ERIE, Pa. – General Electric Company signed a contract to supply 310 new Evolution Series locomotives for Kazakhstan’s national railway company, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ).
The locomotives will be used to help KTZ move record amounts of goods and materials by rail, driven in large part to strong demand for transit, intermodal traffic and petroleum products.
“By […]

ATLANTA – Richard J. McCrillis has been named general manager and Chief Executive officer of the authority of MARTA.
He has served as interim general manager/CEO since January.
“Richard McCrillis brings a wealth of experience to the table and is the clear choice to lead MARTA at this critical time in our history,“ MARTA Board Chairman Edmund […]

CARBONDALE, Ill – Illinois’ partnership with Amtrak will more than double state-sponsored passenger rail service downstate, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich announced.
Beginning Oct. 30, state-supported roundtrips will increase from three daily roundtrips to seven daily roundtrips between Chicago and downstate destinations – including the Saluki, the new Chicago-Carbondale train.
The expanded service comes after news that all […]

WASHINGTON – Thirty-seven states experienced fewer train derailments and collisions during the first half of 2006 as compared to the same period last year Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman announced earlier this month.
Boardman also said that railroads were doing a better job focusing on safety performance.
A review of the preliminary statistics compiled by the […]

CALGARY, Alberta – Canadian Pacific Railway and its clerical and intermodal workers, represented by the United Steelworkers (USW), have ratified a collective agreement.
The three-year agreement extends to the end of 2009. It provides improvements for wages and benefits. In addition, a number of work-life balance provisions have been implemented, which are designed to improve retention […]

A Transrapid maglev train traveling on the system’s test track in Lathen near the Netherlands border in Germany collided with a maintenance vehicle on the track, killing 23 people and severely injuring 10, according to Karl-Heinz Brueggeman, a spokesman for the rescue effort.
The driverless train was estimated as operating at above 120 mph when the […]

WASHINGTON – Overall, transportation fatalities in the United States increased last year, but the number of rail fatalities decreased, according to preliminary figures released by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Deaths from transportation accidents in the United States in 2005 totaled 45,636, up from 45,092 in 2004.
“It is very disturbing to see transportation fatalities rising,” said […]

BOMBAY, India – Indian Railways will use wireless railway communications technology to help improve the safety and efficiency on one of the most important and busiest rail arteries in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, officials announced.
The Nortel GSM-R network will provide highly sophisticated wireless communications along the 751-km, 90-station line connecting the major Uttar […]

CAIRO, Egypt – The collision of a freight train and a passenger train just north of Cairo in the town of Shebin al-Qanater claimed five lives and injured another 30 people Sept. 4.
It was reported that one of the dead was the engineer of the freight train.
In August the director of rail service in Egypt […]

NEWARK, N.J. – Plans to extend Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service in Bayonne are moving forward, as the N.J. Transit Board of Directors agreed to advertise a design/build contract to construct a one-mile extension of the track alignment and a new station at 8th Street.
The light rail line, which opened in 2000, will be extended from […]