New green, yellow and red color-coded icons on New Jersey Transit’s mobile app indicate, respectively, light, medium and heavy ridership conditions on the agency’s trains and buses. NJT said it has launched this new feature in a pilot program “that allows rail and bus customers to see how full their ride is before they step on board, making a better-informed personal decision that optimizes their comfort level as they return to the system.”
RAILWAY AGE, SEPTEMBER 2020 ISSUE: The average freight railroad conducts thousands of interline settlements representing a significant portion of business revenue. Yet, the push to drive down working capital requirements, reduce outstanding and overdue claims mired in lengthy dispute resolution cycles and accelerate revenue recognition faces headwinds related to limitations of legacy interline settlements in most Class I, II and III railroads.
RAILWAY AGE, SEPTEMBER 2020 ISSUE: Whether it’s the track structure or the equipment that operates on it, there are many things that the naked eye cannot readily see. Increasingly, machine vision technology is becoming the best way to identify potential flaws before they lead to failures.
Despite the dramatic nature of railroad accidents, conveying goods and passengers by rail is the safest form of ground transportation when compared to other modes. Railway owner-operators are continually finding and implementing new safety innovations that could help prevent accidents and disruptions to service.
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye sent warning letters to MTA’s 11 largest suppliers on Sept. 17. “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted a horrific toll in human, social and economic terms across the nation,” he noted in the letters. “I am writing to alert you that because of this financial devastation, many current and all future contracts are in jeopardy without an injection of $12 billion in emergency federal aid.”
The Railway Supply Institute (RSI) has moved its 2020 education conference online. Now open to all rail industry professionals, RSI 2020 Online Education Sessions will run September 21 through October 2 and feature two to three webinars each weekday.
Bentley Systems’ has released OpenGround Cloud, allowing infrastructure project teams to manage and access current and historical geotechnical data for the modeling, simulation and analysis of ground conditions.
CN has signed on with Commtrex to offer shippers one-stop access to its rail network and transloading distribution services across Canada and the U.S.
MTA Long Island Rail Road riders can now access real-time ridership data for 100% of the fleet. The TrainTime app—revamped in June to allow riders to plan trips based on crowding data for the electric multiple-unit fleet—now includes diesel fleet data so riders can maximize social distancing for any commute.
Duos Technologies will institute increased automated mechanical inspections at one of its existing Railcar Inspection Portals (rip®) along a Class I network under a $1.3 million contract.
