Caltrain to test first electrified trainset this month
Caltrain will begin testing its first seven-car electrified trainset this month at the Stadler Rail manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City. With the half-mile test track, power poles and electrical transformers installed, connecting of overhead wires to transformers is now being completed. Trainsets will be tested for two months. Caltrain’s current electrification project will power the rail corridor from San Francisco to San Jose, California, and replace 75 percent of Caltrain’s diesel service with electric trains. [progressiverailroading.com]
COVID-19 fast tracks projs in San Francisco and other cities
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) crews are taking advantage of a 90 percent drop in ridership and early station closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic to work on capital improvement projects. Service reductions related to the COVID-19 pandemic are enabling transit authorities across the US to get a headstart on planned construction programs, among them Chicago’s Metra and LA’s Metro. [progressiverailroading.com | rtands.com]
A look at Amtrak’s next CEO
Amid a national health crisis, Amtrak is set to seat its 12th president/CEO. William J. Flynn is the retired CEO of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings. Like his predescessor, Richard Anderson, Flynn has no prior passenger rail experience however his broad career has spanned ocean shipping, freight railroading, logistics and air cargo. Flynn, who joins Amtrak as it reels from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, has faced crisis before having maintained Atlas Air’s profitability following the 2008-2009 recession. [trains.com]
A new rail authority in Virginia could revolutionize connections for riders throughout the state
After decades of railroad corporations’ stranglehold on Virginia’s rail expansion plans, a new mandate could permanently transform transportation across the state. With the creation of a long-awaited Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (VPRA), the Commonwealth joins the elite handful of states that support a legal entity with a mandate to own, manage, and expand rail infrastructure for the public good and the benefit of businesses across the region. [ggwash.org]
Passenger numbers on Tokyo’s Yamanote Line plummeted 70% over weekend
The number of passengers on Tokyo’s Yamanote loop line plummeted Saturday and Sunday to 30 percent of the total for the same weekend last year. The plunge came after governors in the Tokyo region called on people to avoid nonessential travel to help contain the coronavirus. Prior weekend passenger traffic on the normally busy belt line was 65 percent of the year-before level. [japantimes.co.jp]
