Thursday morning rail news:
— A magnitude 5.7 earthquake near Salt Lake City shut down light rail service and disrupted FrontRunner commuter service Wednesday, but service has resumed today with some residual delays, the Utah Transit Authority reports. The earthquake, which struck at 7:09 a.m., caused widespread damage, but no serious injuries were reported, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
— Citing coronavirus concerns, the Federal Railroad Administration has cancelled three public hearings over the Texas Central high speed rail project, the Dallas Business Journal reports. The hearings had been scheduled in Dallas on March 31; Navasota, Texas, on April 1; and Houston on April 2. An FRA spokesman told the Business Journal that the agency is considering other options for public hearings.
— Two parents have been charged with reckless endangering and trespassing after an incident captured on video in which they and five children had to scramble to avoid being hit by a Norfolk Southern train in Pennsylvania. Herald-Mail Media reports that Greencastle, Pa., police charged Albert Lowell Horst and Brenda Kay Horst of Waynesboro, Pa., after the Feb. 23 incident captured by Virtual Railfan cameras.
— Metro-North Railroad has fully activated positive train control on two of its three primary routes, railroad president Caty Rinaldi announced. The technology is now in operation on all 74 miles of the Hudson Line from Grand Central Terminal to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and the 82-mile Harlem Line from Grand Central to Wassiac, the Rockland/Westchester Journal News reports. Still to be completed are 62 miles on the New Haven Line.
— Shortline holding company OmniTRAX has named Robert Walker as chief financial officer, the company announced in a press release. He reports to CFO Kevin Shuba and is responsible for corporate finance, treasury, financial planning, and analysis, tax, and pricing. Walker has spent the last 10 years as chief operating and financial officer at The Madison Companies, a Colorado investment firm.
