The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Partnership for New York City announced the second round of the Transit Tech Lab, described as “an accelerator program that allows the MTA and other public transportation agencies to explore innovative, private sector solutions to problems they face in operating the region’s subway, bus and commuter rail services.”
Despite significant improvements over several decades, deaths resulting from highway-rail grade crossing incidents and illegal trespassing continue to account for about 95% of all rail-related fatalities in the U.S. annually. The number of fatalities has plateaued over the last ten years with a combined average of 750 per year excluding suicides. For the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), identifying effective and innovative ways to prevent these fatalities is a top priority, and the agency is seeking to expand and strengthen longstanding partnerships with railroads, states, communities, law enforcement and others to adopt solutions more quickly.
As someone who has personally spent their whole career championing the application of new technology solutions to enhance the safety and operational efficiency of mass transit systems, I can relate to, and indeed be inspired by, much of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s presentation on Sept. 20, 2019 at the Cornell Tech Conference:
WATCHING WASHINGTON, RAILWAY AGE OCTOBER 2019 ISSUE: Prepare for the oldest lawfully established permanent floating craps game in America—national wage, benefits and work rules negotiations between most Class I freight railroads and their labor unions.
As you read this market view, the planning for year 2020 railroad capital work is well under way.
As exemplified by Yogi Berra, the continuing incidence of vehicles violating grade crossings and causing accidents has been easily explained over the years by DOT, FHA, FRA and trucking/bus firms as “we made too many mistakes.”
The Andersons, Inc. has chosen RailcarRx as the railcar repair software provider for its Rail Group.
RAILWAY AGE at RAILWAY INTERCHANGE 2019: Progress Rail General Manager Advanced Rail Technology Sammy Akif discusses how the industry’s technology is evolving at an almost-exponential pace with Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono.
RAILWAY TRACK & STRUCTURES at RAILWAY INTERCHANGE 2019: Collins Aerospace, a technology company that provides a variety of services to commercial and business aviation, military and defense, space flight, and airports is now in the railroad business – well, sort of. They offer positive train control (PTC) solutions, rail data, and analytics services, along with other technology solutions tailored for railroads.
RAILWAY AGE at RAILWAY INTERCHANGE 2019: Trainyard Tech LLC President and CEO John Aliberti discusses the latest improvements to the CLASSMASTER™ yard control system with Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono
