U.S. DOT Inspector General looks at FRA’s grade crossing accident statistics

The U.S. DOT Inspector General recently issued a report on the Federal Railroad Administration’s methods for obtaining and managing grade crossing accident statistics.  The FRA gathers data on these accidents, then uses

FRA releases accident report on Princeton, Ind., derailment

The Federal Railroad Administration just released its Accident Investigation Report on the derailment of a CSX freight train in Princeton, Ind. on June 17, 2018.  The train derailed 22 loads and one

Illinois joins debate on train crew size

The debate around the number of crew members who should be in a locomotive cab on a freight train has been going on the past several years.  After a proposal by the

Federal Railroad Administration provides Q2 PTC update

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today provided a quarterly status update on railroads’ progress in fully implementing positive train control (PTC) systems.  Based on railroads’ Second Quarter 2019 PTC Progress Reports which

Nevada AFL-CIO takes stand on train crew issue

The debate between railroad management and agreement employees continued yesterday with the Nevada State AFL-CIO adopting a resolution that requests Federal action on the question of train crew size. The labor organization

Southern Rail Commission receives $4.36 million grant from U.S. DOT

U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced yesterday that DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded $4,360,000 to the Southern Rail Commission to help restore intercity passenger rail service

Short Line association tells DOT, “we’re important, too”

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), represented by Jo Strang, Senior Vice President, Safety & Regulatory Policy, testified Monday before a Small Business Administration hearing on National Regulatory Fairness.

North County Transit District joins Confidential Close Call Reporting System

The North County Transit District (NCTD), which serves North San Diego County in California, reports it is participating in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS), a program designed to allow employees

Federal ruling on freight train crew size has states and unions up in arms

On May 29 of this year, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) withdrew from its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on the issue of the number of crew members on a freight train.

Big technology companies fail to act on NTSB request

The horror of grade crossing accidents has been with us since the first railroad turned a wheel.  Even before automobiles, farmers and others carrying heavy wagon loads in horse-drawn trailers perished at

GAO reports PTC focus turning to interoperability

The Government Accounting Office released a statement yesterday pointing out that much work remains to be done for the railroad industry to achieve interoperability among individual PTC systems. The statement says “Full

FRA

Karl Alexy named FRA chief safety officer

Karl Alexy has been named the Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety and Chief Safety Officer of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).  He was most recently the FRA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Railroad

FRA proposes recording equipment for passenger trains

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is proposing to require the installation of inward- and outward-facing locomotive image recording devices on all lead locomotives in passenger trains, and that these devices record while

FRA pulls funding plug on California HSR

For all intents and purposes, California’s high-speed rail project is dead. At least that’s the consensus among several observers of the U.S. high-speed rail scene, which, sadly, appears to be based more

ENSCO Rail's Track Geometry Measurement System

Big Data conference: “Moving from talking to action”

The 2018 University of Delaware Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering “Big Data in Railroad Maintenance Planning Conference,” held Dec. 13-14, spotlighted the progress the industry is making in dealing with Big

CN PTC equipment

CN meets PTC installment deadline; seeks two-year extension for full operation

CN says it met its year-end deadline to install positive train control (PTC) equipment across its system. The Class 1 also announced it is seeking a two-year extension “to complete deployment and

What the government shutdown means for rail

The nation is in the throes of a partial shutdown of the federal government. But the effects on the rail community appear not to be significant, at least for now. The Department

Denver’s Regional Transportation District submits plan to fix PTC, signal, crossing problems

The Regional Transportation District has released a 35-page plan outlining the steps it will take to resolve issues with crossing gates on the line that serves the Denver International Airport. The plan is

MBTA

MBTA sends PTC extension application to FRA

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has submitted a Request for Extension to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) for full Positive Train Control (PTC) system deployment to December 2020.

METRA PTC

Metra achieves PTC milestone by completing hardware installation

Metra has completed the installation of all hardware required for Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation. To celebrate the achievement, the commuter rail service provider held a press conference and event for its

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