5 million rides for KC Streetcar
The fare-free KC Streetcar recently logged its 5 millionth ride in less than 2-1/2 years of service.
Breaking News
Brightline goes west, plans LA-Las Vegas high speed rail
With its funding plans clearer, South Florida passenger start-up Brightline is looking west for its next venture into private high speed rail.
Progress Rail notches up Egypt deal
A major new locomotive deal marks the latest chapter in Progress Rail’s long heritage of supplying customers in the Middle East.
Wabtec-GE merger moving ahead
Wabtec Corp. today said it is progressing with its proposed merger with GE Transportation and filed a proxy statement with the SEC.
Ermewa Group selects Amsted Digital Solutions for telematics
Ermewa Group, a European lessor of industrial railcars and tank containers, has contracted with Amsted Digital Solutions for an end-to-end telematics platform for Ermewa’s digitalization initiatives.
Nonprofits gain from UP community grants
The largest U.S. railroad doesn’t just talk about being a good neighbor, it puts its money where its mouth is.
Alstom, Merrill celebrate assembly of first Avelia bodyshell
The first replacement trainset for Amtrak’s high-speed service is just a shell of itself – and that’s good news.
New leadership for key CSX areas
CSX announced a change in leadership for its Merchandise and Intermodal Sales & Marketing teams.
No fare hike as Metra plans funding campaign
Chicago’s Metra will not raise fares in 2019, but could cut services beginning in 2020 if it doesn’t receive state funding.
Stacks and tracks: Intermodal leads AAR weekly freight data
Growing e-commerce and the run-up to end-of-year retail sales helped intermodal shipments gain in the weekly rail freight report from the Association of American Railroads.
Opinion
Unintended consequences
Underlying the ancient aphorism “be careful what you wish for … because you might get it” is the law of unintended consequences.
The folly of hearings and fines
Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono, writing about the most recent congressional hearing on Positive Train Control, as well as attempts by some Members of Congress to arm-twist the Federal Railroad Administration on granting exemptions, opined, “I’ve said it before many times, but it’s always worth repeating: Politics should not be involved in safety. Why engage in politics at this stage of the game? What is the agenda here? Who or what is behind this?”
PTC Political Circus, Act (fill in the blank)
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Railroad Subcommittee has scheduled yet another pointless, time-consuming “status review” hearing on PTC. The people actually doing the implementation work—railroads, suppliers, consultants, FRA—get to spend another day getting peppered with pointless questions from clueless politicians who obviously don’t bother reading reports or doing basic research, and delight in wasting valuable people’s valuable time to prop up their huge egos and give the appearance of actually doing something useful.
TWU’s “crappy boxed lunch,” a PTC paper tiger—and silence
I don’t need to write much about how the Transport Worker’s Union looks upon Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson’s purported quest to eliminate dining car service and dismantle the long-distance train national network. The poster below says it all. It’s funny, to be sure, but for thousands of Amtrak customers, the meaning behind it is sad and dehumanizing.
Amtrak needs to lead by example
If the new Amtrak management team is sincerely trying to improve safety, we ought to all support what they are doing. But if Amtrak is only using safety as a stalking horse to pursue another agenda (such as discontinuing L-D trains, as is believed in many circles), it should be called out on it.