Expanding on the momentum it built throughout 2009, OnTrackAmerica (OTA), the Philadelphia-based non-profit transportation consultancy is expanding its staff to fully develop its comprehensive agenda for 2010.

There will be no train service along the Long Beach Branch Jan. 30-31 due to the installation of two new MTA Long Island Rail Road bridges over Powell Creek and Hog Island Channel. The $24.5 million project, funded through the MTA Capital Program and Federal Transit Administration grants, will also require the shutdown of train service on four other weekends later this year - March 20-21, March 27-28, May 1-2 and May 15-16.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority marked the opening of AeroTrain, the new underground airport train system at Washington Dulles International Airport, on Jan. 26.

CXT, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of L.B. Foster Company, has been awarded a contract by West Rail Construction to supply 23,000 concrete rail ties for the unloading system at EGT's Columbia River Grain Terminal. CXT plans to start shipment of ties from its Spokane manufacturing plant to the new Longview, Wash., riverside facility in February.

TriMet WES Commuter Rail line marks its first year in service on February 2. Oregon's first commuter rail line connects the Portland suburban cities of Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville with weekday rush hour service.

The commission for the Bay Area's transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency voted 11 to 5 to keep $70 million in Stimulus funds with the Oakland Airport Connector Project. However, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will revisit the issue at a special February 17 meeting.

Two large-scale projects being pursued by Riverport Railroad, LLC, in Savanna, Ill., have the potential to add 350 to 400 new jobs to the Carroll County area, said Jack Koster, Riverport's president and CEO, the Freeport Journal Standard reports. The projects in question will not only create jobs, but generate significant property tax revenue and establish a "Rail Car Mall" serving companies across the U.S., Koster said.

Construction of a second commuter train tunnel under the Hudson River, one of the biggest public works projects under way in the country, could be delayed by issues about the use of eminent domain to take property on the West Side of Manhattan, The New York Times reports.

The Illinois Commerce Commission has granted approval for safety improvements at five grade crossings around the state. ICC OKed the installation of new automatic flashing light signals and gates and roadway approach grade improvements at the N. 9th Avenue highway-rail grade crossing of Norfolk Southern track near Litchfield, Montgomery County The total estimated cost for the new automatic warning devices is $280,806. The Grade Crossing Protection Fund will be used to pay 95 percent of the signal installation costs, not to exceed $266,766. NS will pay all remaining installation costs, as well as all future operating and maintenance costs related to the new automatic warning devices. All work is to be completed by Jan. 6, 2011.

The companies behind a C$400-million proposal to build a second Detroit River rail tunnel have issued a pre-bid notice - a call for companies to prove qualifications - to conduct the environmental assessment for the project, The Windsor Star reports. Borealis Infrastructure and Canadian Pacific Railway, co-owners of the 100-year-old Windsor-Detroit rail tunnel, plan to build an adjacent tunnel to accommodate larger double-stacked railway cars and possibly high-speed cross-border passenger service.