North America – Page 15
-
NewsSouthwestern Ontario passenger rail enhancement study commissioned
CANADA: The federal government has appointed two consultancies to study options to improve passenger train frequencies and on-time performance and to shorten travel times in southwestern Ontario. CPCS Transcom and WSP will examine present and future demand, evaluate existing routes, identify options for new alignments as ...
-
Metro Report InternationalMBTA General Manager Poftak to step down
USA: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Steve Poftak is to leave the Boston area transit agency in January.
-
Metro Report InternationalNew York MTA orders more Subway cars
USA: New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has approved an order for Kawasaki Rail Car to supply 640 more R211 metro cars from early 2025 for use on the Subway’s A and C lines and the Staten Island Railway. The order announced on October 24 has been ...
-
NewsNew owners to expand services at Alberta Midland Railway Terminal
CANADA: Rail freight terminal operator Alpenglow Rail Services and investor Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure have acquired Alberta Midland Railway Terminal Ltd, which provides wagon staging and storage-in-transit for industrial customers in the the greater Edmonton region. The 120 ha AMRT site 30 km east of ...
-
NewsCalifornia high speed rail station design contract awarded
USA: The California High-Speed Rail Authority has awarded Foster+Partners and Arup a $35m contract to provide design services for Merced, Fresno, Kings/Tulare and Bakersfield stations on the initial 275 route-km segment of the line. The 30-month contract includes identifying right-of-way and utility relocation requirements. A separately ...
-
NewsArrow commuter service launched in California
USA: San Bernardino County Transportation Authority’s Arrow passenger service has launched, providing an hourly link between San Bernardino-Downtown station on the Los Angeles region’s Metrolink commuter network and the University of Redlands. Revenue services on the 14·5 km line began on October 24 following a ribbon ...
-
Metro Report InternationalHitachi Rail’s Maryland rolling stock factory under construction
USA: Hitachi Rail has unveiled the final designs for the $70m factory being built in Maryland to serve the North American rolling stock market. The first contract to be fulfilled from the site in Hagerstown will be a March 2021 order to produce 256 Series 8000 ...
-
In depthViewpoint: California’s high speed programme is back on track
After years of twists and turns, the most ambitious and controversial high speed rail project in America is moving purposefully towards fruition. Andy Kunz, President & CEO of the US High Speed Rail Association, and Ezra Silk, Co-Founder of the US High Speed Rail Coalition, explain how the programme has reached this point.
-
NewsGrant backs Railroading 101 pre-employment training programme
USA: The US Department of Labor has awarded Delaware Department of Transportation a $11m grant to fund a ‘Railroading 101’ pre-employment training programme to be delivered with Amtrak. This aims to improve job opportunities in the state, build a more diverse rail workforce and provide participants ...
-
NewsOmniTRAX buys San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad
USA: OmniTRAX has entered into a contract to purchase the assets of the San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad in Colorado out of bankruptcy. The transaction announced on October 12 is expected to close in late 2022. The SLRG will be OmniTRAX’s 26th rail operation, taking ...
-
Metro Report InternationalK Line light rail route opens in Los Angeles
USA: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority opened the first phase of the light rail K Line on October 7, running on a partly underground alignment from Expo/Crenshaw to Westchester/Veterans with seven stops. Previously known as the Crenshaw/LAX Line, the north-south route ...
-
NewsCalifornia freight complex planned to get more containers on to trains
USA: BNSF has announced plans to develop a $1·5bn rail freight facility at Barstow in southern California with the aim of increasing the use of rail instead of road transport to move containers out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. BNSF told Railway ...
-
NewsUnion Pacific to trial diesel-battery shunting locomotives
USA: Union Pacific and locomotive control technology supplier ZTR have agreed to co-operate on the production of diesel-battery hybrid locomotives, which can powered by a diesel engine or a battery back which would be charged using the engine or a lineside supply. Primarily intended for use ...
-
Metro Report InternationalToronto’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT project delayed
CANADA: Completion of Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown light rail line will be further delayed, transport agency Metrolinx has announced. ‘We had expected the Eglinton Crosstown LRT to be fully built, thoroughly tested and in service this fall in accordance with our project agreement with Crosslinx Transit Solutions, ...
-
NewsSix-year wagon supply agreement
USA: Leasing company GATX has awarded Trinity Industries a contract to supply 15 000 wagons in 2023-28, with an option to order up to 500 more each year. Trinity will deliver 1 200 tank wagons per year in 2024-28, while the remaining 9 000 wagons will ...
-
NewsLouisiana short line acquisition agreement
USA: Patriot Rail has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Delta Southern Railroad, which operates two sections of line in Louisiana totalling around 60 km. The Monroe – Sterlington and Tallulah – Lake Providence lines serve the Mississippi river ports of Madison Parish and Lake ...
-
NewsCanadian rail industry to assist Ukraine
UKRAINE: A working group to support the reconstruction of Ukrainian transport infrastructure and the resilience of rail assets has been formed by the governments of Ukraine and Canada, national railway Ukraliznytsia, and the Railway Association of Canada on behalf of Canadian railways.
-
NewsNorth American and European rail supply industry associations sign MoU
INNOTRANS: The US Railway Supply Institute, the Canadian Association of Railway Suppliers and European supply industry association UNIFE have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening future collaboration. The three organisations said the MoU signed at InnoTrans in Berlin would begin a new phase in ...
-
Metro Report InternationalMBTA introduces online applications for reduced fare cards
USA: People with disabilities, including low vision, can now apply online rather than in person for smart cards providing free or reduced fares on Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority services around Boston. The process is available in English, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese, and is accessible to screen ...
-
Metro Report InternationalDenver rail site visits now open to book ahead of SmartTransit West
NORTH AMERICA: On October 24, attendees to SmartTransit West being hosted by Railway Gazette Group in Denver, Colorado, will be offered the opportunity to join an exclusive tour provided by local operator RTD giving insight into the challenges of the day to day maintenance of rail vehicles.