Friday morning rail news of note:
— A state auditor’s report says NJ Transit is at risk of failing to meet the Dec. 31 deadline for positive train control implementation, NJ.com reports. The report released Thursday said the cost of PTC has reached $500 million; criticized the commuter railroad for leaving deterioring bridges off its priority repair list, and said more than for 18,000 trains delayed since 2017 because of circumstances NJ Transit could have prevented. (The full report is available here.)
— Amtrak announced work would begin in February on a pilot project to rehab Baltimore’s 147-year-old Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel [see “The Overshadowed Tunnel,” February 2020 Trains]. Work will be conducted over eight weekends with “minimal service impacts,” the passenger railroad said.
— The Wyoming legislature will once again consider a law that would require two-person train crews in the state, KPVI-TV reports. A similar bill failed to pass in 2019. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Stan Blake (D-Green River, Wyo.), a Union Pacific employee.
— A federal judge found for Norfolk Southern and the Association of American Railroads in a case over citations for blocked grade crossings in Kentucky, the Commonwealth Journal reports. As in similar cases in other states, the judge ruled that federal law supercedes a state law that crossings can not be blocked for more than five minutes.
— Pacific Surfliner and Coaster commuter rail service will be interrupted this weekend between San Diego and Oceanside as stabilization work resumes on trackside bluffs in Del Mar, Calif., KNSD-TV reports.
Off the subject—can we again have the news for the entire week, not just two days?
For years states like Virginia and Montana had laws requiring cabooses on the rear of trains that lasted into the 1980s. However, railroads are not likely to simply comply anymore.
I would think that like many of the smaller states, that in Wyoming, the legislature is only part time.
I am curious how a Union Pacific employee can also serve as a full time legislator in their state?
He of all people should know that crew counts are an issue of labor agreements and the STB. Not state law.
In regards to the pending Wyoming bill for a 2 person crew, I don’t see any different results than the next paragraph for NS and AAR, that Federal law supercedes state law, in regards to railroads. I am not in the RR business, but not in favor of 1 or zero person crews, although some foreign and local RR’s might do that. Can the $$ saved by not paying 1 person really out weigh the safety involved?