VIA Rail’s Existential Problem? It Never Existed
Cynthia Garneau on May 20 gave up VIA Rail Canada leadership with two years remaining in her nominal tenure.
Regulatory
WMATA 7000-Series Cars to Return This Summer
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has reported that its 7000-series railcars are on schedule to resume service “later this summer,” after being sidelined last year due to a derailment.
FRA Issues FY21 Safety Enforcement Report
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has released its annual enforcement report summarizing the regulatory compliance inspections and audits conducted in the past fiscal year by FRA or state inspectors participating in FRA’s rail safety program, as well as the civil penalty enforcement actions arising from them.
CBC ‘Welcomes’ Face-to-Face Mediation
Leaders of the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition (CBC) Rail Labor Unions* say they are hopeful the in-person mediation sessions scheduled for May 24-26 before the National Mediation Board (NMB) “will help to settle their ongoing national contract dispute.”
Threat Lurks to STB’s Independence
Once upon a time, conservative jurists were the best friends to federal regulatory agencies such as the Surface Transportation Board (STB). When those agencies pushed the boundaries of their decision-making independence, federal courts considered them experts in their field and accordingly deferred to their interpretations of the statutes they administered.
Clear Evidence: Near-Zero PSR Service Improvements
Let’s admit it, and fix the expectation: U.S. Class I railroads have not experienced robust service recovery. Yet railroad optimism and expectations of satisfied customers persists. Why?
MxV Rail Breaks Ground on First Test Loop
Construction is under way at MxV Rail’s new railroad testing facility at the PuebloPlex campus in Colorado, which is set to open this fall.
AAR to STB: No ‘Quick Fix’ to Service Problems
“The Class I railroads recognize that their recent service performance has not met many customers’ expectations,” the Association of American Railroads (AAR) wrote in a May 18 filing to the Surface Transportation Board (STB). But while the STB’s May 5 decision to release updated, more-comprehensive rules for reporting performance and employment metrics “reflects an understandable desire for quick action,” it was “not issued in a vacuum,” AAR pointed out.
Transport Canada Updates Operating, Safety Rules
Transport Canada has approved revisions to the Canadian Rail Operating Rules and the Locomotive Inspection and Safety Rules to reduce the risk of uncontrolled train movements.
Rail Insights 2022: Oberman, Itzkoff to Talk Freight Service
At Railway Age’s Eighth Annual Rail Insights Conference, to be held virtually June 23, Surface Transportation Board Chair Martin J. Oberman will cover freight railroad service, reciprocal switching, supply chain congestion, labor shortages and Amtrak access—among the controversial issues the Board has been addressing during recent hearings.