Work on Caltrain's Grade Crossing Improvement Program, which will enhance safety at 25 grade crossings in San Mateo County, continues in Burlingame, Menlo Park and Atherton. Throughout the project area, at least one lane of the impacted street will remain open. Flagmen will direct traffic and pedestrians around the construction.

Unitrac Railroad Materials, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Healey Railroad Corporation and a specialty trackwork manufacturer and distributor of new and relay rail, has received the contract to supply 72 panelized turnouts for the Evansville Western Railway project located in North Baltimore, Ohio.

The Board of Directors of Caterpillar Inc. elected Douglas R. Oberhelman to the offices of Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Elect, effective January 1, 2010. Oberhelman, 56, currently serves as Group President of Caterpillar with responsibility for the company's engine and gas turbine businesses, human services, rail services and remanufacturing divisions. As Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Elect, Oberhelman will take on the additional responsibilities of managing the leadership transition and updating the company's strategy.  

North Coast Railroad Authority Chairman, Allan Hemphill said that $40 million in repairs to 62 miles of the Northwestern Pacific railway between Napa County and Windsor have been completed. He said Federal Railroad Administration inspection of the repairs to trackway, crossing signals, and bridges between Windsor in Sonoma County and the national rail interchange (Lombard), located North of American Canyon in Napa County, will take up to 90 days.

Global Rail Systems, Inc., a Marlin, Texas-based railroad automation company, said that Vossloh has acquired a majority interest in the company, effective October 16, 2009. Vossloh is a global player in the rail technology markets. The acquisition of Global Rail Systems complements Vossloh's three other U.S.-owned companies: Vossloh Track Material (formerly Pohl Corp.), Cleveland Track Material, Inc., which manufacture track switches, and Vossloh Fastening Systems America Corp., based in Chicago. Under terms of the agreement, Global's management will remain in place.

A recent study by the SouthEast Commuter Rail Development Board confirms what Crete, Ill., Mayor Michael Einhorn said he's known for years: that commuter rail service to the southeast suburbs is necessary, according to the Southtown Star.

Whether trains or buses will roll along the abandoned North Shore Rail right-of-way on Staten Island will be decided in the coming months, after the MTA said it has hired a consultant to evaluate the options, the Website SILive.com reports. SYSTRA Engineering, Inc., was chosen to conduct the study at a cost of just under $1.5 million. The company has done previous work on the North Shore Rail and West Shore Light Rail projects.

SkyTrain, operated by the BC Rapid Transit Company Ltd., is being recognized as ‘Best Organization' at the Fifth Annual Lieutenant Governor's Awards for Public Safety - BC's highest safety honor.

A 500-yard-long logjam on the San Antonio River at the Victoria-Refugio county line in Texas has been removed, and water is now flowing downstream, Raquel Espinoza-Williams, a spokeswoman for Union Pacific, said, according to the Victoria Advocate. Union Pacific, which owns the bridge where the logjam occurred, had started cleanup earlier this month, when the problem arose because of heavy rainfall.

Thales has selected BelAir Networks for both onboard and trackside Wi-Fi infrastructure for mass transit deployments, including the Bergen Light Rail project in Norway. BelAir Networks is the global market share leader in mesh Wi-Fi for the last eight quarters and is the Wi-Fi equipment provider to North America's largest Wi-Fi networks. The new Bergen Light Rail project, which will serve 380,000 citizens in Norway's second largest city, is slated to launch in 2010.