Thursday midday rail news:
Ford plant in Mexico hit by rail blockade
Operations at Ford’s auto plant in Hermosillo, Mexico, and cross-border import-export traffic are being affected by a rail blockade in Mexico, the automaker said Wednesday. Reuters reports the blockade in the border state of Sonora by the indigenous Yaqui community, demonstrating for land rights, has affected traffic at the Mexicali-California and Nogales-Arizona border crossings. Mexican railways association AMF reports the blockade had as of Wednesday stopped about 15 trains with 150,000 tons of cargo, causing losses of more than $3.4 million.
MTA buys 25 hybrid locomotives for subway work trains
New York City Transit will purchase 25 electric-diesel hybrid locomotives for work trains under a contract approved Wednesday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors. The new MotivePower Inc. R255 locomotives will be built at Wabtec’s Erie, Pa., plant, and will replace diesel locomotives built between 1966 and 1977. They will reduce or eliminate emissions in the confined work spaces of subway maintenance and construction projects. The $233 million contract is funded from the MTA’s 2015-2019 capital program. It includes an option for 45 additional hybrid locomotives at a future date. The board also approved a $28 million contract to convert 10 R77E electric locomotives to diesel-electric units for work-train use until the new locomotives arrive.
NJ Transit receives 245,000 face masks for customers
NJ Transit has received a donation of more than 245,000 cloth face masks for customers from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Adminstration. Customer service offices at major NJ Transit terminals will have a limited supply of masks available for those who forget face coverings, and the agency’s customer service ambassadors have been handing out the masks at stations.
