Three members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation are renewing and amplifying the call for greater construction oversight of Pan Am Railways' rail-to-truck auto distribution yard off Willow Road in Ayer, Mass., local newspapers report.

The future ain't what it used to be. Back in 1930, the movie "Just Imagine" dreamed of the world of 1980, when everyone has a flying car. Other sci-fi scenarios pictured personal jet packs and individual transit "pods" gliding along monorails, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Union Pacific and Progress Rail Services said that the ultra-clean diesel PR30C-LoNOx locomotive being tested in intermediate line haul service has successfully achieved more than 500 operational hours. The locomotive -- powered by a 3516 Caterpillar engine -- has been retrofitted with a state-of-the-art after-treatment system, making it one of the cleanest locomotives operating in the United States.

There was something poetic about the pouring rain when Union Pacific and Iowa state officials gathered Oct. 1 to dedicate the new Kate Shelley Bridge across the Des Moines River west of Boone, Iowa, The Omaha World Herald reports. It was, of course, a stormy night when the young teenager crawled across a rickety bridge in the dark and rain to stop a train filled with hundreds of passengers from plunging into a creek. That was 1881.

Passenger-rail giant Amtrak has selected a site at the end of Malaga Street, across U.S. 1 and north and west of the Main Fire Station in St. Augustine, Fla., as the site where a new railroad passenger terminal should be built, local media report.

(Statement by APTA President William Millar)

"The ‘Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act' introduced by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) this week potentially offers important new funding to expand access to public transportation and improve our daily travels while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and oil consumption. APTA supports their efforts to move our nation toward a vibrant clean energy economy while controlling global warming.

Sound Transit's design for a commuter rail line from Tacoma Dome Station to Lakewood is dividing city leaders and residents and creating an election-season stir, according to the Tacoma News Tribune. The debate is likely to erupt again when the Tacoma City Council holds a public hearing on the master development agreement between Sound Transit and the city. The council is expected to vote on the issue Oct. 13.

In the Washington, D.C., area, the Waterfront-SEU and Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Metrorail stations will be closed, and the Green Line also will be closed at the L'Enfant Plaza Metrorail station from 10:30 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 9, through Monday, Oct. 12, with no service at these stations for three consecutive days. The Blue and Orange Line at the L'Enfant Plaza Metrorail station will not be affected. Service will resume at all Metrorail stations on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue said that the state submitted the second round of high-speed rail applications for competitive funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. North Carolina is applying for funds totaling more than $5 billion for four projects to help further develop the federally designated Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.