Additional Friday morning rail news:
SEPTA to bring back service on Chestnut Hill West line in March
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will resume operation on its Chestnut Hill West Regional Rail line in March with a “restricted service schedule.” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the service — suspended last spring when Regional Rail operations were reduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic — will resume March 7. SEPTA General Manager Leslie S. Richards said there will be “several trains” operating between 6:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. While other commuter lines saw some resumption of service, the Chestnut Hill West line remained shut down because of Amtrak construction that would have made service “unreliable,” a SEPTA official told the newspaper. Specifics of the new schedule have yet to be determined.
Alstom completes acquisition of Bombardier, creating company with 75,000 employees in 70 countries
Alstom’s acquisition of Bombardier Transportation becomes effective today, creating a company with 75,000 employees in 70 countries with revenue of about 15.7 billion Euros ($19.06 billion) and an order backlog of 71.1 billion Euros ($86.3 billion). In a press release, Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge says completion of the acquisition creates “a new global leader centered on smart and sustainable mobility” that can help the world “address the great challenges of urbanization, equal opportunity to economic development, and climate change … Our responsibility, tighter with the 75,000 people of Alstom today, is to transform our unique set of assets created by this transaction into the enabler of the necessary transformation.” More details are available here.
NRC announces 2020 Safety Awards
The National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association has honored member companies with its 2020 Safety Awards. In a news release, the organization says the award winners “are commended for their extensive efforts to promote and improve safety throughout the railway contracting industry, especially while confronting the challenging and historic COVID-19 pandemic.” Twenty-six companies received the Platinum Award, for 100% scores based on six criteria including Workers’ Compensation experience, work-related injuries and illnesses; OSHA statistic violations, and worker protection training. Twelve received the Gold Award (scores of 80-99%) and six received the Silver Award (70-79%). The complete list of winners is available here.
