Next-Gen Freight Rail 2024 Conference Roundup

Railway Age’s Next-Gen Freight Rail 2024 Conference took place on March 12, 2024, at the Union League Club of Chicago. The annual event, attended by close to 200, featured Tracy Robinson, President

(Photograph Courtesy of Port of Oswego Authority)

Port of Oswego Lands $4.693MM for Rail Upgrades

New York’s Port of Oswego has received two grants totaling $4.693 million to boost rail capacity, improve rail safety, and support the state’s green energy and electric policies. The funding is part

(Union Railroad Company)

Supply Side: Brandt, Union Railroad Company

Brandt expands its material handling division across Canada. Also, Union Railroad Company opens a new railcar repair facility in the Pittsburgh area.

(Image Courtesy of UD)

Call for Presentations: ‘Big Data’ in Railroad Maintenance Planning 2024

The University of Delaware (UD) is seeking presentations for its “Big Data” in Railroad Maintenance Planning 2024 conference, to be held Dec. 11-12, 2024, in Newark, Del.

Commentary

MxV Rail Opens FAST® Loop Track

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has headquartered rail industry research and test activities in Pueblo, Co., for more than 40 years. Building on this legacy, AAR’s wholly owned subsidiary MxV Rail

​Passengers wait to board a Piedmont train at the station in Greensboro N.C. (NC By Train)

Transit Briefs: MBTA, Brightline, NC By Train

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) issues a request for information (RFI) to gather views on plans to replace its existing Operations and Maintenance (O&M) contract and considers increasing service on the Fairmount Line with a new fleet of electric battery-powered trains. Also, Brightline cuts its 2024 ridership forecast; and NC By Train ridership continues to grow.

BART on April 20 will hold a retirement ceremony and final dispatch of its legacy trains that have been in service for more than half a century. The event, “Riding into History: Final Run of the First Fleet,” will take place at Oakland’s MacArthur Station.

Transit Briefs: BART, Denver RTD, Metra, Sound Transit

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) will fully retire its legacy trains next month and is advancing a systemwide fare gates project. Also, Denver (Colo.) Regional Transportation District (RTD) launches an elevator pilot program and joins the White House’s “Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose” initiative; Chicago’s Metra plans a new layover yard near the McHenry County community; and Seattle’s Sound Transit will test new Link LRV (light rail vehicle) seat material.

MDOT on March 15 awarded CSX a $5 million grant for intermodal terminal improvements in Detroit. (Photograph Courtesy of MDOT via X, formerly known as Twitter)

CSX Lands $5MM for Detroit Intermodal Terminal Improvements

CSX will use a $5 million grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to support equipment upgrades, track work, and paving the dirt and gravel yard at its Detroit Livernois Intermodal Facility in southwest Detroit.

LeAnna Gutierrez Cumber, Chief Strategy Officer, Herzog (Photograph Courtesy of Kelleen Hite Photography)

Herzog Hires Chief Strategy Officer

LeAnna Gutierrez Cumber has joined rail and heavy/highway contractor Herzog as Chief Strategy Officer. She will work to expand the St. Joseph, Mo.-based company’s capabilities and reach, including helping customers obtain project financing.

In August 2021, the STB Office of Environmental Analysis issued a Final EIS for the project, identifying the 88-mile Whitmore Park Alternative as the environmentally preferred route for the Uinta Basin Railway, one of three analyzed. It would extend from two terminus points in northeastern Utah’s Uinta Basin near Myton and Leland Bench to a connection with the existing Union Pacific Provo Subdivision near Kyune (see map above).

Will SCOTUS Review Uinta Basin Railway Case?

Utah’s Seven County Infrastructure Coalition has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision that “derailed” the Uinta Basin Railway project, according to Colorado Newsline. The Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) December

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