Ontario LRT Update
Light rail projects continue to advance in Canada’s Ontario Province, as years of planning, investment and construction gradually come to fruition. And Toronto’s vintage ALRVs have finally been retired.
Commuter/Regional
Advocates of the Nation Unite! We Have Nothing To Lose But Our Trains!
It feels a little strange to paraphrase Karl Marx in this publication, but the circumstances seem to warrant it in this instance. There are advocates all over the country who want an improved Amtrak, at least as they see it, and this writer knows or has known many of them. Unfortunately, sometimes their advocacy serves to undermine the efforts of other advocates, pitting two advocacy camps against each other and furthering the goals of the anti-rail forces who want to make our trains disappear permanently. A recent editorial piece here in Railway Age, a blog post, a magazine story and an advocate’s response to it from earlier this year comprise two cases in point.
Wabtec Taps Septentrio for PTC GPS Receivers
Wabtec has partnered with Septentrio, a Belgian manufacturer of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) equipment, to supply GPS receivers for its GoLINC™ Edge locomotive onboard mobile data center platform, “providing positioning, connectivity and data storage, and enhancing Positive Train Control (PTC) with the adoption of even higher-precision positioning technology.”
NJT Hoboken 2016, the Final 39 Seconds
The news of the day the other day read “Train Engineer in Fatal 2016 Hoboken Train Crash Wins Back Job with NJT.” The locomotive engineer, Thomas Gallagher, had been dismissed after over-running the end of Track 5 in Hoboken Terminal. The resulting collision damaged the supports for the train shed roof. A woman not on the train but walking on a platform was killed as she was struck by the collapsing structure.
Lesson Learned? Perhaps, But Too Late For Some
A recently issued arbitration decision directs New Jersey Transit (NJT) to re-employ Thomas Gallagher, the locomotive engineer who in 2016 ran an NJT commuter train into a bumping post and onto the platform at Hoboken Terminal. While the arbitrator found that the engineer “… bore some responsibility for the crash,” she also found that, “… NJ Transit had failed to follow its own procedures for screening engineers in his case.”
LIRR Debuts M-9s
After roughly two years’ worth of delays, MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) has taken the wraps off its new M-9 EMU (electric multiple-unit) commuter railcars. The first eight-car trainset departed Sept. 11 at 6:50 am from Huntington.
Transit Oriented Development – Chicago
RAILWAY AGE, SEPTEMBER 2019 ISSUE – Effectively leveraging rail infrastructure: Dynamic, walkable, higher-density urban neighborhoods in proximity to transit can improve quality of life. Here’s how it’s done in the Windy City.
The Official Railway Interchange 2019 Mobile App Is Here
With Railway Interchange 2019 less than two weeks away, it’s time to download the official mobile app of the largest Rail Industry Conference and Exhibition in North America.
Muallem joins RailPros
Basem Muallem, P.E., a Caltrans veteran, has joined RailPros as Vice President and Inland Empire Area Manager and statewide Transportation Lead for California.
PTC 87% Done: FRA
With 16 months left until the Congressionally mandated Dec. 31, 2020 deadline for full implementation of PTC (Positive Train Control), the U.S. railroad industry is drawing close, according to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Second-Quarter 2019 PTC Progress Report.