MIAMI — Brightline has completed work to improve 48 grade crossings in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, a $5.4 million project supported by a $2.3 million federal grant as well as local funding. Federal Railroad Administration funding came in the form of a $2.3 million Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement, or CRISI, grant […]
WASHINGTON — Pete Claussen, Bruce Flohr, Edward Lewis, and Richard Robey have been selected by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association for induction into the Short Line Railroad Industry Hall of Fame. Induction is set for April 3 at the 2023 ASLRRA Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans. Lewis, who died in […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration announced this evening (Tuesday, March 7) that it would conduct a 60-day supplemental safety assessment of Norfolk Southern Railway, joining the National Transportation Safety Board, which has announced its own investigation of NS safety practices. “After a series of derailments and the death of one of its workers, we […]
WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a special investigation into Norfolk Southern’s safety practices in light of a spate of recent accidents. “Given the number and significance of recent Norfolk Southern accidents, the NTSB also urges the company to take immediate action today to review and assess its safety practices, with the […]
LEXINGTON, N.C. — Siemens Mobility officials announced Tuesday on a media call with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose that they intend to construct a $220 million passenger railcar manufacturing facility designed to complement the company’s existing Sacramento, Calif., plant. Dr. Roland Busch, CEO of parent company Siemens AG, […]
WASHINGTON — A group of unions announced today (Tuesday, March 7) that they have filed suit against BNSF Railway over outsourcing of locomotive inspections, maintenance, and repairs, claiming the railroad is cutting its mechanical workforce to boost profits and failing to act in good faith under its existing labor agreements. The suit by the International […]
CLEVELAND — A Norfolk Southern employee has been killed in a collision between a train and a dump truck this morning (Tuesday, March 7), according to news reports. WJW-TV reports the accident occurred early this morning on the rail line through the Cleveland-Cliffs Cleveland Works steelmaking facility, and that the victim has been identified by […]
HOUSTON — A Texas jury has awarded a woman $557 million in damages after she was struck by a Union Pacific train and suffered major injuries while the woman was reportedly sitting on railroad tracks in downtown Houston in March 2016. The verdict was handed down Friday, March 3, in Harris County 129th District Court. […]
WASHINGTON — The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority aims to return to automated operation of DC Metrorail trains systemwide by this December, the Washington Post reports, reactivating a system shut off after a fatal 2009 collision. The return of Automatic Train Operation will end problems with operators running past red lights, missing stopping points at […]
Rail consulting firm FMW Solutions and several heritage railways combined to recreate a 1970s-era commuter train for the recent Tom Hanks film “A Man Called Otto,” which makes use of equipment and locations of the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railway, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, and Washington D.C. chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. The film’s […]
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen ratified have ratified a contract agreement with Kansas City Southern and the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern in the event of a KCS-Canadian Pacific merger, and with Pittsburgh’s Union Railroad. Ratification of both agreements was announced March 3. The KCS and DM&E agreement is […]
Installing sensors on freight cars is the only way to prevent another disastrous derailment like the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern hazardous materials wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, a wheel bearing expert says. Constantine Tarawneh, a mechanical engineering professor who heads the University Transportation Center for Railway Safety at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, […]
