers Winter Meeting: Border battle Union Pacific found itself involved in headlines not of its own making in December when U.S. Customs and Border Protection shut down border rail gateways at Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, quickly throwing U.S-Mexico rail traffic […]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has elected not to hear Ohio’s appeal of a decision overturning a state law regulating blocked railroad grade crossings, WFIN radio reports, leaving stand precedent that local regulation is preempted by federal regulation of interstate commerce. Ohio’s Supreme Court had struck down the law, which prohibited railroads from blocking […]
