Two bridge projects that were put on hold about two months ago are back on track, The Medina County, Ohio, Gazette reports. Bob Sullivan, spokesman for CSX Transportation, said the company is working to secure funding to proceed with work on the bridges over the tracks at Rivers Corners Road in Homer Township and at Pawnee Road on the border of Homer and Harrisville townships. The project includes rebuilding the bridge at Rivers Corners to allow for taller, double-stack trains to pass underneath, and demolishing the bridge at Pawnee and vacating the road with a detour at Simcox Road.

North Shore construction work will cause much of the intersection of Allegheny Avenue and Reedsdale Street in Pittsburgh to close starting Jan. 25. The closing is due to the ongoing construction of the North Shore Connector light rail project. The intersection is scheduled to remain partially closed through Feb. 10.

Work on Caltrain's Grade Crossing Improvement Program, which will enhance safety at 25 grade crossings in San Mateo County, will continue at the following locations: Main Street, Redwood City, Jan. 24-25; Watkins Avenue, Atherton, Jan. 24-25; Fair Oaks Avenue, Atherton, Jan. 25-28; and Oak Grove Avenue, Menlo Park, Jan. 24 - 25 Throughout the project area, at least one lane of the impacted street will remain open. Flagmen will direct traffic and pedestrians around the construction.

Axion International Holdings, Inc., a next-generation technology company utilizing recycled plastic for high-load industrial products, said that demolition has begun of the current structures at the Ft. Eustis Army Transportation Corp. military base in Virginia in order to replace those spans with two new railroad bridges made almost entirely from Axion's 100-percent recycled plastic structural products.

Illinois DOT I setting up the first ever business exchange with Chicago area small businesses to connect small disadvantaged businesses (DBEs), many minority- and women-owned enterprises, with the CREATE partners and the rail industry to explore opportunities for near-term and future business partnerships.

Frankfort, Ill., trustees this week hired an engineering firm to design safety devices at the village's Canadian National Railway crossings, the Chicago Tribune reports. The $14,000 contract was awarded to Hamilton Consulting Engineers to plan and supervise construction of safety features, such as lights and crossing gates, at the street-level railroad crossings in Frankfort, Trustee Dick Trevarthan said. Six of the crossings are public and one is privately owned.

Norfolk Southern is clearing land for a planned intermodal train terminal even as attorneys for Montgomery County try to block the project's state funding, the Roanoke Times reports. A demolition contractor leveled a house Jan. 18 and a barn Jan. 19. One more house, vacant like the first to go down, is scheduled to be razed, as well. A silo visible from U.S. 460/11 will come down later this month, according to heavy equipment operator Randy Dickenson.

BNSF employees in the greater Seattle area have cleared at least five mudslides the week of Jan. 18 after El Niño showered heavy rains on the area, the railroad's employee newsletter reports. At one area, between Seattle and Everett, Wash., on the Scenic Subdivision, crews were working to clear tracks after three separate mudslides in the same area brought commuter traffic to a halt.

A group of farmers from Rathwell, Man., Canada, and the surrounding area are hoping to purchase a shortline railway to keep their grain shipments on track, the Central Plains Herald Leader reports. Harold Purkess, a retired farmer from Holland, who is interim president of River Hills Railroad Inc., said the organization is made up of a group of farmers and interested individuals who are investing in the project and preserving their rail line.

BNSF Railway Company announced a planned 2010 capital commitment program of $2.4 billion, which is expected to be approximately $240 million lower than 2009 due to fewer expected locomotive acquisitions in 2010. BNSF currently expects to spend about $2.1 billion for track, signal systems, structures, and freight cars, and to upgrade technologies, including the unfunded mandate for positive train control. The Company also anticipates acquiring approximately 170 locomotives at a cost of about $320 million.