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FRA_logo_wordsCINCINNATI — The Federal Railroad Administration will soon take a good, hard look at how Amtrak could better serve the Midwest with interstate passenger rail transit, and local leaders are saying it will take Cincinnati one step closer toward daily rail service to Chicago.

In an announcement sent to Congressional leaders last week, the FRA announced it will spend nearly $3 million dollars on a planning initiative to bolster passenger rail service in the Midwest and Southeast regions.

Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana will all have a stake in that plan, along with 10 other states.

Read more from WCPO.com.

Amtrak LogoThe feds have agreed to let Amtrak police communicate with cops and firefighters with access to emergency responder radio networks, Sen. Chuck Schumer said. 

Schumer had denounced what he called a dangerous inability for Amtrak police, like the ones who patrol Penn Station, to communicate during an emergency on the same radio frequency as other first responders like the NYPD. 

Now, the Federal Communications Commission is issuing draft rules that would give the Amtrak Police Department access to the frequency.

Read more from The New York Daily News.

nj_transit_logoNew Jersey Transit officials yesterday announced the agency’s plans for operation during the weekend of Sept. 26-27, when Pope Francis visits Philadelphia.

The agency will change its regular service to accommodate the estimated 2 million people who are expected to travel to see the pope during his two-day visit to Philadelphia. The pope also will visit New York City on Sept. 25 and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24.

NJ Transit will offer a special, limited service on its Atlantic City Rail Line and River Line for people attending the World Meeting of Families and papal visit on Sept. 26-27.

Read more from Progressive Railroading.

BNSF_loco_K.D.McLaughlinNine years ago, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company embarked on a campaign to improve its freight service in and out of the coal-rich Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming.

Times were good, the coal industry was booming and BNSF was getting political pressure to beef up its Powder River Basin infrastructure to help meet the nation’s seemingly endless appetite for fossil-fuel energy.

“The administration and Capitol Hill strongly believed that our investment in our coal network was insufficient and that much more investment was needed if we were to meet the forecast of demand going forward,” Matthew K. Rose, the BNSF executive chairman, recalled the other day at the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s annual conference in Washington. “We invested heavily, and now the capacity and the operations of the Powder River Basin lines are very, very impressive.”

Read more from Missoula Independent.

railyard, train yard; trainsU.S. freight railroad traffic continued its ongoing slump last week, with U.S. railroads reporting a total 562,884 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending Aug. 8, down 0.9 percent compared with the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

U.S. railroads logged 288,460 carloads for the week, down 4.4 percent compared with a year ago. However, the upswing in intermodal business — an ongoing trend this year — also continued last week, with U.S. railroads reporting a total of 274,424 containers and trailers, a 3.1 percent increase compared with 2014’s numbers.

Five of the 10 carload commodity groups posted increases for the week: miscellaneous carloads, up 14.2 percent to 9,117 carloads; farm products, up 8.4 percent to 16,854 carloads; and grain, up 1.5 percent to 21,587 carloads.

Read more from Progressive Railroading.

union_pacific_logoUnion Pacific Railroad said yesterday that it plans to eliminate “several hundred” management jobs in Omaha and elsewhere in the coming months, as the Class I addresses falling cargo volume, according to a report on Omaha.com.

The job cuts, which will come from “terminations and attrition,” are part of “necessary steps to align resources with current business requirements,” according to the article, which cited a company statement.

“For our company’s long-term success, we must take these painful actions to balance workforce levels with today’s business demands,” UP President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Fritz said in the statement.

Read more from Progressive Railroading.

safety_signPHILADELPHIA — Of the 41 railroads required to meet a federal mandate for implementing Positive Train Control (PTC), SEPTA and Amtrak are among the 11 expected to complete the project by the end of this year.

According to a report from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) required by Congress, safety advocates started calling for the nation-wide implementation seven years ago.

“Positive Train Control is the most significant advancement in rail safety technology in more than a century,”  U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in the report. “Simply put: it prevents accidents and saves lives, which is exactly what we seek to do at The Department of Transportation every single day. We will continue to do everything in our power to help railroads install this technology.”

Read more from NJ.com.

After he heard two teenagers mock an elderly man’s house, saying, “Look at this crappy house! They just need to burn it down,” Josh Cyganik, a track inspector for Union Pacific Railroad, posted a message on Facebook, successfully rallying volunteers to help him repaint the man’s home. 

Cyganik wrote on Union Pacific’s website, “I saw the look on Leonard’s face. I could tell the comment bothered him. I don’t think any elderly person should have to endure what I heard from those two kids’ mouths. I kind of stewed about it for a couple days before I decided to do something.”

Read more from Breitbart.com.

Notice of hiring: Keolis Posting for assistant conductors in Boston. 

Keolis logoKeolis Commuter Service, a SMART TD represented property, is currently accepting applications for assistant conductors in Boston. Preference is being given to those with prior railroad operating experience, class 1 conductor certification, and with qualifications on current NORAC rules. Posting dates currently extend to August 20, 2015.

For more information on how to apply, go to www.keoliscs.com/careers. Go to the bottom of the page and click on the “Keolis Commuter Services Job Opening” link.

FRA_logo_words

WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sent its Status of Positive Train Control Implementation report to Congress. The report is mandated by the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee and shows that after seven years and significant assistance from FRA, most railroads will miss the Dec. 31, 2015 positive train control (PTC) implementation deadline that Congress established in 2008.

“Positive Train Control is the most significant advancement in rail safety technology in more than a century. Simply put: it prevents accidents and saves lives, which is exactly what we seek to do at The Department of Transportation every single day. We will continue to do everything in our power to help railroads install this technology,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began calling for train control systems like PTC in 1969, and FRA was involved in establishing PTC standards with stakeholders for more than a decade before the 2008 mandate. Three years before Congress passed the PTC mandate, FRA issued its final rule that established uniform PTC standards for railroads willing to voluntarily install the technology.

PTC prevents train-to-train collisions, over-speed derailments, incursions into established work zone limits and a train going to the wrong track because a switch was left in the wrong position.

In 2008, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act (RSIA), requiring all Class I railroads transporting poisonous-by-inhalation hazardous (PIH) or toxic-by-inhalation hazardous (TIH) materials and all railroads providing passenger service to implement Positive Train Control by Dec. 31, 2015.

FRA has provided significant assistance and support to railroads in order to help them become PTC compliant. Those efforts include:

  • Providing more than $650 million to passenger railroads, including nearly $400 million in Recovery Act funding.
  • Issuing a nearly $1 billion loan to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to implement PTC on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North.
  • Building a PTC testbed in Pueblo, Colorado.
  • Working directly with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to resolve issues related to spectrum use and improve the approval process for PTC communication towers.
  • Dedicating staff to continue work on PTC implementation in March 2010, including establishing a PTC task force.

“The Federal Railroad Administration will continue to use its resources and expertise to help railroads achieve the critical goal to have Positive Train Control implemented,” FRA Acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg said.

Read the full report here.