Joseph H. Boardman, former Amtrak President and CEO and Federal Railroad Administrator, and Railway Age’s 2014 Railroader of the Year, died March 7, 2019, of a stroke while vacationing with his family in Florida. He was 70.
Two of the railroad industry’s most experienced attorneys, Kevin Sheys and Ed Fishman, have joined the Washington D.C. office of law firm Hogan Lovells, in the Global Transportation Regulatory practice.
“HOW SAFE ARE AMERICA’S RAILROADS? Lesley Stahl reports on a recent string of crashes on U.S. railroads and the delay in implementing life-saving technology that could have prevented them.” Oh brother. I think you know what CBS 60 Minutes reported on March 3. It’s not pretty. But in my humble opinion, the rail industry can take most of the responsibility for what turned out to be a damaging report, because no one in the rail industry wanted to go on camera. More on that later. Here, after the fact unfortunately, is my attempt to shed light on some of the misconceptions and negative picture of our industry the 60 Minutes program perpetuated.
New Jersey Transit announced Feb. 27 that it will restore service on the Atlantic City Rail Line (ACRL) and the “Dinky”—a short shuttle line between Princeton Junction on Amtrak‘s Northeast Corridor (NEC) and a point close to downtown Princeton—but riders will still have to wait 85 more days to get their trains back.
Chicago’s Metra has awarded a $70.9 million contract to Progress Rail for 15 remanufactured and repurposed diesel-electric locomotives to modernize its ageing fleet. The contract includes options for up to 27 additional units, which will be purchased if funding becomes available.
DJ Products has just released the RailCarCaddy Rail Car Mover, a battery powered, compact mover “that makes moving railcars weighing up to 200,000 pounds entirely effortless, safer and easier,” the company says.
It’s not much like the high-speed rail lines in Europe, Japan, and China, but locals still refer to it as the “PATCO Speedline” and have done so for the past 50 years. It travels its 14.2-mile route in 27 minutes, which averages slightly less than 32 miles per hour—not bad for local rail transit.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have—some would say surprisingly—worked together and announced a 10-point plan to transform and fund the MTA.
Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) has named Karalyn Moreira as Executive Director of Business Development. She joins TTCI after spending the past 17 years in Brazil as Commercial Director for Scomi Engineering, Bhd., and as Director of Business Development Operations for HKM Solucoes Tecnologicas.
Wabtec Corporation has completed its merger with GE Transportation. The combined company, which is expected to boast revenues greater than $8 billion in 2019, has a compelling growth profile—especially as market conditions improve in its industries. Wabtec announced the transaction completion at the same time as its 4Q18 and full-year 2018 financials.