General Information
To build its emerging megaregions, USA should turn to trains
(Source: City Metric, March 27, 2020. The following is an extract from “Designing the Megaregion: Meeting Urban Challenges at a New Scale,” out now from Island Press.) NEW YORK — A regional transportation system does not become balanced until all its parts are operating effectively. Highways, arterial streets, and local streets are essential, and every…
Read MoreOpinion: “A fluid, unknown rail freight market”
(Source: Freight Waves opinion column by Jim Blaze, March 26, 2020) CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — With the coronavirus pandemic as background, let’s briefly examine what the role of the rail freight sector is. How relevant is rail freight’s services during a stay-in place period? What are rail freight’s capabilities at serving the essential survival kit? Full…
Read MoreU.S. Senate passes $2 trillion stimulus bill; rail/transit to receive billions
(Source: Railway Track & Structures, March 26, 2020) NEW YORK — By a unanimous 96-0 vote, the U.S. Senate on March 26 passed H.R. 748, its version of a $2 trillion stimulus package for address the devastating economic and societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Called the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act,”…
Read MoreNTSB: Undetected cracks in tank car led to ethanol release in CSX yard
(Source: Progressive Railroading 03/26/2020) The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined earlier this week that an Archer Daniels Midland Co. rail tank car, while stationed at a CSX rail yard in Fredericksburg, Virginia, released denatured ethanol — a flammable hazardous material — from undetected cracks in the bottom of the tank car’s shell. About 68 gallons of the material…
Read MoreRail Conference seeks benefit improvements in stimulus bill
(Source: Progressive Railroad 03/26/2020) The Teamsters Rail Conference has asked Congress to improve railroad retirement unemployment and sickness benefits as part of the stimulus package to provide economic relief to Americans who are not able to work during the coronavirus pandemic. The conference’s March 24 letter to congressional leaders is part of a larger effort by all rail labor…
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