The Jan. 15, 2020 New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority public hearing for its proposed federal fiscal year 2020 capital program of projects confirms there continues to be good news from Washington concerning real financial support. Several million commuters will see some of the benefits.
CSX’s first Train Inspection Portal (TIP), southeast of Waycross, Ga., aims to usher in a new era of railroad safety technology.
Trinity Industries, Inc. has named E. Jean Savage Chief Executive Officer and President, effective Feb. 17, 2020. Savage, 55 and a member of the company’s board of directors since November 2018, comes to Trinity from the Surface Mining & Technology division of Caterpillar Inc., where she has been Vice President. She will remain a member of the Trinity board.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) U.K. subsidiaries Freightliner and Pentalver have selected Tideworks Technology® Inc. (Tideworks) for their rail and container network terminal operating system (TOS). Freightliner and Pentalver are the U.K.’s largest intermodal rail freight provider and leading container logistics supplier, respectively.
OmniTRAX, an affiliate of The Broe Group, has promoted Sergio Sabatini to President and Gord Anutooshkin to Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Sabatini reports to OmniTRAX CEO Kevin Shuba and Anutooshkin to Sabatini.
New Jersey Transit is upgrading its River LINE DLRVs (diesel light rail vehicles) with power plants from Cummins that adhere to current U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Tier 4 emissions standards for non-road engines. The River LINE fleet consists of 20 Swiss-built Stadler Rail GTW (Gelenktriebwagen, or “articulated railcar”) 2/6 DMUs (diesel multiple-units). The replacement engines are expected to reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions by at least 57%, lower particulate matter (PM) by 90%, and result in fuel savings of 10% to 15%.
Three recently released Cowen and Company reports—Fourth-Quarter 2019 Rail Equipment Survey and Rail Shipper Survey, and Rail Estimates—indicates that, though times are tough and rail freight traffic in most sectors has not begun to recover, “the sky isn’t falling.” Here’s what Cowen Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason H. Seidl, along with analysts Matt Elkott and Adam Kramer, see it.
Freight rail traffic has historically been a useful gauge of broader economic activity. The fundamentals of a strong U.S. economy were present in 2019: solid job numbers, strong consumer spending, low interest rates, economic expansion and low inflation. But despite all the bright spots, one thing remained certain last year: trade policy created uncertainty. This uncertainty affected multiple sectors of the economy.
The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) recently announced that Tri-Rail recorded a calendar year ridership record in 2019 with 4,495,039 passengers, which is a 1.8% increase from the previous year.
The Los Angele Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is considering various financing options, including public-private partnerships (PPPs), in an effort to close major funding gaps as the city looks to expand its rail transit network ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games.
