De Blasio Differs With Congressman on 2nd Avenue Subway

Well, as expected NY City Mayor De Blasio differs with what Congressman Carolyn Maloney says about 2nd Avenue SUBWAY completion.

Never hear great comments about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from Mayor De Blasio. Maybe he wants to return to the “old days” when subways were run by the city? Does not realize Governor Cuomo runs the MTA is because he has far deeper pockets?

A look inside: GE’s new office at The Banks has no offices

DOWNTOWN – Walking through General Electric Co.’s new office space at the Banks is akin to having a front-row seat to corporate transformation.

GE’s office building, ironically, is office-free. There are dozens of different types of workspaces available from partitioned desks to huddle rooms and multipurpose spaces with telepresence capabilities to a rocking chair in front of a window that overlooks Smale Riverfront Park and the Ohio River.

Floor-to-ceiling windows on each floor are standard. A grab-and-go cafe, game rooms, fitness center, building-wide WiFi and a landscaped outdoor seating and dining area are amenities more commonly at startup offices than those for a 124-year-old corporate giant.

Yet the new building offers GE the chance to reinvent its image in the eyes of workers, many of whom are new to the company. Only 20 percent of GE’s workers in Downtown Cincinnati are internal transfers. At the same time, the company’s global operations division wants to reshape how GE does business around the world.

GE Global Operations was established in 2011 to streamline the company’s operations and accelerate innovation. The Cincinnati center joins three others currently operating in China, Hungary and Mexico.

Standardizing functions in finance, human resources, information technology, supply chain management, legal and sales operations and also co-locating people who work in those roles could help GE become more nimble, company officials said. On a third-floor wall of the building, passers-by can see GE’s goal of being the world’s foremost digital industrial company.

Ridership and revenue grow on Hoosier State Train

The Hoosier State welcomed 2,428 riders in September, a 46 percent increase from September 2015 and the fifth straight month that ridership exceeded the same period in 2015. Ticket revenue totaled $82,324 in September – a 64 percent increase from September 2015 – marking a full year of revenue exceeding the same months the prior year.

On-time arrivals between Indianapolis and Chicago averaged 86 percent in August and 82 percent in September. Yesterday CSX Transportation replaced the manual switch near the Crawfordsville station with a new switch that is expected to cut 8 to 15 minutes from a one-way trip.

INDOT and the on-line communities contract with Iowa Pacific Holdings to provide the train equipment, train maintenance and new on-board amenities. Under a separate contract, Amtrak serves as the train operator, works with host railroads, provides train and engine crews, and manages ticketing and reservations.

Weekly Wisdom 25 August

MiddleMe

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A dialogue

Perspectives on Life, the Universe and Everything

ask for more,
ask for the dear symphony,
say I accept your words oh dear darling,
now put some random passionate love and lust,
let’s travel the world while sitting in each other’s arms,
let’s see the universe in a blink,
In each other we sink
fly to the sun,
Just as it sets in the sea
smile till we sleep,
laugh till we weep,
long each other’s body and soul,
the whole, nothing is left untouched

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Baker Hughes, A GE Company

A compelling, transformational combination

 The best partner to Oil & Gas customers … offering solutions based on
complementary equipment & services technology across the full spectrum
of the oil and gas value chain

 More innovative solutions to market faster and more cost effectively …
Baker Hughes’ leading products and services with GE Oil & Gas highly
differentiated manufacturing capabilities

 Best-in class physical + digital technology … combine Baker Hughes
domain expertise, technology and culture of innovation with GE Store and
GE industry-leading Digital Platform

 Value creation for customers and shareholders … positioned to weather
short-term volatility and participate in industry upcycle

Impact for Baker Hughes shareholders

 Ongoing ownership in a stronger, more competitive
business

 Cash dividend of $17.50 per share equal to 30%+ of
undisturbed share price

 Participation in substantial value creation through
synergies

 Revenue growth driven by increased customer touch
points

Deal overview

Merge GE Oil & Gas with Baker Hughes … GE owns 62.5%, new Baker Hughes owns 37.5%
+ Create new, publicly traded company with separate investor base
+ GE to contribute $7.4B to fund cash dividend to Baker Hughes shareholders upfront
+ Close expected mid-2017 … ~$.04 accretive to GE EPS in 2018

Combination of GE Oil & Gas & Baker Hughes establishes a new industry leader
+ 2x scale, complementary capabilities, more diversified
+ Can weather the cycle in short term & over time; significantly levered to recovery

Platform is positioned to deliver substantial customer value
+ Technical solutions  productivity
+ Best digital platform
+ Global execution

Synergy opportunity is substantial … cost and revenue
+ ~$1.6B synergies (~$1.2B cost & ~$0.4B revenue)

Disciplined capital allocation … O&G long-term fit for GE
+ Essential industry & fits GE Store

Efficient transaction structure using like-for-like equity with modest cash outlay
including disposition proceeds

See More about this transaction

Judge Approves ‘Historic’ $265M Settlement In 2015 Amtrak Derailment

A federal court judge in Philadelphia has signed off on a $265 million settlement program for all pending claims in connection with the May, 2015 Amtrak Train #188 derailment.

Lawyers involved in the Amtrak 188 litigation believe it’s the largest payout of its kind in the US, since the federal damages cap for railway accidents was previously $200 million.

Victims will be compensated now, rather than the 3-5-years he estimates it would take to litigate more than 125 pending cases.

Investigators looking into the Amtrak 188 derailment concluded that the engineer accelerated the train to 106 miles per hour, instead of slowing to the 50-mile per hour limit on that dangerous curve. They say he lost his bearings likely because he was distracted by radio talk about a SEPTA train struck by rocks.

Loranger Mill, Dearborn, Michigan

John Cowgill's Literature Site

This  is  the  Loranger  Mill  at  The  Henry  Ford  Greenfield  Village  in  Dearborn,  Michigan.

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In The Spirit Of The Holiday

The Tony Burgess Blog

In the spirit of Halloween and Christmas perhaps adults can remember what it was to be a child. This is a time when they can use their imagination, pretend to be someone else and to have some fun. Maybe we can rediscover a sense of wonder and play…perhaps a some innocence too. There is too much about life we take to seriously but sometimes we need to let our hair down and have some peace in the chaos.

Happy Halloween everyone.

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Brian Blade | drummer

Jazz You Too

Brian Blade

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