Longtime Georgia short line executive Benjamin Tarbutton Jr. dies
Benjamin Tarbutton Jr., who spent 65 years at his family’s short line, the Sandersville Railroad Co. in Sandersville, Ga., has died at the age of 90. Tarbutton, a U.S. Navy veteran who served during the Korean War, served at president, vice president, and director during his career at the railroad, where he worked daily until age 89. He also was founder and president of the Georgia Railroad Association, and was a director of the American Shortline Railroad Association (now the American Short Line and Regional Rail Association. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; three children, including his sun Ben Tarbutton III, current president of the Sandersville Railroad and member of the ASLRRA board of directors; and seven grandchildren. A full obituary is available here.
Ed Harris, CSX executive vice president, to retire
Veteran railroad executive Ed Harris will retire as executive vice president at CSX Transportation on Aug. 1, 2020. Harris, who began his career in 1968 on the Illinois Central, spent more than a decade working with the late E. Hunter Harrison and current CSX CEO James M. Foote during implementation of Precision Scheduled Railroading at Canadian National. Harris joined Canadian National when the IC was acquired by CN in 1998, and reached the position of executive vice president of operations before retiring in 2007. He then spent time as an independent consultant to railroads including CSX, CN, Canadian Pacific, and Genesee & Wyoming before joining CP as executive vice president and chief operations officer in 2010-11. He joined CSX in January 2018. “On behalf of the board of directors and everyone at CSX, I want to thank Ed for his tremendous contributions to this company,” Foote said in a press release. “When I was entrusted to lead CSX in December 2017, the first phone call I made was to Ed Harris, because I knew that there was no better railroader to help with the transformation of CSX and guide the continued implementation of our operating model. Two-and-a-half-years later, CSX is operating better than at any point in its history. For this, we extend to Ed our utmost gratitude and respect, and wish him all the best in retirement.”
Vancouver, B.C., transit ridership jumps
Ridership for the TransLink transit system in Vancouver, British Columbia, has jumped by 85% from its early-April low in the last week, although it remains at just 33% of pre-COVID-19 levels. From a low of 1,396,000 boardings the week of April 5-11, systemwide ridership reached 2,578,000 between May 31 and June 6. That included 918,000 on the two SkyTrain lines and 6,000 on the West Coast Express, a 200% increase. “I’m very pleased to see our customers gradually returning to the transit system,” TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond said in a press release. “We’ve worked hard to ensure our customers have confidence in transit by developing the Safe Operating Action Plan, which keeps our services as safe and reliable as possible.”
