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New York Mayor picks NS, CSX to operate Staten Island RR

NEW YORK – New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced on Friday that CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads have been conditionally designated to jointly operate the Staten Island Railroad.

The new joint rail service will place Staten Island’s Howland Hook Marine Terminal on the same competitive level as other major ports in the region.

"The rehabilitation of the Staten Island Railroad is another significant step towards lowering transportation costs for goods manufactured in New York City, as well as lowering the high costs of goods brought into the City," the Mayor said.

The City has invested $11 million towards rehabilitating the Staten Island portion of the railroad. The rail line has been largely inactive since 1992.

Union Pacific to spend $1.4 billion on Texas, Louisiana infrastructure

DALLAS – Union Pacific Corp. said today that it plans to spend more than $1.4 billion over the next five years on infrastructure in Texas and Louisiana. This year UP says it will spend $160 million.

In a filing with the Surface Transportation Board (STB), UP said the planned investments were the result of a strategic evaluation of railroad operations, infrastructure requirements and customer needs along a 530-mile corridor running between San Antonio and New Orleans.

The upgrading of track, ties, ballast and signaling will cost $830 million. Upgrading the Houston terminal will cost $63 million. Line capacity expansion will cost $285 million, and $161 million will be spend at regional terminals, including Dayton and Strang, Texas, and Lake Charles, La.

Valley transit proposal hits rough road

LOS ANGELES – A proposal to form a separate transit zone in the San Fernando Valley was assailed last week by opponents who said it was a potential union-busting tactic.

The UTU represents operators in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Agency.

During a vote to fund a study of the proposal, which passed 11-2, heated debate erupted. Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, who represents the Hollywood area, said the proposal was aimed at "lowering wages of drivers and mechanics . . . and that is a very serious thing for us to be involved with."

Goldberg said MTA can save money by looking at its "overpaid middle managers" and it’s "Taj Mahal" headquarters.

A consultant said that by creating a separate transit agency for the Valley, MTA could save 40% of current costs and that a separate agency abiding by current MTA contracts could still save 21%. A formal application for create a separate zone is probably six months away.

BMWE blames poor track maintenance for Conrail accidents

PITTSBURGH – While Conrail says it will take a year to determine the cause of a rash of local train derailments here, a BMWE officers says that poor track maintenance was a frequent cause of the accidents.

"Conrail doesn’t have enough people doing track maintenance. They just don’t care," said Sean Daly Ferris, vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Federation of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees.

"That’s not true," counters Conrail spokesperson Robert Sullivan.

The FRA and NTSB are investigating the recent derailments. Twenty passengers and one crewmember were injured when an Amtrak train hit a derailed Conrail freight car on April 13 in Freedom. Three days later, eight Conrail cars derailed near East Rochester. Two hours later, four cars were knocked off the tracks in the Conway yard. On April 28, 28 cars derailed on the northern edge of Latrobe. No one was injured.

BNSF to lay new track in Spokane Valley

SPOKANE, Wash. – Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad will begin laying new track in the eastern Spokane Valley in July.

The new line will stretch 11 miles between Otis Orchards and BNSF’s switching station in Hauser, Idaho. Its cost is $14 million.

Sacramento residents want UP to do more clean up

SACRAMENTO – Last week more than 100 residents here crammed City Hall to demand that the Union Pacific Railroad do more to clean up toxic waste problems at a railyard that is being converted to residential land.

Residents want UP to adhere to maximum cleanup standards on all land intended for residences, but UP only wants to do it on some land. The land is contaminated with arsenic and lead and housing is slated to be rezoned for a variety of housing.