Month: August 2012

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Safety

Railroad: Use caution when crossing the tracks this Labor Day

August 28, 2012 Railfanning.org News Wire

Union Pacific Railroad is urging drivers to remain vigilant and use caution when driving across railroad tracks this Labor Day weekend. “With the Labor Day weekend being one of the busiest vehicle travel days during the year, we want drivers to use caution when they cross railroad tracks, always expect a train and safely arrive at their destinations,” Union Pacific Chief of Police Robert Morrison said. AAA Travel is predicting 33 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles during the Labor Day weekend, which runs Aug. 30 to Sept. 3. That would be a post-recession high, representing a 2.9

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Safety

OLI: Deaths, injuries from crossing crashes, pedestrian-train incidents rose in first four months of 2012

August 27, 2012 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON – Rail safety education nonprofit Operation Lifesaver said that, while highway-rail crossing collisions are down slightly, deaths and injuries from crossing crashes and pedestrian-train incidents rose in the first four months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. “Federal Railroad Administration statistics show that grade crossing crashes are 1.4 percent lower in the first four months of this year; however, the increase in deaths and injuries from crossing collisions and pedestrian-train trespass incidents is a very troubling trend,” said Operation Lifesaver Inc., (http://www.oli.org) President Helen M. Sramek. Sramek noted that since 1997, more people have been killed

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CSX

CSX Police, Security Re-Accreditation Process Includes Call-in Sessions

August 26, 2012 Railfanning.org News Wire

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX’s police and security team will meet with representatives of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc. (CALEA) as part of re-accreditation in law enforcement standards. Currently, the CSX Police Department is the only U.S. based freight railroad police department to have met the more than 450 required best practice standards. The re-accreditation process includes headquarters and field visits, and public access telephone call-in sessions during which people are invited to comment on their perceptions of CSX’s police activities and the company’s Public Safety Coordination Center. “We invite the public to call in and participate

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Amtrak

Upgraded Seattle Amtrak Maintenance Facility Ready To Service Passenger Equipment

August 26, 2012 Railfanning.org News Wire

OAKLAND – The completion of Phase I and Phase II of a major upgrade of the Seattle Maintenance Facility is being celebrated today by Amtrak and its partners. The facilities support Amtrak operations and maintenance agreements in the Pacific Northwest for the Empire Builder, Coast Starlight, Amtrak Cascades, and Sounder commuter trains. The upgraded and new facilities will dramatically improve the capacity, efficiency and working conditions of the shops that perform inspections, testing and maintenance of locomotives and passenger rail equipment. It is a modern and efficient facility capable of handling the current work levels as well as projected future

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Union Pacific

Union Pacific Railroad Unveils Experimental Locomotive to Test Emissions-Reduction Technology

August 24, 2012 Railfanning.org News Wire

ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Union Pacific Railroad has unveiled an advanced experimental locomotive at its J.R. Davis Yard in Roseville that will test three emissions-reducing technologies including exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC), and diesel particulate filters (DPF). Years in development, UP 9900 will be used for operations in northern California ranging approximately 200 miles from its base in Roseville. UP 9900 is the signature unit in a series of 25 locomotives that Union Pacific is analyzing as part of a broad test of various emissions-reduction techniques in northern and southern California. This is the latest step in the

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Short Line/Regional

International Rail Partners Opens for Business

August 24, 2012 Railfanning.org News Wire

International Rail Partners LLCwas recently formed to pursue the acquisition and operation of freight railroads outside of the United States, as well as other rail-related support businesses worldwide. In addition to its corporate headquarters located in Boca Raton, Florida, the Company also has an office in San Francisco, California. The IRP leadership team is led by Managing Member Gary O. Marino, former Chairman, CEO and President of RailAmerica, and founder of Patriot Rail Corp. Other IRP managers include Donald Redfearn, former President of RailAmerica and Executive Vice President of Patriot Rail Corp., and Bennett Marks, former Executive Vice President &

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Miscellaneous

L.B. Foster Provides 11,000 CXT Concrete Ties for Tesoro Refinery

August 24, 2012 Railfanning.org News Wire

PITTSBURGH — L.B. Foster Co. has been awarded a contract by RailWorks Track Systems Inc. to supply 11,000 of its CXT Concrete Ties for the construction of an unloading facility at the Tesoro oil products refinery in Anacortes, Wash. The Tesoro Corp. refinery is at the western end of an ambitious railway transport system that will include 800 tank cars carrying 40,000 barrels of crude oil each day from Tesoro’s Bakken Shale operations in North Dakota. The concrete ties will support a high-capacity rail unloading system capable of accommodating four 110-car trains simultaneously. “L.B. Foster has a long-standing and successful

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Commuter Rail

Wabtec Signs $45 Million Contract To Repower Locomotives For Toronto’s Metrolinx

August 24, 2012 Railfanning.org News Wire

WILMERDING, Pa. — Wabtec Corp.’s MotivePower subsidiary has signed a $45 million contract with Metrolinx, an agency of the Province of Ontario and the regional transportation authority for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). MotivePower will repower 11 locomotives with new engines and propulsion systems that meet significantly higher environmental standards. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2014. The locomotives, originally built by MotivePower about five years ago, will be repowered with new engines that meet Tier 4 emission standards, as set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They include technology that reduces diesel particulate emissions by about 85

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CSX

CSX Intermodal Terminals Wins American Council of Engineering Companies Award

August 20, 2012 Railfanning.org News Wire

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Intermodal Terminals and EMH&T have won the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Ohio “2012 Engineering Excellence Outstanding Achievement Award” for the design of CSX Intermodal Terminal’s Northwest Ohio intermodal terminal. CSX worked closely with EMH&T to design the Northwest Ohio facility, which uses cutting-edge technologies and green design, including ultra-efficient electric cranes that lower emissions, optical scanners that reduce truck idling times and automated car tracking technologies and remote switches that increase operational efficiency. “CSX is proud to accept this distinguished honor,” said Wilby Whitt, president of CSX Intermodal Terminals. “CSX appreciates the continued