Calabrese joins Focused Technology Solutions
Forty-year transit industry veteran Joe Calabrese is joining Focused Technology Solutions, a division of The Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company, as Senior Advisor, effective April 1.
High Performance
FTA stymies Gateway tunnels with “medium-low” rating
The $13 billion Hudson River tunnel project, aimed at building two new rail tunnels between New York and New Jersey, is again facing funding problems after federal authorities announced a rating that means the project remains “ineligible for critical grant funding.”
“At Amtrak, It’s No Longer 1950”: An analysis
First, a salute to Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank Wilner for finally obtaining an interview with a senior officer at Amtrak, Executive Vice President Stephen Gardner. From my perspective, this article offers interesting revelations; yet, it’s still like pulling a thread from a sweater to slowly unwind the backstory as to why Amtrak conducts itself in such a secluded, secretive style, operating in a bubble seemingly oblivious to expressed concerns.
TOD: How New York got it right
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has gained prominence in boardrooms around the country with the increasing urbanization of society. The TOD terminology used by real estate developers, transit agencies and political leaders is “development that focuses on dense, mixed-use communities, integrated into a neighborhood within a reasonable walk of high-order mass transit—generally high-frequency rail or bus lines.” It serves as a way of capturing the value of large mass transit earlier in a project’s life cycle, thereby increasing the sustainability of the TOD.
Railway Age’s 2019 10 Under 40
One of the North American railway industry’s most valuable assets is the vast amount of institutional knowledge held by its people. Railroading, freight or passenger, is a complex undertaking, from many angles. We owe these young people, and countless others like them, the best of who and what we are. Railway Age and Nick Little, Director of Railway Education at Michigan State University’s Center for Railway Research and Education, have selected our Fast Trackers–10 Under 40 honorees. These rising industry stars are making an impact in their respective fields, and represent the “best of the best.”
At Amtrak, it’s no longer 1950
WATCHING WASHINGTON, MARCH 2019 – Amtrak seemingly operates in the shadow of a Bat Signal over Gotham—that specially modified searchlight displaying the emblem of a bat, and intended, when lighted, to summon superhero Batman. Rather than Batman, the Amtrak sentinel, with a passenger train emblem, summons self-appointed management surrogates—hopefully helpful railfans; well-intentioned but cash-strapped lawmakers from federal, state and local government; and, surely, the snoopy press corps.
Jenkins joins HNTB LA office
Thomas Jenkins, P.E., has joined HNTB Corp. as a national transit/rail consultant.
Texas Central vs. California: Imported vs. homegrown
Passenger rail in the United States has fallen a long way since it was the dominant mode of long-distance transportation. In a world of competition among cars, planes and trains, the point-to-point functionality of automobiles and the speed of planes means that most trains with existing technologies cannot compete.
Joe Boardman, Dec. 23, 1948 – March 7, 2019
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.
Sheys, Fishman join Hogan Lovells
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.