Railfanning.org News Wire

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Commuter Rail

FRA Receives 278 Pre-Applications for High-Speed Passenger Rail Funding

July 16, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced that the Federal Railroad Administration has received 278 pre-applications for grant funding totaling $102 billion. The money will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) — the “bailout” — for the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail competitive grant program. “The response has been tremendous and shows that the country is ready for high-speed rail,” Secretary LaHood said. “It’s time to look beyond our highways and invest in public transportation services like rail, which will enhance regional mobility and reduce our carbon footprint.” Pre-applications by region: Northeast Total Number of Pre-applications
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Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern Selects Fayette County Site for New Memphis Regional Intermodal Terminal, Supporting Crescent Corridor Initiative

July 16, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern announced that it will construct a new intermodal terminal in Rossville, Tenn., in Fayette County, to serve the Memphis region, as part of the railroad’s Crescent Corridor initiative to establish a high-speed intermodal rail route between the Mid-South and Gulf Coast and the Northeast. The $129 million facility, in which freight is transferred between truck and rail, will occupy a 570-acre site and is expected to open in January 2012. Norfolk Southern’s Crescent Corridor initiative is a multistate network of infrastructure improvements and other facilities intended to enhance Norfolk Southern’s 2,500-mile rail network that supports
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Amtrak

Three Killed After Amtrak Train Strikes Car

July 15, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
OTTAWA, Ill. — Three people were killed when an Amtrak train slammed into their car at a grade crossing. About 3 p.m. Monday (July 13), the California Zephyr struck the car, which authorities say did not stop at the rural grade crossing. A total of five people were in the car at the time of the crash; at least one of the other two people was transported to a nearby hospital. The crash comes less than a week after five people were killed in Michigan when they drove around the gates of a grade crossing and their car was struck
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Commuter Rail

NTSB Member Testifies About Multi-Faceted Investigation

July 15, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — National Transportation Safety Board Member Debbie Hersman, testifying before Congress, described a multi-faceted National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the deadliest accident in the history of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). A collision between two trains on June 22 killed 9 people and injured scores of others. At a hearing before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Hersman noted that within hours of hearing about the collision, the Safety Board dispatched a team of investigators from its headquarters in Washington and from regional offices
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Commuter Rail

NTSB: Fatigue Played Role in 2008 MBTA Trolley Wreck

July 14, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board  determined that the two-train collision on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line last year occurred as a result of the trolley operator’s failure to obey a signal indication likely because she became disengaged from her environment consistent with experiencing an episode of micro-sleep. The lack of a positive train control system, which would have intervened to stop the train and prevented the collision, was cited as a contributing factor. At 5:51 PM EDT, on May 28, 2008, an MBTA Green Line train, traveling westbound at about 38 mph, struck the rear
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NTSB

NTSB Investigating DM&E Wreck

July 14, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
BETTENDORF, Iowa — The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a railroad accident that occurred in Iowa this morning (July 14). At 2:10 AM CDT, in Bettendorf, Iowa, a Dakota Minnesota & Eastern Railroad freight train struck a group of cars in a rail yard after crossing through a switch that was not lined for the main line, derailing 8 cars and 2 locomotives. Two crewmembers were fatally injured.
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CSX

CSX: Safety Levels Strong, Contributing to Favorable Casualty Reserve Adjustment

July 13, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Corp. announced second quarter earnings of $308 million, or 78 cents a share, versus $385 million, or 93 cents a share, last year. Excluding the impact of discontinued operations related to The Greenbrier resort, earnings per share from continuing operations declined 24 percent from 95 cents to 72 cents. Second quarter revenues of $2.2 billion were down 25 percent from the prior year, primarily due to a 21 percent decline in volume and lower fuel surcharge recovery. Volumes continued to decline across the board, although the rate of decline in the coal market accelerated in the
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Commuter Rail

NTSB Issues ‘Urgent Safety Recommendation’ to Washington Metro

July 13, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board issued an “urgent safety recommendation” to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) calling for enhanced safety redundancy of its train control system. “A recent accident on the Metrorail’s Red Line between the Fort Totten and Takoma stations has shown that WMATA’s train control system is susceptible to a single point failure because it did not fail safe and stop a train when detection of a preceding train was lost,” they NTSB said in a statement. “The urgent safety recommendation issued today calls for WMATA to evaluate track occupancy data on a real-time
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Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific Offer Refrigerated Trailer Shippers the Rail Industry’s Fastest Intermodal Delivery From Los Angeles to Atlanta With New Expedited Service

July 13, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railroad announced they have launched a new expedited intermodal service specifically designed for refrigerated trailer shippers between Los Angeles and Atlanta. This new service gives customers the option to have their refrigeration units serviced during the stop in El Paso, Texas, significantly reducing the risk of protective service failure during transit. New rail customers will find this premier service a seamless shift from over-the-road transportation by providing truck-like speed (more than 500 miles per day) and reliability. This is the industry’s fastest intermodal service between Los Angeles and Atlanta, the railroads said.