The Commonwealth of Virginia and Norfolk Southern (NS) have finalized a definitive agreement that will increase existing Amtrak service to Roanoke and expand service to the New River Valley, they reported on Jan. 13.
The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have developed a new Rail Escort Vehicle to transport security personnel during the shipment of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste; it is on its way to the Transportation Technology Center, Inc., (TTCI) for the final phase of testing.
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) riders have spoken. The transit agency on Jan. 12 unveiled their exterior graphic-design choice for the 254 rapid transit cars that will start arriving from Stadler in 2023.
The Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority’s (WMATA) 7000-series rapid transit cars will be out of service for another 90 days, the agency reported on Jan. 13; it said it is acquiring technology to measure the cars’ wheelsets, which have been under inspection since an Oct. 12, 2021 Blue Line train derailment.
RAILWAY AGE, JANUARY 2022 ISSUE: The Automated Cracked Wheel Detector System safely detects wheels with internal defects, without interrupting revenue service.
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains don’t start rolling until around 5 a.m., but Yolanda Barbosa and Natalie Robinson are typically well into their shift before then. They are two of the BART Police Department’s new Crisis Intervention Specialists (CIS).
RAILWAY AGE, JANUARY 2022 ISSUE: Amtrak’s plans for leveraging IIJA to modernize and expand service.
CN reported on Jan. 13 that it will ask the Surface Transportation Board (STB) “to condition any approval of a Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger on the divestiture of KCS lines from Kansas City, Missouri to Springfield and East St. Louis, Illinois (the Springfield Line) to CN, pursuant to the STB’s statutory authority to order ‘the divestiture of parallel tracks’ as a merger condition.” CP immediately responded, negatively.
RAILWAY AGE, JANUARY 2022 ISSUE: The Railroader of the Year Award, our 59th annual, goes to two exemplary and visionary North American rail industry leaders: Canadian Pacific President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Creel, and Kansas City Southern President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick J. Ottensmeyer. The two are reconfiguring the North American rail landscape by completing, if all goes as planned, what will be the first Class I merger in more than 20 years, and creating North America’s first transnational freight railroad, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, or CPKC.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Operation Lifesaver (OLI), Amtrak on Jan. 12 released into service a specially painted P-42 diesel, emblazoned on both sides with the message, “See Tracks? Think Train!”
