Cowen and Company’s 3Q18 rail shipper survey says that shippers are anticipating price increases of 3.7% over the next 6-12 months, down from 4.7% in 2Q18, but in line with the survey’s long-term average, according to Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason Seidl.
A pair of Texas ports will benefit from federal economic aid aimed at bolstering recovery following Hurricane Harvey.
Cowen and Company’s 3Q18 rail equipment survey indicates that the railcar market recovery remains intact, even though the survey’s results were “somewhat mixed,” according to analyst Matt Elkott. The percentage of shippers planning to order railcars “inched up very slightly, while order sizes decreased a bit. We expect strong 3Q18 orders, driven partly by crude tank car and intermodal equipment demand.”
WSP USA has appointed Lindsay Wood Transit and Rail Market Lead for company’s Texas-Mountain region, promotion from her prior role as Transit and Rail Manager, Texas, in which she led project and technical services roles for such clients as Capital Metro, Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, Texas Department of Transportation, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Gulf Coast Rail District.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Board allocated $10.1 million to the Tri-Valley – San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority at its Sept. 26 meeting to complete environmental work and initial design of the Valley Link rail project.
Texas Central selected state-owned Renfe of Spain as strategic partner for operation and maintenance of the Dallas–Houston high-speed line.
CSX Board Chairman Edward J. Kelly III announced his retirement retirement effective January 2019, following the release of the company’s fourth quarter earnings.
The US High Speed Rail Association announced that Dan Richard has been selected as the new Chair of the USHSR Advisory Board.
An all-new battery-powered electric locomotive highlights a list of low-emissions projects to be implemented by BNSF in Central California.
A Midwest short line operator will see grade crossings upgraded, per plans by a state transportation office.
Timely accident investigations are critical to the future of safe transportation operations, for a number of reasons. First, they must begin expeditiously. As the clock runs, evidence can deteriorate or become corrupted. Witness memories of events fade, sometimes to the detriment of actual fact-finding. Second, the search for cause factors and efforts to remediate are delayed, leaving people and property at risk of more accidents and incidents caused by the same risk factors. Third, as time passes, other accidents and incidents demand investigation, putting a strain on investigatory resources.
Major train derailments and collisions can be spectacular. Their economic and environmental consequences are considerable, and they kill and injure people. In response, over the past 40 years, pressed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Congress (by statute in 2008) the railroads have been implementing Positive Train Control (PTC) systems to reduce the potential for these crashes.
Railway Age editor William C. Vantuono wondered recently what exactly Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson is trying to accomplish by truncating long-distance routes, replacing fresh dining-car meals with MREs*, and replacing station agents with nobody.
Watching Washington, October 2018: From operating plans to marketing to pricing, change is relentless in railroading. Where railroaders once every five years looked with suspicion at all aspects of their system, and made substantial changes after 10, scientific advances, new processes and innovative applications propelled by unremitting competition have put the transformation process on steroids.
Perhaps former Congressman John Mica had a point, after all, to claim that Amtrak operates like a relic of the Soviet Kremlin? That, and knowing we have the best politicians money can buy, tells a clear story: Beyond the history of outrageous corporate failures due to illegal manipulation of their financial data, like Enron, is there any other example of a company operating in such an egregious manner as Amtrak that defies Congress, lies to states, and spits in the face of the public interest, all the while scooping up even more taxpayer funding?
