Railway Age magazine

Although the U.S. economy showed mixed signals in August, “growth and consumer spending remained positive, while inflation stubbornly remained above target,” according to ITS Logistics’ latest supply chain report. “As of now, a recession doesn’t appear imminent, but momentum is clearly slowing, and economic uncertainty continues to rise heading into Q4. This news comes just as industry professionals prepare for the onset of the domestic logistics peak season, further evaluating strategies related to tariff arbitrage, assessing de minimis opportunities, seeking new warehouse locations throughout the U.S., and evaluating the trucking sector’s capacity gains.”

The September ITS Supply Chain Report confirms that containerized imports at the top 10 U.S. ports fell 4.1% month-over-month in August 2025, with sharp declines at key West Coast gateways offset by gains at Seattle, Savannah, and Norfolk. The mixed results, ITS says, “reflect both seasonal trends and shifting trade patterns as shippers respond to tariff uncertainty. Import volumes remain above pre-pandemic levels but show heightened sensitivity to policy changes, including the recent repeal of the de minimis exemption on low-value parcels and the upcoming U.S.-China tariff truce expiration.”

According to a recent article from Supply Chain Dive, “the end of the de minimis exemption has the potential to create new challenges for ecommerce supply chains’ peak season plans.” The exemption, which ended on Aug. 29 for imports in the U.S., allowed those valued under $800 to enter the country duty- and tax-free. Eliminated to combat drug trafficking and prevent importers from avoiding tariffs, it was initially expected to end on July 1, 2027, “thereby leaving many direct-to-consumer marketplaces scrambling to adjust their peak season strategies. Now that it has been completely eliminated, companies are struggling to adjust their operations ahead of the Q4 holiday shopping rush.”

“We’re now seeing ecommerce companies implement a tariff arbitrage strategy in response to the ongoing changes in global trade,” said Josh Allen, Chief Commercial Officer of ITS Logistics, a Nevada-based third-party logistics (3PL) firm. “These companies include everything from the luxury sector on down to those that provide what are considered to be lower-valued goods. This strategy is being leveraged to mitigate shifting tariff impacts and keep overall costs down for their consumers. It is a genius evolution in how companies are adapting to the economic impacts of tariffs and global supply chain management overall.”

As confirmed by CNBC, the business model, formally referred to as business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C), “is changing the way retailers handle orders placed by consumers on a company’s website. Transactions are being routed to a wholesale platform as the middleman. For the consumer, the process is essentially seamless from purchase to receipt of the merchandise, and for the retailer, the difference in paying tariffs on wholesale prices as opposed to retail prices ranges from 30% to 60%. Despite the clear positives from the newly adopted strategy, some logistics experts are concerned that ‘tariff hacking’ is not a sustainable long-term strategy and will ultimately not be able to keep inflation down.”

“Inflation has decreased from peaks but remains above the Fed’s 2% target and rising expectations risk making it more persistent,” continued Allen. “In August, core inflation was 3.1% which signals sticky underlying inflation, remaining above the Federal Reserve’s usual 2% target. The 2.9% headline rate is the highest since January 2025, and the rise above 2.7% and a stronger month-to-month increase (0.4%) suggest inflation picked up pace in August. As a result, consumer confidence in August 2025 showed a slight decline.”

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) confirmed this week that the full impact of U.S. tariff hikes “is still unfolding, but the U.S. and global economies are expected to continue losing momentum in 2026 as higher tariffs take an increasingly large toll on activity. As companies further leverage this newly adopted tariff arbitrage strategy—especially during peak seasons with returns—U.S. warehouses will need to be utilized more by retailers in strategic parts of the U.S. to avoid sending products back from overseas, thereby incurring a new tariff fee.”

This month’s index, ITS Logistics reports, highlights the modest Producer Price Index (PPI) increase in August, “indicating a small but notable upward movement in costs or prices within the warehousing and storage industry. This relatively minor change suggests that the sector experienced stability with no significant disruptions occurring between July and August.”

“As a result, businesses that rely on warehousing and storage services should anticipate slightly higher costs moving forward, particularly those with contracts that contain variable labor or utility components. As for the trucking sector, spot and contract rates continue to see minimal shifts at the onset of peak season. The ongoing capacity gains since January, combined with easing price growth at the start of peak season, suggest an ongoing softer truckload environment,” Allen added.

The Port of Vancouver on Sept. 26 announced that it moved record volumes of Canadian trade in the first six months of 2025, “delivering vast quantities of made-in-Canada grain, energy and fertilizer exports to diverse world markets against a challenging geopolitical backdrop.”

The port’s mid-year cargo statistics show a 13% increase in cargo moved between January and June 2025, compared to the same six-month period last year—with a record of more than 85 million metric tons (MMT) of cargo handled. Port of Vancouver terminals handled nearly 20% more international trade than a year ago, as surging exports of Canadian crude, canola oil, grain, potash and coal to markets worldwide. Containerized trade over the first half of 2025 remained steady, while cruise and auto volumes eased following record performances in 2024.

“Canadians and their businesses depend on the Port of Vancouver to buy and sell the products they manufacture, farm, mine and stock their shelves with,” said Peter Xotta, President and CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.

“As Canadians navigate a moment in time like no other, I want to acknowledge the port community and our supply chain partners for rising to the occasion and moving record trade volumes so far this year. The Port of Vancouver has a critical role to play in meeting the moment as Canadian businesses seek to sell more of their products to more customers outside of the U.S.,” Xotta added.

The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s largest and most diversified port—already connecting Canada with more than 170 global economies and moving as much cargo as Canada’s next five largest ports combined. More than 80% of the trade through the Port of Vancouver is Canadian trade with countries other than the U.S.

Bulk exports of Canadian commodities were strong in the first half of the year, including record volumes of crude oil exports, and robust volumes of canola oil, grain and potash exports from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

• Crude oil exports surged by 365% to almost 12 MMT, with Trans Mountain’s expanded pipeline and terminal coming into operation in May 2024. Approximately 60% of these record volumes went to China, while other markets including the U.S., South Korea, Singapore and Japan all surpassed their full-year 2024 volumes early in the first half of 2025.
• Canola oil exports were up 72% to 0.7 MMT in the first six months of 2025, as the port connected Canadian producers with new overseas markets and helped offset lower U.S. and Chinese demand. Export markets for canola oil grown throughout Western Canada expanded from four in 2024 (China, U.S., South Korea, Peru) to 12 in the first half of 2025, with new and returning markets including Belgium, Malaysia and Mexico.

Port operators also moved near record volumes of bulk exports of Canadian grain, fertilizer (potash, sulphur) and coal. Grain was up 8% to reach its second highest half year on volumes on record (behind 2021), including wheat up 16% and canola seed up 12%. Increased volumes of canola seed went to Japan, while new markets such as Mexico, Netherlands, France, Bangladesh, Bulgaria helped offset the impact of Chinese tariffs.

Potash was up 26% to reach its second highest half-year result on record after 2019 as the fertilizer product recovered from a slowdown in 2024, while sulphur was up 5% and coal down 2%.

“For decades, and prior to tariff threats, along with our partners we’ve been working hard to grow trade capacity to meet demand. Today, our growth plans and partnerships are purpose built to help Canada rise to the occasion and get made-in-Canada products to more customers,” said Xotta. 

“We all win when we work together. For example, we’re using new tech and tools to facilitate thousands of ship movements a year—allowing us to improve visibility in how goods are moving through the port, better coordinate with supply chain partners and add capacity. Our Active Vessel Traffic Management Program, combined with ongoing collaboration, has meant the port has been able to smoothly integrate Trans Mountain’s expanded volumes over the past year while also enabling CN to increase rail service to the busy North Shore trade area by 10%,” Xotta added.

The Port of Vancouver’s four container terminals moved 1.88 million 20-foot equivalent units (or TEUs) at mid-2025, with mid-year volume growth of 6% driven largely by Canadian trade. It was the second highest volume of containers moved at mid-year, after 2021’s record of 1.94 million TEU, according to the Port.

“Containerized trade—like the Canadian economy—has shown remarkable strength and resilience so far this year in the face of U.S. tariffs and global uncertainty,” said Xotta.

“More and more, we are seeing Canadian businesses turn to containers to securely trade goods with world markets. With containerized trade through the port on a long-term growth trajectory, Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is uniquely positioned to deliver for Canada. We are advancing towards a final investment decision soon for the nation-building project, which will unlock an additional $100 billion a year in West Coast trade capacity and enable Canadian businesses to win even greater market share overseas.”

The Port of Vancouver’s cruise sector had just more than 130 cruise ship calls and 500,000 passenger visits between March 5 and June 30—down compared to 2024’s record-breaking year, but still strong as Canada Place cements itself as one of North America’s premier homeports.

“Canada Place is now regularly seeing upwards of 300 cruise ship calls and 1.2 million passenger visits every year—injecting around $1 billion into the economy and supporting jobs and local businesses throughout the region,” said Xotta. “We are honoured to partner with countless cruise and destination partners to ensure Canada Place remains a premier homeport serving the popular Alaska market—together we are making Vancouver cruise shine and creating jobs for Canadians.”

Each cruise ship visit to the Canada Place cruise terminal at the Port of Vancouver injects about $3 million into the local economy, according to an Economic Impact Study released by the port authority in 2024. 

Auto volumes eased 3% to 241,000 units, down slightly compared to last year’s record and the third highest volume for the port. Nearly 100% of Canada’s Asian-manufactured vehicle imports arrive via the Port of Vancouver, with work to optimize the Annacis Auto Terminal and increase its capacity by one-third being completed earlier this year.

Foreign breakbulk volumes were down 8%, due to forestry exports continuing a trend towards containers and metal imports falling slightly. Domestic volumes—largely comprised of local movements of logs, sand and gravel—decreased.

The post Intermodal Briefs: ITS Logistics, Port of Vancouver appeared first on Railway Age.

As part of its efforts to modernize the I-95 rail corridor, CSX closed the 125-year-old Howard Street Tunnel for reconstruction in February. The project sought to allow for double-stack intermodal service through the tunnel by increasing the vertical clearance and addressing 22 obstructions located along the corridor. This double-stacking is a “more cost-effective way to transport rail” than via trucks, reduces traffic congestion along I-95, and reduces emissions. At the time, CSX chief engineer of bridge design and construction Ed Sparks said, “This is a tremendous opportunity to alleviate a restriction on our network and open up new opportunities for CSX.”

Over the summer, CSX documented its work on the project where crews removed and lowered 3,400 feet of flooring along the 8,700-foot-long tunnel, originally built from 1890-1895. As CSX worked to “combine modern engineering solutions with strategic planning to overcome logistical challenges,” crews continued to remove rail, excavate, and lower the track profile. At North Avenue Bridge, Guilford Avenue Bridge, and Harford Road Bridge, crews noted these sections required a different approach because of obstructions located beneath the bridges. The ability to adapt to these challenges “demonstrate[d] the adaptability of the construction team, ensuring optimal results across diverse project sites.”

CSX announced the reopening of the bridge on September 26, marking the event as a “historic milestone” due to the project successfully eliminating a bottleneck along the I-95 corridor. Completed on budget and ahead of schedule, the project delivers “a long-sought boost to Maryland’s economy and the national supply chain,” the Class I notes.

“The completion of the Howard Street Tunnel reflects the dedication of our people — a once-in-a-generation achievement that will drive commerce, jobs, and growth across Maryland and the East Coast for decades. . . This project reinforces CSX’s position as a high-performing, customer-focused railroad investing for profitable growth,” said Joe Hinrichs.

Throughout the course of the project, crews spent more than 450,000 man hours worked with 175 field craft, 20 subcontractors, and 40 salaried supervision staff. For 233 consecutive days, crews worked to install 1,128 dewatering well points, place 1,188 precast invert slabs (PCIS, and install 14,276 linear feet of wall drain. Additionally crews placed over 4,000 cubic yards of concrete and over 24,000 cubic feet of grout. The Class I states that over 25,000 cubic yards of excavated material were removed from the tunnel, and more than 78,000 linear feet of temporary electrical cable was installed. Below is a gallery of images, courtesy of CSX, that show crews working in the tunnel.

“With the Howard Street Tunnel’s reopening, CSX is now able to unleash the full strength of our network ahead of schedule, removing a long-standing volume constraint along the I-95 corridor,” said Mike Cory, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at CSX. “Even while navigating this and other major infrastructure projects over the last year, CSX has maintained the strong performance that customers have come to rely on. With this project now complete, our network is stronger than ever, underscoring the adaptability of our system and strength of the ONE CSX culture.”

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With tariff troubles hitting the Chinese market and Mississippi River water levels a continued challenge, America’s soybean farmers are keeping all their options open. As part of that, soybean farmer leaders were in Houston Sept. 24 to present a ceremonial check in the amount of $275,000 to The Andersons Inc. for its expansion project at the Port of Houston. Once completed in first-quarter 2026, the expansion will enable the export of soybean meal from the facility.

By investing in the Port Houston project, soybean farmer leaders are addressing several major priorities of the soybean industry:

• Increasing soybean meal export capacity: One of the significant developments in the U.S. soybean industry continues to be the investment in processing facilities in order to produce more soybean oil for renewable fuels. The additional production of soybean oil will result in an additional production of soybean meal. While much of this additional soybean meal will be consumed by the domestic livestock industry, it is increasingly essential to invest in additional export capacity to connect with international markets.

• Increasing resilience of the supply chain: Given the continued challenges the soybean industry has experienced with low water conditions on the Mississippi River, notes the Soy Transportation Coalition, it is important to promote diversity of the supply chain by “spreading the eggs across more baskets.”

The soybean meal that will be shipped to the facility at the Port of Houston will be transported via BNSF or Union Pacific. It will not utilize the inland waterway system.

• Diversifying international markets: Given the significant challenges confronting soybean exports due to the curtailment of the Chinese market, it is imperative to pursue “base hit” marketing opportunities for soybean meal and soybeans. The identified markets for the Houston export terminal are: Middle East/North Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia.

In presenting the ceremonial check to officials with The Andersons Inc., Mike Koehne, a farmer from Greensburg, Ind., and chairman of the Soy Transportation Coalition, explained, “As stewards of the funding through the soybean checkoff program, my fellow soybean farmers and I are constantly exploring any opportunity to increase the profitability of our industry. The Andersons’ soybean meal and grain export facility at the Port of Houston is an excellent example of an investment that will help accomplish many of our major priorities. Most soybean farmers in the U.S. are located hundreds of miles or more from our coastal regions. This geographic distance is a challenge we must overcome if we are to compete in the international marketplace. We would like to express our appreciation to The Andersons and the Port of Houston for investing in the supply chain that allows farmers like me to be successful.”

With storage capacity of 6.3 million bushels, the Houston facility supports the export of more than two million tons of grain annually and will include up to 22,000 tons for storing soybean meal for export.

Additional upgrades will include a new conveyance system to seamlessly transport goods from storage to the ship loaders, as well as a new ship loading tower to increase the efficiency and speed of loading.

The Andersons projects that the primary states that will feed the soybean meal to their facility will be: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska. It is possible other states will feed into the facility as well given the expansion of soybean processing throughout the country.

Because the facility at the Port of Houston will result in greater resiliency of both international marketing and the supply chain, the following soybean farmer organizations contributed a total of $275,000 toward the project:

• United Soybean Board
• Soy Transportation Coalition
• Iowa Soybean Association
• Kansas Soybean Commission
• Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council
• Nebraska Soybean Board

The funding will be used for research, analysis, pre-engineering, and design expenses associated with the facility expansion at the Port of Houston. The Andersons, the owner of the facility, will assume the costs of the actual construction of the project.

The ceremonial $275,000 check was presented to The Andersons by a group of soybean farmer leaders at a luncheon at Port Houston’s headquarters. The group also received a tour of the export terminal and an update on the expansion project.

“We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to work with soybean farmers on this important investment,” said Matt Dvorak, Houston business manager at The Andersons. “As domestic soybean crush increases, we are identifying new opportunities for the export of soybean meal via our Houston facility. We look forward to working with the Soy Transportation Coalition and the broader soybean farmer community on this project, which will help connect U.S. soybean meal with international customers.”

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The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) on Sept. 29 announced that six new mechanical training courses, delivered in two pathways, are now available in the Short Line Training Center’s online Learning Management System (LMS). All six courses have been approved by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) as Part 243 compliant, as each includes required documentation such as an On-the-Job Training (OJT) checklist and exam.

Each of the following pathways contain three modules:

• ASLRRA – Part 215, Subpart B – Freight Car Truck Suspension learning path includes learning and assessment modules for Nomenclature, Train Yard Inspections, and AAR Inspections.
• ASLRRA – Part 231 – Freight Car Safety Standards learning path includes learning and assessment modules for Box, Flat and Tank Cars.

A seventh module released earlier this quarter, Part 214 Supplemental Training, may be customized by a railroad and used to train contractors on railroad-specific on-track safety procedures and rules, rounding out 35 learning programs that are currently available via the LMS to short line railroads, according to ASLRRA.

“The Short Line Training Center is exceeding expectations on its mission of delivering affordable and accessible safety training to short line railroads,” said ASLRRA President Chuck Baker. “The Center meets short line railroads exactly where they are—from online delivery of necessary training to employees and customizable training for contractors, to hosting the mobile training center classroom with locomotive simulators on their property, to applying virtual reality and other modern training techniques. More than two dozen railroads have already signed on, delivering training to more than 1,200 short line employees.”

According to ASLRRA, some courses are available in a standard SCORM format, making them accessible to users of third-party LMS platforms via a SCORM Cloud hosting service. Railroads not using the Short Line Training Center’s LMS may license select programs, such as the interactive Part 214 Railroad Workplace Safety training course, for as little as $50 per person trained.

“Serving the short line industry by providing training that would not otherwise be affordable or accessible to small railroads is truly a privilege,” said Mark Vaughn, Senior Manager Training for Iowa Northern Railway Company (IANR), a partner in the development and management of the Short Line Training Center. “High-quality technical training demands extensive expertise, time, and resources— commitments that can be especially challenging for smaller railroads. The Short Line Training Center addresses those needs by delivering consistent, cost-effective programs and providing streamlined record keeping tools that support safety and compliance.”

The Short Line Training Center is a collaborative project created by the ASLRRA and IANR and funded through a Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement (CRISI) grant. The Short Line Training Center includes the LMS and Regulatory Training Courses plus a Mobile Technical Training Center equipped with two Type II Locomotive Simulators and two additional simulators permanently located at the IANR training center in Waterloo, Iowa, all of which will deliver essential regulatory, compliance and safety training and materials to railroad employees. A total of 30 online and instructor-led training programs will be delivered during the grant period.

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Track circuits are legacy (“old” or “traditional”) technology—or are they? That’s a topic to be explored at Next-Gen Rail Systems, the communications, signaling and advanced technology conference presented by Railway Age, and formerly known as Next-Gen Train Control. Craig Daniels, Vice President, Business Development at conference sponsor KB Signaling, will explore why “even though track circuits have a long history, they provide much more than just train detection.”

“KB Signaling’s audio frequency track circuits provide modern, digital technology while maintaining compatibility with existing systems,” Daniels explains. “This is a next-generation technology that expands what track circuits can do. Multiple railways in the U.S. are live with this new technology; they appreciate gaining new capabilities without a complete overhaul to their train control. In most markets, a fixed-block signaling system offers similar design headways compared to moving-block; the constraints that drive operational headways up are most often external to the train control system. Our electronic coded DC track circuits are the standard for the freight market and continue to gain more intelligence. For example, our ElectroCode 6 track circuit allows true date transmission over the rails. Our Wayside Intelligence platform can monitor rail temperature and provide advanced diagnostics to crossings. We’re developing software to detect rail buckles and ballast washouts, among other developments.”

KB (Knorr-Bremse) Signaling, which acquired the legacy products of Alstom Signaling in 2024, traces its roots to General Railway Signal (GRS), established in 1904 with the merger of three companies: Pneumatic Signal Company of Rochester, N.Y.; Taylor Signal Co. of Buffalo, N.Y., and Standard Railroad Signal Company of Arlington, N.J. In 1923, GRS acquired Federal Signal Company of Albany, N.Y. GRS was one of the 30 stocks when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was expanded from a 20-stock average on October 1, 1928. In 1965, General Signal Corporation (GSX) was created with the intent to diversify into areas other than railway signaling. GRS was a wholly owned subsidiary of GSX. In 1989, GRS was acquired by the Italian company Sasib and joined the Sasib Railways group. In 1998, it became part of Alstom, when Alstom acquired Sasib Railways. In 2024, KB Signaling was acquired from Alstom, including the unit’s complete North American conventional signaling portfolio, sales, service and manufacturing operations. It joined the freight and transit groups to round out Knorr-Bremse’s rail business units in North America.

This year’s conference offers a bonus for attendees: A special tour hosted by PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) spotlighting advanced technology the agency is developing and deploying on its 72 new Kawasaki railcars, fare collection systems and other customer interfaces. The tour, available on a first-come, first-served basis, occurs Oct. 29. Stay tuned for details.

“Next-Gen Rail Systems expands the focus of Next-Gen Train Control, the communications, signaling, and advanced technology conference presented by Railway Age since 1995,” saysEditor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono. “The new name reflects the evolving state of rail technology. Over the years, rapid technological developments such as AI (artificial intelligence), deep data analysis, machine learning, cybersecurity and telematics have transformed train control to become just one element of a complex, integrated platform. That’s why we’ve expanded the program to encompass the entire system. Sessions will examine how signaling and train control is constantly undergoing improvements and enhancements that deliver better safety, functionality, interoperability, versatility, and reliability, at lower life-cycle costs.

“Next-Gen Rail Systems is an essential gathering for all those involved in the growing rail systems market—whether your focus is transit, main line passenger, or freight. We are proud to present a rebranded, expanded event that features the same in-depth technical sessions and comprehensive project updates that attendees have come to expect. This conference, since its inception, has always been a ‘must attend’ event.”

Among the leading experts in the NGRS lineup are keynote speaker Tom Prendergast, CEO of Gateway Development Commission; Kris Kolluri, President and CEO of New Jersey Transit; Mario Peloquin, President and CEO of VIA Rail Canada, Andy Byford, Senior Vice President and Senior Board of Directors Advisor, Penn Station New York; Dustin K. Lange, P.E., Senior Director of Engineering, Norfolk Southern, Mark Salsberg, Co-Principal of WDG Consulting; Michael Godfrey, Co-Principal and Chief Technology Officer, WGD Consulting; Matthew Kim, Assistant Vice President Enterprise Strategy, Canadian Pacific Kansas City; Wilson Milian, P.E., President and CEO of Milian Consultants, LLC; Pete Tomlin, Independent Consultant, Jonathan Kirby, Senior Director, NJT PTC, New Jersey Transit; Clarelle DeGraffe, General Manager, PATH; Steven Vant, Chief Signal Engineer, Conrail, Mike Palmer, Senior Project Manager, Parsons; Brian Yeager, Director Advanced Technology & Train Reliability, Norfolk Southern; Yousef Kimiagar, Vice President, Institution of Railway Signal Engineers; and Catherine Campbell-Wilson, Principal, StrategyFive.

Register now for Next-Gen Rail Systems, to be held Oct. 30-31, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J.

Railway Age conferences are known for providing valuable opportunities: networking with professionals from around the world; learning about innovative approaches to implementing advanced technologies; discovering new methods for procurement and contracting; providing input on standards development; becoming better-informed about ongoing and planned projects; and discovering what regulations are coming and how they could impact business.

Industry support for Next-Gen Rail Systems is strong, including sponsorships from: 4AI Systems, Alstom, CSA – Critical Systems Analysis, Druid Software, Hitachi Rail, HNTB, KB Signaling, Milian Consultants, LLC., Parsons, Piper, SATS, and Siemens Mobility. To inquire about sponsorship opportunities, contact Jonathan Chalon at jchalon@sbpub.com or (212) 620-7224.

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With more than two decades of experience in transportation, maritime, and freight infrastructure, Evett took on the role Sept. 25. He served previously as Chief Engineering Officer at the Port of New Orleans; Project Manager at Volkert, Inc.; and Quality Control Systems Manager at Shaw Environmental, where he led Quality Assurance for a $1.3 billion flood control project. He began his career as a Design Engineer at the Texas Department of Transportation.

Evett’s leadership “has driven transformative greenfield and brownfield developments, including design and permitting for the $1.8 billion Louisiana International Container Terminal,” according to Patriot Rail, an operator of short line and regional railroads, transloading, and other rail services companies. He also brings extensive experience coordinating with Class I’s, state Departments of Transportation, federal agencies, and local stakeholders “to align infrastructure with national freight and economic priorities,” the company reported.

Evett holds a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Alabama A&M University and is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Louisiana.

“Tony Evett brings a rare combination of technical expertise, strategic vision, and collaborative leadership to Patriot Rail,” said Brandy Christian, CEO. “His extensive expertise in infrastructure and multimodal logistics—combined with his skill in stakeholder coordination—will make him a key driver of our growing industrial development priorities. Tony’s strategic alignment of engineering initiatives with economic growth is a major asset to our team.”

“It’s an exciting time to join Patriot Rail, and I look forward to contributing to the company’s continued success,” Evett said.

Also, don’t miss Patriot Rail SVP Commercial Jenni Benton at the 2025 Railway Age / RT&S Women in Rail Conference, to be held Oct. 15-16. She will be part of a distinguished panel of freight, transit, and engineering experts discussing their career journeys and how they have risen to leadership positions. Our third-annual in-person Women in Rail Conference will be filled with dynamic panels, a celebratory luncheon for Railway Age 2024 Women in Rail and RT&S 2025 Women in Railroad Engineering award honorees, and the chance to network with a wide-reaching group of like-minded professionals. All this will take place at a new, larger venue: Hyatt Regency Schaumburg in Illinois. 

• Patriot Rail Unveils Fourth Excursion Train
• Patriot Rail Refreshes its Branding
• First Patriot Rail Locomotive Arrives at Rocky Mountain Rail Park
• BNSF Opens New Salt Lake City Intermodal Facility

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A new rail-served warehouse is now open in Kincheloe, near Sault Ste. Marie, thanks to Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation – Michigan, CN recently announced in a LinkedIn post. “Northern Michigan businesses now have direct access to CN’s North American network. Welcome to our newest customer, Maple Transport Inc.,” CN said.

“A huge shoutout to our CN railroaders and supply chain partners who made this happen. This warehouse is a launchpad for powering business growth, creating jobs, and opening opportunities,” the Class I wrote in the post.

On Sept. 12, CPKC welcomed nine new members into the Broken Wheel Club at a special awards dinner in Calgary. Since 2018, this recognition has gone to railroaders who spotted broken wheels on both on and off the job, preventing incidents before they happen.

The new members are Dana Rowe, Tyson Wasylik, Glenn Knights, Karl Sacdal, Roman Pochekva, Deep Mander, Ravi Sidhu, Damilola Kuku and Ty Gabel.

“We’re closing in on 100 unique individuals who have found a broken wheel in seven years,” said VP Mechanical Car Brad Robertson in a LinkedIn post. “That’s pretty outstanding!”

Thanks to their vigilance, CPKC says it has had zero broken wheel derailments since 2020.

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The new R-TRIP hub will officially launch with events on Oct. 16-17, 2025. Housed in the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Urban Research, it is led by Penn IUR Faculty Fellows Leslie Richards—the former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and CEO of Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and now Professor of Practice at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design—and Lead Faculty Advisor Megan Ryerson, UPS Foundation Professor and Chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the Weitzman School.

According to Penn IUR, R-TRIP is slated to address current challenges facing transportation today, including:

• Transportation safety and crash prevention.
• Expanded access to jobs, education, and essential services.
• Data-driven innovation and technology deployment.
• Infrastructure prepared for future demands and disruptions.
• Improved reliability and performance of complex systems.

“Whether reimagining how people move through regions or integrating emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and advanced analytics into decision-making, R-TRIP is focused on practical impact and measurable progress that can be deployed across cities, regions and states,” Penn IUR reported Sept. 25. “Projects will be co-developed with input from public agencies and private sponsors and guided by interdisciplinary teams of Penn faculty, students and transportation leaders.”

The Initiative’s Public Sector Advisory Committee includes CEOs from such transit agencies as Los Angeles County Transportation Authority, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, California State Transportation Agency, Georgia DOT, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Utah DOT, Denver International Airport, Pittsburgh Regional Transit, and Philadelphia’s Department of Aviation, among others.

According to Penn IUR, R-TRIP anticipates launching a series of pilot projects in collaboration with public and private partners, with an emphasis on:

• “Leveraging AI and predictive analytics to improve safety and operational efficiency.
• “Exploring smart infrastructure that adapts to user behavior and demand.
• “Advancing mobility data platforms that support informed planning and investment.
• “Supporting infrastructure that is resilient and adaptable to future conditions.”

These efforts, it said, aim to produce “measurable public benefits, such as reduced congestion, increased safety, and broader access to opportunity, through solutions that can scale across diverse environments.”

R-TRIP’s founding sponsors include Google Public Sector, AtkinsRéalis, Bentley Systems, HNTB, INRIX, STV, WSP, 4M Analytics, and Slalom.

“The Richards Transportation Initiative is built on the idea that great research should move quickly into action,” said Leslie Richards, a Railway Age Women in Rail Award honoree in 2020. “We’re creating a platform where public agencies, private partners, and academic leaders can work together to develop and implement smart, scalable solutions that accelerate innovation across the transportation sector.”

“The Richards Transportation Initiative is exactly the kind of forward-looking collaboration our nation’s transportation systems need,” added Garrett Eucalitto, President of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation. “Initiatives like this strengthen the ability of agencies to work across functions to improve mobility, accelerate electrification, and think beyond standard practices to better serve their communities.”

“We constantly ask how we can make travel safer, faster, and more responsive across Pennsylvania and beyond,” said Michael B. Carroll, Secretary PennDOT. “The Initiative’s applied research model gives us a powerful new tool to inform real-world planning and investment.”

LIRR “shattered” its most recent post-pandemic ridership record on Wednesday, Sept. 24, with 301,440 riders, including approximately 20,000 golf fans traveling to and from the Ryder Cup 2025 in Bethpage, N.Y., via the commuter railroad’s Farmingdale station, according to LIRR.

“This follows a summer that saw the LIRR repeatedly break post-pandemic daily ridership records carrying 298,419 passengers on Wednesday, July 23 and 295,419 passengers on Tuesday, July 22,” LIRR reported Sept. 25. “Since the beginning of June, the railroad carried more than 290,000 riders in a day six times with average monthly ridership for June, July, and August in excess of 265,000.”

The ridership highs reflect an increasing customer satisfaction rate and record-breaking on-time performance statistics, according to the railroad. Through the first half of the year, 96.6% of trains reached their destination on time, the railroad’s best rate in its history outside of pandemic years, and nine-tenths of a percentage point above last year’s rate of 95.7%, covering the same period of the year. Overall customer satisfaction reached 81% in spring 2025, up five percentage points from the fall 2024, when it reached 76%, which was itself a six-point increase from spring 2024’s rate of 70%, according to LIRR.

LIRR saw its busiest seven-day period since the pandemic, with a total of 1.77 million passengers riding between Monday, Aug. 25, and Sunday, Aug. 31. The pre-pandemic 2019 average weekday ridership of 316,692 was the highest since 1949.

According to LIRR, it brought millions of riders to see Post Malone, The Lumineers, Blackpink and other concerts at Citi Field; Phish, Mumford & Sons and the Black Keys at Forest Hills Stadium; every Mets home game; the U.S. Open; and hundreds of Manhattan events this summer along with service to the Hamptons and all the other Long Island beaches.

Nine extra trains are part of expanded service to the Ryder Cup this week (week of Sept. 21), and seven more trains have added Farmingdale stops.

“People are coming back to the LIRR because of the exceptional service, as they know a fantastic customer experience is there for them,” LIRR President Rob Free said. “The highest on-time performance in the railroad’s long history and clean, safe, and comfortable trains that are the best way to travel to everything that Long Island has to offer.”

In related news, Gatekeeper recently announced a C$27 million Federal Railroad Administration transit video project with LIRR, and MTA Metro-North Railroad will launch “super-express” trains next month.

Metra will be putting into service this fall a prototype café car, rotating it across most of its busiest lines and stations and asking riders to take a survey about whether they like the concept and about what amenities and features they would like to see, according to the commuter railroad serving Chicagoland.

To make the prototype, Metra said it removed the second level on one half of a car, and installed counters, stools, booths, and tables. The interior has also been decorated “so it feels a bit different from the average Metra car,” it noted.

The car will make its debut on the Rock Island Line on Sept. 30, Oct. 1, and Oct. 2, and then will be parked at LaSalle Street Station on Oct. 6. Riders can view the car and offer their feedback in an onboard survey. Riders who complete the survey will receive free snacks and beverages, Metra said.

The car will be moved to the BNSF Line the week of Oct. 13, the Milwaukee District North Line the week of Oct. 20, the Milwaukee District West Line the week of Oct. 27, the Union Pacific North Line the week of Nov. 3, the Union Pacific Northwest Line the week of Nov. 10, and the Union Pacific West Line the week of Nov. 17. The specific schedule for each line will be posted at metra.com/CafeCar. 

“We created this special car in an attempt to improve the riding experience and maybe attract new riders,” Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski said. “This is your chance to check it out and tell us what you think. Would you use it? What amenities would you like to see? What other thoughts do you have?”

(Note from Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono: “New Jersey Transit should do this!”)

Separately, earlier this month and just days after the Surface Transportation Board granted Metra’s application for terminal trackage rights to continue commuter rail service over three Union Pacific-owned lines in Chicagoland, UP filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking compensation from Metra. Also, the 87th St./Woodruff Station on the Metra Electric Line, which has been closed since December 2024 for a complete rehabilitation, will reopen on Oct. 6.

REM’s Deux-Montagnes branch will begin running in November and the Anse-à-l’Orme branch will open in spring 2026, The Canadian Press reported Sept. 25.

“The two branches [see map, top] were scheduled to enter service at the end of 2024, but that timeline was postponed to fall 2025 and management [at CDPQ Infra, the subsidiary of Quebec’s public pension fund manager that is developing the REM network] had been looking at an October start for several months,” according to the news agency.

REM’s first automated urban rail system segment linking the South Shore to downtown Montreal’s central station launched in July 2023, and The Canadian Press noted that the “project has faced criticism from passengers about its reliability, especially last winter when the trains suffered multiple stoppages.”

“When asked about the frustration of future passengers, CDPQ Infra president and CEO Jean-Marc Arbaud emphasized the scale of the project,” the news agency reported. “‘In seven years, no project in Canada has been completed on such a time frame on the same scale,’ Arbaud told a news conference. ‘I don’t reject the criticism,’ he added. ‘In the end, what I’m saying is that we did it, everyone who worked on the project did more than their best, and it’s a success.’”

According to Arbaud, the delays will not affect “the construction cost update,” according to the news agency, which noted that the project’s price tag is estimated at C$9.4 billion, “about [C]$2.4 billion more than the initial forecast in 2018.”

When the Airport segment opens—scheduled for 2027—the network will have 26 stations and span 41.6 miles (67 kilometers).

In related news, REM’s first segment recently reopened after a six-week summer shutdown to test the new extensions to Montreal’s North Shore and West Island.

The post Transit Briefs: R-TRIP, MTA LIRR, Metra, REM appeared first on Railway Age.

The collaboration, the partners say, aims to solve a common challenge in the rail industry: billing for railcar repairs. Railcar repairs are governed by hundreds of conditional rules designed to ensure safe operations. However, the complexity of these rules often results in mechanical teams spending significant time referencing lengthy manuals and correcting paperwork errors.

To address this, Railinc developed CarLogix, an intelligent railcar repair application that guides mechanical staff through the repair recording process. CarLogix checks repair records against hundreds of industry rules in real-time, “ensuring accuracy and eliminating rework,” the company noted.

Duke students will explore how applying AI (Artificial Intelligence), mobile devices, and social media-style technologies could further improve mechanical team efficiency and knowledge sharing. This, the partners say, is especially critical for teams performing minor repairs outside of traditional repair shops, where access to computers is limited.

“This collaboration with Duke University is about bringing together innovation, academia, and industry to strengthen the rail network. We are excited to partner with students at Duke on this project and look forward to developing solutions that will improve railcar recording and accuracy—a critical need for the freight rail industry,” said Railinc President and CEO Allen West.

“At Duke, we believe innovation happens when students, faculty, and industry come together to tackle meaningful, real-world challenges. Collaborating with Railinc brings our mission to life, giving our students the chance to apply their creativity to one of the nation’s most vital industries while also creating solutions that strengthen the communities and workers it touches,” said CFCI Managing Director Adria Dunbar.

“Product development education should be rooted in apprenticeship-style, real-world problem solving. By partnering directly with Railinc, our students gain hands-on experience designing technologies that deliver immediate value—enhancing accuracy, reducing inefficiencies, and helping scale practical tools that rail professionals rely on to run their businesses,” added CFCI Executive in Residence Anna Wilson.

Beyond initial prototypes, the effort, the partners say, is expected to generate lasting benefits: “strengthening the rail workforce, improving compliance, and creating new opportunities for students to contribute to the future of a critical national industry.”

The post Railinc, Duke University Collaborate on Innovation to Advance Freight Rail Efficiency appeared first on Railway Age.

LIT is the first new container terminal in the country and the first project in Louisiana to register with Envision, “underscoring Port NOLA’s commitment to building infrastructure that prioritizes environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and long-term economic resilience,” the Port noted.

Developed by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), Envision is a “comprehensive, globally recognized framework that provides a standardized way to evaluate and improve the sustainability of infrastructure projects across their full lifecycle.” Projects are assessed against a broad set of credits that measure environmental, social, and economic impacts, with performance recognized through verification levels ranging from verified to platinum.

“Registering with Envision is another example of how Port NOLA is setting the standard for future-focused, responsible growth,” said Port NOLA President and CEO Beth Branch. “The Louisiana International Terminal will be transformative for our region, and this milestone ensures that we are building it in a way that reflects the best practices in sustainability, accountability, and community engagement.”

By aligning with Envision, Port NOLA and its partners are “committing to a rigorous, third-party verification process that enhances transparency, fosters collaboration, and builds confidence among stakeholders and the public.” Benefits of using Envision include:

• “Standardized sustainability assessment and accountability.
• “Motivation for higher sustainability performance.
• “Recognition of sustainability commitment in procurement.
• “Positive public engagement and visibility.
• “Enhanced collaboration across agencies and teams.
• “Demonstrated responsible governance.”

“Becoming the first new container terminal in the U.S. to register with Envision sends a powerful message about Port NOLA’s values,” said Port NOLA Director of Sustainable Development Emily Federer. “We are expanding our capacity to serve global trade and doing so in a way that meets our industry’s needs while safeguarding the needs of future generations, our environment, strengthening community trust, setting a precedent for sustainable infrastructure development in the maritime sector.”

“Port NOLA’s leadership in registering the Louisiana International Terminal with Envision demonstrates its dedication to embedding sustainability at the heart of one of the nation’s most important infrastructure projects,” said ISI President and CEO Anthony Kane. “This project will serve as an example to ports and terminal operators everywhere of how to use Envision as a pathway toward measurable, responsible, and lasting impact.”

LIT is one of the most significant infrastructure investments in the Gulf region and for the economy of the U.S. and will serve as the premier gateway for international trade in the Gulf, according to the Port. “Registering with Envision ensures that its design and construction will be guided by the highest standards of sustainability, strengthening Port NOLA’s role as a critical connection between global markets and America’s heartland.”

The post LIT Project Officially Registered with Envision appeared first on Railway Age.

“APTA’s Public Transportation Vehicle Database is an indispensable tool for understanding the current state and future direction of our nation’s transit fleets,” said APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas. “Through this resource, we’re equipping policymakers, including Members of Congress and their staffs, with the data they need to make informed decisions about critical public transportation infrastructure and funding needs.”

“The 2025 Database reveals impressive adoption rates of advanced technologies across multiple transit modes that directly impact riders and communities,” Skoutelas added. “From enhanced security to real-time information systems, agencies are leveraging innovation to create safer, more reliable transportation options.”

Highlights of the Database are listed below.

Passenger Experience Improvements:

• 87% of light rail vehicles feature automated stop announcements, improving accessibility and passenger information.
• 81% of buses and 53% of light rail vehicles are equipped with bike racks, facilitating multimodal transportation options.

Operational Technology:

• 87% of buses and 81% of light rail vehicles have installed automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems, enabling accurate real-time arrival predictions.
• Advanced fleet management systems are now standard across most major transit operations.

The Database (download below) provides comprehensive information on transit vehicles, including manufacture date, specifications, accessibility features, and equipment details. The 2025 edition includes several other key features:

• Summary tables grouping vehicles by mode, manufacturer, size, and year built.
• A special section on the new vehicle market, covering orders, planned orders, and vehicle costs.
• Information on several types of autonomous/automated safety equipment such as Collision Mitigation/Warning, Emergency Autonomous Braking, and Pedestrian/Bicyclist Detection..
• Emerging modes adopted by the National Transit Database such as Bus Rapid Transit, Hybrid Rail, Commuter Bus and Streetcar.

“These statistics represent more than just numbers; they reflect our industry’s commitment to continuous improvement and innovation,” Skoutelas said. “Transit agencies understand that investing in modern technology is essential to attracting and retaining ridership while ensuring safe and efficient operations.”

The post APTA Releases 2025 Public Transportation Vehicle Database appeared first on Railway Age.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Build America Bureau is loaning up to $35.9 million for Phase 1 of the Port of Longview’s Industrial Rail Corridor Expansion project in Washington state that is slated to double freight capacity.

The project will leverage USDOT’s recently announced improvements to the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, which expanded borrowers’ ability to finance up to 49% of eligible project costs through “low-interest, flexible, long-term loans,” the Department reported Sept. 25. These loans, it noted, “help accelerate project delivery, save taxpayer dollars, and facilitate private investment.”

Operating since 1921, the Cowlitz County-based Port of Longview has eight marine terminals and waterfront industrial property spanning 835 acres on the deep-draft Columbia River, 66 miles from the Pacific Ocean in rural southwest Washington state. The original Industrial Rail Corridor, completed in 2004, connected the Port directly to main line rail service, provided by the Longview Switching Company, a joint venture of BNSF and Union Pacific (UP).

Phase 1 of the Port’s multi-year expansion project comprises the extension of existing tracks, construction of six new 8,500-foot tracks, and the addition of a new six-track embankment to allow for future expansion, according to the USDOT. New crew access roads and other supporting infrastructure will also improve safety, it said. Additionally, the improvements will support the redevelopment of the Berth 4 Grain Complex, a future revitalization project planned by the Port.

According to the USDOT, the project will “eliminate congestion from the overburdened two-track system,” and “drive economic growth by attracting more private investment and increasing export capacity for commodities such as grain and timber, as well as generating an estimated $2.8 billion in annual activity and $66 million in tax revenues, which are crucial for the rural area’s rapidly transitioning economy.” This will also help meet growing domestic and international market demands, the USDOT said.

In addition to the loan, the project is being funded through a combination of federal, state, and local funds that have already been committed, respectively, $18.6 million, $9 million, and $9.7 million. The total estimated project cost is $73.3 million. Construction began earlier this year, and substantial completion is expected in 2028.

“Embracing innovative financing by utilizing TIFIA has enabled the Port of Longview to expedite delivery of these critical upgrades and open the door to new commercial opportunities and economic development that might not have been possible otherwise,” Build America Bureau Executive Director Morteza Farajian, Ph.D, said. “Additionally, because this project is located in a rural area, they were able to take advantage of our Rural Projects Initiative and borrow at half of the already low U.S. Treasury interest rate, unlocking even more value and millions of dollars in savings.”

“The Port is grateful to the USDOT for its support through the TIFIA loan, which will advance our Industrial Rail Corridor Expansion Project and strengthen the Port’s role in regional economic growth,” Port of Longview CEO Dan Stahl commented.

Separately, the Port of Benton in Washington state recently achieved Class I track status for its Southern Connection, a 16-mile short line rail network that spans from the UP main line near the Columbia Center Mall in Kennewick to the north end of the Horn Rapids Industrial Park in Richland.

The post Port of Longview Lands $35.9MM Federal Loan for Rail Expansion appeared first on Railway Age.

NCRR launched the Back-on-Track Disaster Recovery program last year to provide aid within FEMA-designated disaster areas to Class II and Class III railroads for infrastructure repair and/or wage support, to local rail-served industries for site recovery and operations assistance, and to local nonprofit Economic Development Organizations (EDO) in need of operations support.

Citizens across seven Western North Carolina counties—Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Swain, Watauga, and Wilkes—benefitted from this funding.

Premier Magnesia LLC, which was acquired by Raleigh-based heavy building materials provider Martin Marietta in July, received $3 million to offset transportation costs after Hurricane Helene’s flooding damaged its Waynesville, N.C., plant and washed out nearby rail lines, according to NCRR. The disruption forced the company to truck in raw materials at higher costs for seven months.

“NCRR’s support helped stabilize our supply chain during a critical time,” commented Matt Haynes, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Operations. “It allowed us to keep production moving while rail access was down.”

Flooding also hit Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Fletcher, N.C., destroying its grain offloading system. Two feet of mud and silt covered the building, breached railcars, and damaged the rail spur. Sierra Nevada benefited from up to $900,000 in Back-on-Track funds to repair its spur and cover temporary trucking costs of the malt barley, according to NCRR.

“The support was fast, helpful, and arrived exactly when we needed it,” said Mandi McKay, Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer. “It kept our operations intact and helped us support the broader community.” McKay noted that “NCRR’s recovery program ensured rail remained viable—something that aligns directly with our company values.”

In recognition of the Back-on-Track program, NCRR earned a 2025 Excellence in Economic Development Gold Award from the International Economic Development Council. NCRR representatives were honored earlier this month at the IEDC 2025 Annual Conference in Detroit, Mich.

“Back-on-Track is more than a grant; it’s a commitment to North Carolina’s people and economy,” NCRR President and CEO Carl Warren summed up. “Strategic support and swift action helped protect jobs, restore operations and keep supply chains moving.”

The post NCRR: Helping Businesses ‘Get Back on Track’ appeared first on Railway Age.

At Norfolk Southern (NS), railroading runs deep. It often spans generations of the same family. Across our network, you’ll find parents, children, grandchildren, and more who have all proudly called themselves railroaders, continuing a legacy built on grit, pride, and purpose.

These families are more than employees. They’re part of our foundation. Their shared history and commitment help drive our success and shape our culture.

In Enola, Pa, the Gault and Williams families represent this tradition in true Thoroughbred fashion. Their story is a powerful reminder of the legacy that lives on in the people who keep our railroad moving—generation after generation.

The post Watch: NS Generations on the Rails appeared first on Railway Age.

SacRT on Sept. 24 announced the launch of the Transit Connect app, a new regional fare payment system that gives riders a “faster, easier, and more flexible” way to pay for transit. With the Transit Connect app, riders can purchase and activate tickets anytime, anywhere using their smartphone—eliminating the need for cash, paper tickets, or ticket machines.

The first phase of Transit Connect launches with SacRT full-fare mobile ticketing only. Discount fare options and Yolobus fare products are scheduled to be added in early November. This first phase introduces mobile ticketing, along with rider-friendly features such as stored value wallet to load funds directly in the app and group ticketing to purchase multiple fares at once.

Future upgrades will expand the Transit Connect app to include additional transit partner integrations and add new features like scan-to-pay for faster boarding, fare capping so customers never pay more than the daily max, and the ability to load cash at fare vending machines and convenience stores.

“SacRT is proud to launch the Transit Connect app, which will make it easier than ever for people to travel throughout the Sacramento region,” said SacRT General Manager and CEO Henry Li. “Our riders deserve a seamless, modern experience that makes it easier to connect to the entire region, and the Transit Connect app provides exactly that.”

Powered by Masabi, a global leader in mobile fare payment solutions, the Transit Connect app, SacRT says, “lays the groundwork for a seamless and unified transit payment system for the Sacramento region.”

“Mobile ticketing is transforming public transit worldwide by putting convenience and simplicity first,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “We’re excited to partner with SacRT to deliver Transit Connect, helping riders across the Sacramento region access a modern and connected experience.”

To use the Transit Connect app, riders simply show their activated ticket to a bus operator or fare inspector, just like with the current ZipPass app, which will be phased out later this year. For riders currently using Connect Card (including state workers) full integration is expected as part of phase two in 2026.

On Friday, Sept. 19, LA Metro officially began passenger service on the Glendora to Pomona extension of the Meto A Line.

It was a truly historic day for the San Gabriel Valley, with thousands showing up for the opening day ceremony, community events at each station and to ride the new A Line extension, noted the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (also known as the Metro Gild Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority). Among those in attendance were past and present elected officials at all levels of government who helped make this historic day possible; the Foothill Gold Line and Metro boards and staffs; the project’s design-build team of Kiewit-Parsons; higher education officials; community stakeholders; and the media.

“The Construction Authority again would like to thank the residents, businesses and students of Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne and Pomona for your patience and understanding over these past five years as this important project was completed. We look forward to riding this new extension with you.”

A view recap of the opening say is available below.

Denmark-based global consulting group COWI announced Sept. 25 that it has been appointed lead designer by Connect Plus Partners (Connect+) as part of the design build contract for the Phase 2 – Tunnelling and Structural Shell of the Second Avenue Subway Expansion in New York.

The Second Avenue Subway program, COWI says, is designed to deliver a modern, efficient, and attractive transit system, with the primary goals of improving access on Manhattan’s East Side—particularly for the East Harlem community—reducing congestion on the existing 4-5-6 line running under Lexington Avenue, and enhancing mobility for residents, workers, and visitors across New York City. The $1.972 billion design build construction contract, awarded to Connect+, a joint venture of Halmar International and FCC Construction, will extend the Q Line north from 96th Street to 125th Street, delivering critical new rail capacity and multimodal connections in Manhattan.

Phase 2 comprises approximately 1.5 miles of twin running tunnels, station shell construction at 116th and 125th Streets, and reuse of an existing tunnel segment originally built in the 1970s, providing significant savings. The project also includes above-ground ancillary buildings for ventilation, mechanical, and electrical systems, with opportunities for ground-floor retail and community uses. The contract awarded to Connect + and COWI includes design, engineering, scheduling, coordination and construction of the tunnelling and structural shells that will make up Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway Program.

Phase 2 is a transportation option that is long-awaited by the residents and businesses of East Harlem, the company noted. This project will restore a subway line to the neighborhood, adding three new ADA-accessible stations at 106th, 116th, and 125th Streets. It will significantly improve mobility for commuters and residents of East Harlem, reduce congestion on the 4-5-6 line, and enhance overall system reliability.

“Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway is one of the most significant infrastructure projects in the country,” said COWI North America Executive Vice President Thomas Dahlgren. “By extending service north to 125th Street, MTA is restoring rapid transit to East Harlem for the first time in more than 80 years, reducing crowding on the current subway line under Lexington Avenue, and improving daily mobility for more than 100,000 riders.”

As lead designer for Phase 2, and with support from a team of design subconsultants, COWI says it will apply its expertise in tunnel design and transit facility rehabilitation to manage all aspects of the project scope. This includes bringing industry knowledge, innovation, and technical depth to one of New York City’s most significant infrastructure investments.

“This is a technically complex job in one of the world’s most challenging underground environments. Our role is to bring the depth of COWI’s global tunnelling and underground design expertise to ensure constructability, safety, and efficiency are embedded in every stage of delivery. With 50 years of U.S. experience and the support of more than 450 tunnel design professionals worldwide, we have one of the largest and most specialized teams in the industry. That scale and knowledge give us the capacity to manage every aspect of design for a project of this size and importance,” Dahlgren added.

Construction is expected to begin in early 2026, with tunnel boring operations launching in 2027 and overall contract completion anticipated in 2030.

The union representing Montreal transit maintenance workers warned Sept. 24 that “more strike days could be added after accusing the city’s transit agency of not negotiating in good faith,” according to a Montreal Gazette report.

According to the report, more than 100 maintenance employees of STM demonstrated outside the agency’s head office on Wednesday. Four more strike days can be exercised by the union between now and Oct. 3., unless a deal between maintenance workers and the STM is struck, The Gazette reports.

Bruno Jeannotte, President of the Syndicat du transport de Montréal–CSN, said “discussions with a mediator were continuing, but had not yet reached the stage of appointing an arbitrator.”

We are making progress on certain points,” he said.

François Enault, a Vice President with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), said the dispute “centers on subcontracting, atypical schedules and wages,” according to the report. “We’re ready to try to find an agreement. But right now, the employer is not acting in good faith,” he said. “We’ve been waiting months. If there’s no movement, we’ll increase the mobilization and the strike.”

Enault emphasized that “subcontracting remains the sticking point.” He argued that the STM “is looking to save money by outsourcing maintenance tasks that unionized workers already do.” In a statement, STM spokesperson Renaud Martel-Théorêt said “intensive negotiations had begun this week.” He said the union sought wage hikes of about 25% over five years, along with bonuses and other conditions. Martel-Théorêt said it would cost the STM $300 million more than its budget. The STM is offering 12.5% over five years, including an inflation-linked adjustment, according to the Montreal Gazette report.

Martel-Théorêt added that since last week the STM “has not received any further details from the union regarding its wage demands.”

Despite the tension, the agency said, “commuters were better prepared than during the first strike day Monday thanks to clearer communication,” though it acknowledged the service disruptions caused “a lot of headaches,” according to the report.

Labor Minister Jean Boulet told TVA that an arbitrator could be named “as early as Thursday morning if both sides agree to it.”

More information is available here.

Crisis workers will soon be stationed on TTC Line 1 subway platforms as part of a new safety pilot, according to a CP24 report.

According to the report, officials say deployment will start as soon as Nov. 15 and that Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS) staff will be embedded 24/7 at Spadina, Union, and Bloor-Yonge stations.

Transit users can report an incident through the SafeTTC app, speaking to TTC staff, or by calling 211.

The plan, CP24 reports, is to scale the $540,000 pilot to $1.8 million annually, though Mayor Olivia Chow acknowledged “funding is not yet confirmed.” She is urging City Council to support the initiative in the upcoming budget, calling transit safety a “top priority,” according to the report.

“Transit needs to be safe and feel safe. Bringing crisis workers on to the platform as a resource for riders will help us respond to incidents faster and prevent them,” Chow said, noting that 78% of mental health calls are resolved without police involvement.

The post Transit Briefs: SacRT, LA Metro, COWI, STM, TTC appeared first on Railway Age.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced Sept. 23 that the Pennsylvania State Rail Plan is available for public review and comment between now and Oct. 24.

The State Rail Plan (download below) is updated every four years, in collaboration with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), as well as stakeholders and the public. The plan, which focuses on safety, passenger and freight rail, funding, policy, the environment, and economic development, also evaluates and documents opportunities for improvement and growth in passenger and freight rail over the next 25 years to guide investments.

“With more operating railroads than any other state in the country, rail is a critical part of Pennsylvania’s transportation landscape,” said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “Through this comment period, Pennsylvanians can share their visions for passenger and freight rail across the commonwealth, and we look forward to their feedback.”

A virtual public meeting to discuss the plan will be held on Oct. 16.

The post PennDOT State Rail Plan Available for Review appeared first on Railway Age.

The proposed $1.1 billion MetroLink Green Line to expand light rail in St. Louis, Mo., will be canceled and other transit projects, including Bus Rapid Transit, will be considered for the corridor connecting Jefferson Avenue, Chippewa Street, and Fairground Park, according to St. Louis Public Radio and other local media outlets.

The 5.6-mile north-south Green Line (see a map at right and a project video below) would have linked to the existing MetroLink light rail service at a new transfer station near Scott Avenue.

The project was slated to connect residents to growing job centers in Downtown West and Midtown, as well as to educational opportunities and healthcare services.

As part of this project, 12 new light rail vehicles and a dedicated maintenance facility at the existing Ewing Yard were proposed. 

“The project would have been uncompetitive and out of reach for the city’s current funding stream, St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said in a statement,” St. Louis Public Radio’s Chad Davis reported Sept. 24.

“‘It’s imperative we have a project that meets our objectives and qualifies for federal funding, which is necessary to make the project viable,’ Spencer said. ‘Unfortunately, the Green Line, as proposed, has a $1.1 billion price tag for just 10 stations and less than 6 miles, making this project out of reach for our current funding stream and uncompetitive for federal funding.’”

“Spencer said she looks forward to looking into other transit projects, including looking into bus rapid transit opportunities in the Green Line corridor,” according to Davis’s report. “‘I’m excited to explore what bus rapid transit, along with a multi-modal component, can offer our citizens, visitors and the competitive federal grant administrators,’ Spencer said.”

Bi-State Development (BSD) has been responsible for leading the project planning, design and construction; it was expected that once the Green Line was built, Metro Transit, a BSD enterprise, would operate and maintain it. The City of St. Louis has been working with BSD and its Project Management Consultant, Northside-Southside Transit Partners (a joint venture of HNTB, KWAME Building Group, and KAI 360 Construction Services), “to make sure each step of the federal planning process is followed and that the public is involved,” according to the Green Line project website. City residents voted in 2017 for a tax increase to support light rail expansion on the north-south corridor.

According to the St. Louis Business Journal, BSD “says in new documents that the train orientation was unlikely to win key federal funding.” The BSD Board, it reported, “is set Friday [Sept. 25] to consider amendments to its agreement” with Northside-Southside Transit Partners. “If the board approves, it will instead work on a ‘bus rapid transit’ plan along the same line,” according to the Journal.

St. Louis Public Radio reported that Cara Spencer and BSD five months ago “paused plans to develop the north-south track”. Spencer “said then that she was concerned about costs and whether the track was likely to receive federal funding”; BSD “was able to continue its environmental review of the MetroLink plans but ceased applying for federal funding” through a Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grant (CIG), according to the news outlet.

St. Louis Public Radio said that the expansion application was approved last year under the FTA’s New Start Program; a CIG “could have covered up to 60% of the funding.” The environmental review and 30% design would need to be completed before a CIG could be awarded. 

According to the St. Louis Business Journal, “A Bi-State official said Tuesday [Sept. 23] the agency did not submit for the grant. Bi-State CEO Taulby Roach previously said the window to submit for that grant would have been in August.”

BSD “was ‘directed’ to start planning for a potential bus route … , documents slated for approval by the agency’s board Friday said,” the Journal reported. “A Bi-State official did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday.”

According to St. Louis Public Radio, BSD “held public events on the [light rail] expansion and said two years ago that competing for federal funding would be a competitive process.” The news outlet noted that in early 2024 “there were 26 transit projects waiting to apply for federal funding and 33 others that still needed a rating to apply for funding across the country.”

“The decision to choose light rail over electric buses often involves a trade-off between long-term benefits (e.g., capacity, permanence) and upfront costs,” according to the Green Line project website, which has not been updated to reflect the change in plans. “While light rail vehicles are more expensive initially, they historically provide higher capacity and attract more riders.”

The post Reports: St. Louis Light Rail Expansion Project to be Sidelined appeared first on Railway Age.

Reposted with permission from Trains magazine: Of all the bylines to grace Trains magazine’s pages over its 85-year history, likely none matches the record of transportation journalist and railfan Don Phillips, whose monthly column ran in the publication in two separate stints between 1977 and 2018, and whose feature stories covered everything from the creation of Amtrak and Conrail to Staggers Act deregulation to the Norfolk Southern steam program. His contributions were an essential part of the magazine for more than 40 years.

For much of that time he was also regarded as one of the nation’s top transportation journalists, with more than 20 years covering the subject for the Washington Post and the Paris-based International Herald Tribune, an affiliate of the New York Times. (Editor’s Note: Don also did some writing for Railway Age, as well as Transit Connections, a former Simmons-Boardman publication. Railway Age Capitol Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner provides commentary on his fellow journalist, following Kevin Keefe’s. – William C. Vantuono)

Phillips died Tuesday, Sept. 23, after a years-long illness. He was 83.

Phillips traced his interest in railroading to his childhood in Birmingham, Ala. It was a good time to grow up in the Magic City, served by such classic fallen flags as Frisco, the Southern, and Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast, all of which served the city’s monumental Terminal Station, a place Phillips grew to love.

He also made regular visits to relatives in Carbondale, Ill., where he developed a strong attachment to the Illinois Central and its 2500-series 4-8-2 steam locomotives and orange-and-brown streamliners. It became his “private Camelot,” he later said.

The young railfan subscribed to Trains in June 1956 and quickly became an admirer of Editor David P. Morgan. Phillips later credited Morgan with inspiring him to visit the Norfolk & Western, “to see the last of the big show,” meaning steam. It was on the N&W — at Pusher Siding near Vinton, Va., in November 1958 —that Phillips met his future best friend, photographer Victor Hand. Both were 16.

Phillips described their friendship as unlikely: “He was a brash kid from Brooklyn and I was a slow-talking kid from Alabama. By all rights we should have just said hello and passed on to other things.” They went on to travel the world together, mainly photographing and writing about steam railroads.

Not long after his encounter with Hand, Phillips went to college at Alabama’s Auburn University, where he studied journalism, edited the student newspaper Auburn Plainsman, stringed for several local weeklies, and worked briefly at the Atlanta Constitution. Upon graduation he joined United Press International’s (UPI) Atlanta bureau in 1966, covering Georgia state politics as well as Southern Railway’s attempt to win the state’s contract to operate the Atlanta-Chattanooga Western & Atlantic.

Phillips’s beat at UPI included the colorful Gov. Lester Maddox, a relationship he later mentioned in Trains. “Although Lester Maddox and I got along most days, I have the distinction of being thrown bodily from his office by Lester himself when I asked a question he didn’t like at a news conference.” Phillips was named manager of the Atlanta bureau in 1968 and soon received a transfer to UPI’s Washington bureau.

While still in the Atlanta bureau, Phillips made his first contribution to Trains, a report on the status of Atlanta & West Point 4-6-2 No. 290, in the January 1966 issue. Over the next few years came several memorable feature stories, ranging from a report on the Georgia Railroad’s surviving mixed train (September 1967) to an analysis of why the Southern at first stayed out of Amtrak (October 1974) to a profile of Chinese railroads under Mao (November 1972). And Phillips was often provocative: A December 1975 story asked, “Could Trucks Replace the RF&P?”. The author concluded, “Sadly, it’s not a silly question.”

Perhaps Phillips’s highest-profile cover story came in January 1971, when he explored President Richard M. Nixon’s personal and political ties to railroading. The story —“Richard M. Nixon: Rail Romantic” —was Morgan’s idea, not Phillips’s, but he gamely accepted the assignment. It caused a stir, given Nixon’s status as a politician, but the story itself was a marvel of reportage.

Phillips gained national prominence as a transportation writer when he joined the Washington Post in 1986, working there 19 years. After leaving the Post he spent nearly two years writing for the International Herald Tribune.

The transportation beat gave Phillips a front-row seat at a wrenching time, marked by deregulation across not only railroading but also aviation and trucking. He covered changes in federal transportation policy, the mega-merger era in the railroad industry, the growing use of super-size trucks, as well as a string of grievous, precedent-setting accidents, about which he also reported for Trains.

The latter included the infamous Jan. 4, 1987, wreck near Chase, Md., in which Amtrak’s New York-bound Colonial plowed into a Conrail local that strayed onto the Northeast Corridor main line, killing 16 people. The accident led to major changes in the railroad industry’s drug-testing policy. Phillips also reported extensively on the crash of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited at Bayou Canot north of Mobile, Ala., on Sept. 22, 1993, as well as the explosive loss of TWA flight 800 over Long Island on July 17, 1996.

Much of his experience at the Post informed his column in Trains, which began in the August 1977 issue under the name “The Potomac Pundit,” a moniker the ever-alliterative Morgan came up with and Phillips gladly accepted. Although the column mainly focused on the effect of Washington policy on railroads, Phillips sometimes followed his railfan muse and veered off in other directions.

In his first column, Phillips went to some pains to explain his wouldn’t be a railroad column, but a transportation column. “I am not here to promote the railroad industry. I am here to give you information and informed opinion that will allow you to decide for yourself what is right and wrong for the industry. Information —not propaganda —is power.”

Thus began a long run of “Pundit” columns, during which Phillips often ruffled the feathers of readers from various quarters: railroad management, card-carrying union members, even railfans and their pet interests. The column became a must-read.

However, inexplicably, Morgan terminated Phillips’s column —along with that of longtime “Professional Iconoclast” contributor John G. Kneiling —after the March 1986 issue. Then, just six years later, J. David Ingles, Morgan’s successor, revived the column in February 1992. As Ingles wrote at the time, “Suffice it to say we’ve wanted to bring Don Phillips’s learned views back into Trains regularly for a long time.”

Back in the saddle as columnist, Phillips continued to report on the industry from the Beltway perspective in an era marked by mega-mergers, changes in operational philosophy, and advances in communications and motive-power technology.

For most of his second act, Phillips’s column lost the “Pundit” title and was simply listed as “Don Phillips” or, later, “Commentary” with Phillips’s byline. Rescued from the encumbrances of being the pundit, Phillips was free to explore more personal themes, ranging from a love letter to the late railroad artist Ted Rose to his re-discovery of his old teenage photographs to a lament for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus train.

In May 2018, then-Editor Jim Wrinn discontinued the column, but Phillips found new venues for a column under the heading “Capitol Lines” for Railfan & Railroad and a revived “Potomac Pundit” for Passenger Train Journal.

Like any good journalist, Don Phillips didn’t take himself too seriously. When Dave Ingles brought him back in 1992, Phillips noted dryly: “MacArthur returned to the Philippines. Amtrak returned to Wyoming. Freddy returned to Elm Street. And now Phillips has returned to Trains.” In the end, Phillips’s second act on the magazine was as potent and entertaining as the first.

Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner, whose friendship with Phillips dated to the 1970s, recalls that the late former Surface Transportation Board Chairperson Linda Morgan “had two media pets—Phillips and David Cawthorne of the Journal of Commerce—to whom she fed ideas that had consequences. Such was reflected in a Phillips bylined article in the Jan. 20, 1997, Washington Post revealing Morgan favored a split of Conrail between CSX and Norfolk Southern when the two were hellbent on winning 100% control for themselves. 

“In 1986, Conrail had rebuffed a $1.9 billion purchase offer from NS. A decade later, in October 1996, CSX announced it had reached agreement with Conrail for its purchase at $8.1 billion, with NS, in a hostile bid, upping the ante to $9.1 billion. Another of Phillips’ sources, the late NS official Jim McClellan, relayed to Phillips that CSX Chairperson John Snow had responded in a phone conversation with NS Chairperson David Goode, ‘This is war’—McClellan suggesting CSX and NS were in ‘hand grenade’ tossing distance in recognition of their corporate offices at the time only 90 highway-miles from each other in Richmond and Norfolk, respectively.

“As CSX and NS fought, Conrail stock levitated, the question becoming, ‘how high’ would these two competitors bid. When Morgan invited Phillips to her office, Phillips knew something was up. Morgan laid out her partition plan, Phillips wrote, the Post published, and two months later, in March 1997, Snow and Goode chose financial sanity and agreed, as Morgan suggested, to a joint acquisition price of $10.2 billion for Conrail—all in cash ($20 billion in 2025 dollars). 

“Phillips later revealed that frequent lunch partner McClellan—who almost weekly made the trek from Norfolk to Washington that included a tête-à-tête with Phillips—had taken the lead in drawing the partition map, which is roughly how the two were subsequently split as approved in 1998 by the STB. Crucial to approval was Morgan’s demand for preserving rail-to-rail competition that resulted in competitive access at the Port of New York, Philadelphia and Detroit through a jointly owned subsidiary, Conrail Shared Assets.” (Editor’s Note: At the time, Wilner was chief of staff to STB Vice Chairperson Gus Owen).

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The Port of Benton has achieved Class I track status for its Southern Connection, a 16-mile short line rail network that spans from the Union Pacific main line near the Columbia Center Mall in Kennewick, Wash., to the north end of the Horn Rapids Industrial Park in Richland, Wash., and is leased to Columbia Rail for management, maintenance, and operation.

This follows the completion of “major construction projects,” the Richmond, Wash.-based Port reported Sept. 22. Its rail line (see map, right) was acquired from the U.S. Department of Energy in 1998. The region’s industries are said to ship the second-highest tonnage of goods (primarily frozen fries and feed for local dairies) in the state—1.3 million tons annually—on the Port’s line.

Since 2015, the Port said it has invested “substantial resources” into revitalizing the track. The most recent improvements include the replacement of five road crossings and the installation of 3,400 new ties.

The Port also reported that it is in the process of contracting for a $9.56 million federal grant through the Rebuilding America Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program, now referred to as the 2025 Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program. Combined with $2.4 million in matching funds from the Port, the grant will support replacing approximately four miles of what it called “undersized, 75-plus-year-old track,” upgrading two additional crossings, and installing roughly 9,000 additional ties. The project was announced earlier this year. (Download details from the U.S. Department of Transportation award document below. Search Port of Benton.)

These upgrades, scheduled to begin next summer and wrap up by the end of 2027, will allow the track classification to move to Class 2 status, allowing train speeds to increase from 10 mph to up to 25 mph and “significantly improving safety for both trains and the public,” according to the Port, which noted that vehicle delays at crossings are expected to drop from more than 15 minutes to as little as four minutes.

“This investment marks a transformative moment for our region’s infrastructure,” Port of Benton Executive Director Diahann Howard said. “We’re not only improving safety and efficiency but also laying the groundwork for future economic growth.”

Additionally, the Port is following its Comprehensive Plan (scroll down to download), the Port of Benton and City of Richland Rail Master Plan, City of Richland/Port of Benton North Horn Rapids Area Master Plan, and Port of Benton Transportation Improvement Program to plan a rail intermodal facility or inland port on undeveloped industrial land in north Richland in partnership with the City of Richland  (scroll down to download rail intermodal facility plan). 

UP and BNSF serve the Port, which handles agricultural products, breakbulk, bulk, heavy lift, project cargo, and ro-ro (roll-on/roll-off).

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Keith Andersen has joined PNW Railcars, Inc. (PNWR), a subsidiary of Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc., as Chief Commercial Officer.

He is responsible for driving revenue growth and strengthening operations at the full-service railcar leasing, maintenance, and management company headquartered in Portland, Ore.

Andersen, based in Chicago, has more than 30 years of experience in railcar leasing and operations, plus expertise spanning the full range of railcar asset types. He served previously as Senior Vice President of Sales for Wells Fargo – First Union Rail and spent much of his career in senior leadership roles, most notably as Executive Director of Sales and Leasing at Wells Fargo Rail and its predecessor organizations. Andersen holds an M.B.A. from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.

“We are thrilled to bring Keith on board at PNWR,” said Andy Vestergaard, CEO of PNWR. “Keith’s industry experience and long track record of commercial leadership will be a great benefit to us and our customers.”

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