Representatives of the Metropolitan Council and the University of Minnesota have reached agreement on a plan to protect university research facilities from vibration and electromagnetic interference (EMI) caused by the Central Corridor light rail transit project.

The agreement came after a lengthy series of mediation sessions conducted by retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Lebedoff. The pact still requires approval by the full Met Council and by the University Board of Regents.

The lengthy agreement specifies the mitigation systems that will be used to protect university labs from vibration and EMI, establishes performance standards for those systems, provides for testing and monitoring to ensure compliance and provides for remedies if the standards are not met.

As part of the agreement, the University will grant the temporary and permanent easements required for the Central Corridor project and drop the lawsuit it filed against the project in September 2009.

The 11-mile, $957 million LRT line will operate on University and Washington avenues between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis, connecting with the existing Hiawatha line near the Metrodome. Construction of the project already is underway and is scheduled for completion in 2014.

As discussed previously, the agreement calls for the installation of:

• Floating slabs under approximately 1,450 feet of both tracks at various locations along Washington Avenue between Pleasant and Harvard Streets to absorb train-caused ground-borne vibration that might adversely affect University research labs.

• Dual-split power supply beneath about 3,150 feet of tracks along Washington Avenue between the east end of the Washington Avenue bridge and Ontario Street to cancel out train-caused EMI that might adversely affect University labs.

The agreement also establishes a framework for LRT construction activities, including limits for noise, dust and vibration during construction.

Gulf & Ohio Railways, Inc., is set to acquire the Lancaster & Chester Railway Company. The L&C Railway operates 62 miles and hauls primarily agricultural products, building supplies, chemicals, minerals and steel for customers in Chester and Lancaster Counties, S.C.

Gulf & Ohio Railways, headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., operates 203 miles on seven short line railroads in North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama.

The Lancaster & Chester will continue to keep its name, blue and white color scheme, logo and "The Springmaid Line" tagline.

The acquisition is expected to be finalized in November and is subject to STB approval.

The FRA recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) related to concrete crossties.

In the NPRM notice posted in the August 27 edition of the Federal Register, the FRA is proposing "...to amend the Federal Track Safety Standards to promote the safety of railroad operations over track constructed with concrete crossties. In particular, FRA is proposing specific requirements for effective concrete crossties, for rail fastening systems connected to concrete crossties, and for automated inspections of track constructed with concrete crossties." FRA is also proposing to remove the provision on preemptive effect.

FRA requests that any comments on the proposed new concrete crosstie regulations be received by October 12, 2010. To view the entire NPRM, visit:

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480b3b3d6.

SEPTA announced a pilot project that would capture electricity generated by braking subway trains, similar to how a hybrid automobile produces power when it slows down.

The electricity will be stored in a large, railside battery array and reused when the train accelerates, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The system is expected to reduce electrical power purchases 10 percent to 20 percent at each location of the batteries, said Andrew Gillespie, SEPTA's chief engineering officer for power.

The power-storage system is potentially so large - each battery array would store one megawatt of power - that SEPTA could further reduce its electric bill by buying cheap power at night to use or resell during expensive peak hours.

And SEPTA also could collect fees from the regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection L.L.C., by providing power on short notice - one or two seconds - to stabilize regional power flows on the grid.

The pilot project, involving a single battery array at a SEPTA electric substation in Kensington, would cost about $1.5 million.

The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority is underwriting the project with a $900,000 grant. Viridity will underwrite the remaining capital cost, Zibelman said.

If the project proves economic - Viridity estimates one battery array will generate $500,000 a year in value - SEPTA envisions installing the technology at all 33 electric substations that serve its subway and trolley lines.

The system will take advantage of regenerative-braking capacity already installed in the Market-Frankford Line and SEPTA's electrified buses and trolleys.

When applied, the brakes now convert the train's kinetic energy into electricity, which is transmitted into the third-rail system for use by other trains.

But when there are no other trains nearby to consume the electricity, the power is lost. Excess electricity from the brakes is converted into heat that is dissipated from vents in the carriage rooftops.

About half the power produced by the regenerative brakes is now lost, Gillespie said.

SEPTA says the batteries, in addition to capturing the regenerated power that is now lost, will help increase the system's electrical efficiency and stabilize the voltage - it operates on 600-volt direct-current power.

Norfolk Southern Corp. has announced a five-year goal to reduce its carbon footprint through fuel-savings technology and improvements in operating efficiencies.

In a statement, NS said it plans to lower its greenhouse gas emissions per revenue ton-mile 10% by 2014, compared with 2009 emissions.

“Establishing this goal is an important step toward fulfillment of Norfolk Southern’s objective to achieve industry leadership inenvironmentally responsible business practices,” said Blair Wimbush, vice president real estate and corporate sustainability officer. “Disclosing our carbon footprint last year was the first step. Now, we move forward with an aggressive yet realistic goal, and we have the tools to measure our progress toward attaining it.”

In 2009, Norfolk Southern transported 158.5 billion ton-miles of freight, producing 4.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, mostly from diesel-burning locomotives. Emissions per revenue ton-mile were 30.0 grams. Using 2009 as the baseline and at the same traffic level, a 10% reduction of emissions—to 27.0 grams per revenue ton-mile—would result in 475,000 fewer metric tons going into the atmosphere annually by 2014.

Wimbush said the company's emissions reduction strategy will focus on ways to achieve better fuel economy, including purchase of new, more fuel-efficient locomotives; continued deployment of idle-reduction and trainhandling technologies; and refined engine maintenance practices.

Further efforts will address direct and indirect emissions from energy used for heating, cooling, and lighting buildings and other facilities on the railroad. Nearing completion is a systemwide lighting upgrade that is reducing electricity consumption, and the company continues to adjust its nonrail vehicle fleet to save fuel and emissions.

In addition, Norfolk Southern expects significant efficiency gains from its major infrastructure improvement projects, such as the Heartland and Crescent corridors.

Earlier this week, NS’s Heartland Corridor Clearance Improvement Project was awarded the 2010 Dr. William W. Hay Award for Excellence during the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) Annual Conference and Exposition in Orlando, Fla.

No commodity hauled by rail even approaches coal’s more than 45% of all tons originated; and coal also represents 25% of rail freight carloads. United Transportation Union Alternate National Legislative Director John Risch says coal is so important to UTU-member job security—responsible for some one of every five freight railroad jobs—that he puts coal in the Christmas stockings of his children.

Citing the linkage of American coal, railroad prosperity, and railroad jobs, Risch earlier this week told the Environmental Protection Agency, which is considering new regulations on coal, to be “very careful how you regulate coal because of its tremendous economic impact.

“In addition to coal's railroad-job creating importance,” said Risch, “coal provides almost 60% of America's energy—energy that might otherwise have to be imported from nations not friendly to the United States and our way of life.

“Much of our nation’s rail infrastructure has been upgraded and maintained from coal revenue,” Risch told the EPA panel, “benefitting shippers of other commodities as well as Amtrak intercity trains that travel over freight railroad track.”

Additionally, Risch told the EPA, if opponents of coal succeed in pricing coal out of the market through extensive and expensive new regulations on coal burning, emissions and ash disposal:

* Tens of thousands of rail jobs will be lost.

* Thousands of miles of the intercity rail network will be abandoned or downgraded.

* Hundreds of communities will be adversely impacted.

* Shippers of other commodities will lose rail access.

* Untold numbers of more heavy and dangerous big trucks will be added to the already overburdened and deteriorating U.S. highway system.

By reaching a mitigation agreement with Long Grove, Ill., late last week, Canadian National Railway has come to terms with 23 of the 33 municipalities along the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, many of whom expressed concern or outright opposition to CN’s acquisition of the latter.

Under CN’s agreement with Long Grove, CN will provide funding to Long Grove for maintaining a quiet zone as well as safety training. Long Grove lies northwest of Chicago.

The Surface Transportation Board approved the acquisition on Dec. 24, 2008, with conditions, and CN began operating over the EJ&E early in 2009. But several municipalities, forming the umbrella group The Regional Answer to Canadian National (TRAC), filed an appeal of the STB’s decision. While opposition and the organization still exist, CN’s step-by-step approach to the situation appears to be slowly outflanking those still protesting the acquisition. 

Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation Tuesday unveiled a $12 million plan for a passenger rail station in the state capital, Madison, to be used by future regional and presumed higher-speed passenger rail services.

The state and Madison officials are negotiating a cost-sharing agreement for the station’s construction. WisDOT spokesman Paul Trombino says the state would own and operate the station.

The $12 million in funding comes for a $24 million appropriation to build passenger rail stations between Madison and Milwaukee. About $5 million has been allotted each to Watertown, Oconomowoc, and Brookfield, the latter a Milwaukee suburb, but plans for a station at Oconomowoc have been dropped.

Milwaukee is served by Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service trains and the Empire Builder; Madison has no passenger rail service.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said Tuesday it has won a $12.5 million engineering services contract from Phoenix’s Valley Metro Rail, Inc. for the Central Mesa Light Rail Extension project. The project will extend LRT 3.1 miles through downtown Mesa, a Phoenix suburb. Jacobs will provide both preliminary and final engineering services for the project.

Jacobs expects the project to take approximately two years to complete and will be followed shortly thereafter by construction. The extension is scheduled for completion in 2016.

Said Jacobs Group Vice President Robert Clement in a statement, “Jacobs is very pleased to be involved in the Central Mesa Light Rail Extension project and proud to support METRO's overall efforts to improve transit in the greater Phoenix area.”

At present, Valley Metro's LRT service ends in western Mesa, just across the border from neighboring municipality Tempe, Ariz.; the 3.1-mile addition will extend the line further east. Mesa, unlike some Phoenix-area suburbs, has been consistent in its support for LRT access.

Valley Metro began revenue operations on its current 20-mile route on December 27, 2008. 

The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) has named TranSystems' Frank Miller as the new Chair for Committee 17: High Speed Rail Systems. Miller begins a three-year term and new duties effective immediately.

Miller is vice president of passenger rail and transit for Kansas City, Mo.-based TranSystems, a transportation consulting firm.

Miller already has outlined a number of initiatives on which he would like Committee 17 to focus for his three-year term. "First, we need more authors contributing to our reference manual content, which is becoming more comprehensive," he said. "Second, we need to make sure our large membership of nearly 90 professionals stays active and involved with the committee. Third, we need to lead the way in developing and maintaining high speed rail recommended practices for which high speed rail design and construction can be applied here in the United States."

Currently a subcommittee chair on Committee 11: Commuter and Intercity Rail, Miller also has previously served as the vice chair for one year and secretary for two years for Committee 17.