A look at Wednesday morning rail news:
— Officials in Durham County, N.C., have voted to provide $2.2 million for a study of a possible commuter rail service between Durham and Clayton, N.C. GoTriangle, the transit agency for Durham, Wake, and Orange counties, will also be asking Wake and Johnson counties and the North Carolina Railroad Commission to help fund the study, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. The service would use a state-owned rail corridor and feature intermediate stops in Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville, Cary, and Garner. The service would cost $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion to build.
— The Commuter Rail Coalition is warning that the coronavirus outbreak could disrupt efforts to complete positive train control installation, Politico reports, because of factory shutdowns in China. “Vendors have so far only alerted agencies to the threat, and agencies are exploring whether they have options for alternative sources for any components that might be cut off,” KellyAnne Gallagher, executive director of the coalition, told Politico.
— The Bay Area Rapid Transit system saw an 8% drop in ridership March 2-5, presumably because of coronavirus concerns, which has BART considering the potential financial impact of the outbreak, KNTV-TV reports. Other agencies do not yet have ridership data available, but a Caltrain spokesman told the station that anecdotally, employees have noticed fewer passengers during peak periods. More than 90 coronavirus cases have been reported in eight Bay Area counties, including the area’s first death.
— Continuing problems with transponders needed for positive train control are slowing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s implementation of the technology, the State House News Service reports. A second set of transponders has been recalled by supplier Siemens and will be replaced in the second quarter of this year, the Fiscal and Management Control Board, which oversees the MBTA, was told earlier this week. The MBTA has PTC in operation at some level on 14 of its 15 commuter rail lines.
— At least one person has been killed and 41 injured in a Mexico City subway collision late Tuesday night. The Associated Press reports the accident occurred around midnight at the Tacubaya station, where at least three routes converge. Photographs show part of one train ending up on top of another. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said today that one of the trains apparently reversed into the other. The accident came just before the system shut down for the night, with one train heading to its yard at the end of the day. Twenty-five of the injured were treated at the scene; of the 16 who required hospitalization, only four remained hospitalized a few hours later. None of the injuries were reported to be life-threatening.
— Updated at 1 p.m. CDT to include Mexico City subway accident.
Brett Reid – The Cascades train involved in the crash in Washington state DID NOT have PTC installed yet.
Thank you Steve and Ian. Appreciate it. We’ll give it a try.
You see what happens when you go to a Communist country to make your parts at say $100 then sell it to a U.S. agency or railroad for $5000? Screw them!!!!!! PTC is a joke!!! All these companies and contractors getting rich off cheap bogus parts that’ll fail soon to a government, US as in US not U.S cuz we payin for it. Screw em!!! all of ’em!!!! Wasn’t there a locomotive recently that got into an incident/accident that WAS on ptc? Hmm that was shoved under the rug purty darn quik huh?
Another view of the Mexico City wreck.
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexico-city-metro-trains-collide/
Worst kind of underground accident, the car telescoped into each other.
Mr Kellor, I use a tablet and pop-up ads are nonexistent. Is the problem your browser.
Emory, I recommend using the Brave browser when viewing trains website. Blocks all pop up ads and is highly secure.
The pop-up ads are becoming quite obnoxious – too many and way too varied. Do you need the $$$ that badly? At least, the ads should feature on “X” so we can delete them and read the articles without interference.