North America – Page 87
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NewsHonolulu awards metro stations contract
USA: Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has awarded a contract to build the three westernmost stations on the Honolulu light metro line, it announced on July 16. Nan Inc. submitted the lowest bid to build Hoopili, University of Hawaii West Oahu and East Kapolei stations. Its bid of $56·1m ...
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NewsCalifornia high speed rail delivery partner appointed
USA: California High Speed Rail Authority has appointed a consortium led by Parsons Brinckerhoff, and including Network Rail Consulting and management consultancy LeighFisher, as its rail delivery partner. The contract for project management and integration services runs to 2022 and has an estimated total value of up to $700m. Network ...
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NewsVirginia Railway Express operating contract extended
USA: On July 14 Keolis announced that Virginia Railway Express had exercised an option to extend its contract to operate Washington DC commuter services for a further five years. The contract is worth $21m in the first year, including train maintenance, and has an option for an additional extension of ...
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NewsChinese manufacturer invests in US wagon venture
USA: China’s CRRC Corp has taken a minority stake in a joint venture formed by start-up Vertex Rail Technologies and private equity partners to manufacture wagons in Wilmington, North Carolina. Vertex Railcar Corp plans to produce ‘innovative’ tank cars branded Generation Next which would meet the DOT-117 safety standards ...
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NewsSENSR acquired by Georgetown Rail Equipment Co
USA: Georgetown Rail Equipment Company has acquired structural monitoring equipment manufacturer SENSR from Reference LLC. ‘We are very excited to be able to expand our product offerings to the rail industry and beyond by acquiring a very key product that is showing itself to be important and valuable to the ...
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NewsMassachusetts buys CSX line
USA: Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced on June 17 that it had completed the acquisition of the 34 km Framingham Secondary Rail Line from CSX Corp for $23m. This is intended to support current freight services and protect the corridor for potential passenger use. The line carries a limited passenger ...
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NewsNational Steel Car to supply 700 potash wagons
CANADA: National Steel Car has been awarded a C$70m contract to supply 700 wagons to Canpotex, a marketing and export company which is jointly owned by three potash producers. The wagons will be used to transport potash from Saskatchewan to ports in Canada and the USA. National Steel Car has ...
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NewsCSX agrees Louisville & Indiana enhancement
USA: A $100m agreement for CSX to upgrade and operate over the Louisville & Indiana Railroad’s 170 km corridor between Indianapolis, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky, was finalised on June 19. CSX will purchase the easement for $10m, and the operating agreement provides for $90m in infrastructure improvements on the former ...
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NewsTEX Rail orders Stadler Flirt DMUs
USA: Fort Worth Transportation Authority signed a $100m contract on June 9 for Stadler Bussnang to supply eight Flirt 3 diesel multiple-units for the future TEX Rail commuter line, with options for more. This follows Federal Transit Administration approval for the engineering phase of the TEX Rail project. A ...
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NewsToronto airport rail link opens
CANADA: The UP Express service between Toronto’s Union Station and Pearson International Airport was launched on June 6. ‘This is a great day to see UP Express service open and Toronto join the ranks of other global cities’, said Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, Steven Del Duca. ‘It will give people ...
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NewsGO Transit driving cars unveiled
CANADA: Ontario’s Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca visited GO Transit's Willowbrook depot on June 2 to unveil the first of 67 double-deck driving cars ordered by regional transport authority Metrolinx to increase capacity around on Toronto commuter services. Metrolinx has ordered a total of 127 coaches to an updated ...
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NewsRail Connection wagon leasing joint venture formed
USA: Industrial and transport sector investment advisor ITE Management and the Rail Connection Inc subsidiary of wagon repair and maintenance company Appalachian Railcar Services have formed a joint venture to acquire, lease and operate wagons. The companies said the Rail Connection LLC joint venture would ‘focus on ...
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NewsPTC installation by December ‘not possible’, warns APTA
USA: The requirement to install Positive Train Control on all commuter routes by December 31 2015 under the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 ‘was never a realistic deadline set by Congress’ and ‘is not possible’, American Public Transportation Association President & CEO Michael Melaniphy said in a statement issued ...
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NewsNew York PTC programme gets $967m FRA loan
USA: A $967·1m Federal Railroad Administration loan to fund Positive Train Control installation on New York MTA’s Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road commuter networks reached financial close on May 6. It is the largest loan to date under the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing programme. MTA will ...
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NewsCN announces C$2·7bn capital programme for 2015
NORTH AMERICA: On May 6 CN announced plans to invest C$2·7bn during 2015. ‘With the work season now well underway, CN is embarking on a large number of maintenance and construction projects to ensure we continue to run a safe railway and play a continuing role as a true backbone ...
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NewsECP brakes mandated as tank car standards are tightened
NORTH AMERICA: Electronically-controlled pneumatic braking will be required on unit trains carrying high-hazard flammable materials after January 2021, under a new rule announced in Washington DC on May 1 by US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt. Other measures to improve safety include enhanced construction standards ...
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NewsHopperPopper helps unload wagons
FREIGHT: The HopperPopper from Pneumat Systems assists in the unloading of dried grains and meal products from wagons by combining compressed air blast technology with precise hydraulic controls. The wirelessly controlled HopperPopper allows operators to position a hydraulically- driven blast probe in the hopper compartment, blasting out bulk ...
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NewsTank wagon coating trial
USA: Industrial Solutions USA has completed a 12-month trial of Nanovere Technologies’s Nano-Clear Industrial coating on GATX tank wagons. NCI is designed to penetrate into the pores of the paint, enhancing the underlying colour and improving UV, abrasion, corrosion and chemical resistance to extend the interval between repainting. NCI ...
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NewsX-ray backscatter looks deep inside sleepers
USA: Georgetown Rail Equipment Co and the University of Florida’s Nuclear Engineering Department have developed Aurora Xi, a method of using X-ray backscatter technology to look deep inside sleepers to reveal internal flaws which traditional inspections might not discover. As well as identifying decay in wooden sleepers and cracks in ...
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NewsCN announces Western Canada feeder line investment
CANADA: CN announced a multi-year programme to invest C$500m in infrastructure improvements on feeder rail lines in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan on April 16. CN said freight volumes in Western Canada have increased by more than 50% over the past five years, and the lines are handling rising volumes of ...