Alaska Railroad schedules four open houses

The Alaska Railroad invites the public to an open house 4:00-6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 11, at the Anchorage Historic Depot at 411 West First Avenue. The venue provides an opportunity to review and comment on a proposed Program of Projects (POP) for 2011. The open house will showcase continuing and proposed capital improvement projects that are in various stages from conceptual planning to engineering and construction. Project managers will be on-hand to explain projects that are located all along the railroad system from Seward to Fairbanks, with an emphasis on projects located in and around Anchorage, Southcentral Alaska and system-wide, including: · Ship Creek Intermodal Transportation Center (Phase Two) · Historic Freight Shed LEED-certified Office Space Renovation (an Alaska first) · Chugach Forest Whistle Stop Service · Whittier Yard Security Fencing · Commuter Rail Opportunities · Port MacKenzie Rail Extension · Positive Train Control · Bridge Replacements and Rehabilitation · Track Rehabilitation, Drainage Improvements and Embankment Protection The Anchorage event is the first in a series of POP Open House events. Open Houses in other locations are scheduled as follows: · Wasilla - 4:00-6:30 p.m., Wednesday, January 12 - Evangelo's Restaurant, 2530 E. Parks Highway. Emphasis will be on projects located in and around the Mat-Su Valley and Southcentral Alaska. · Fairbanks - 4:00-6:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 25, at the Alaska Railroad Depot, 1745 Johansen Expressway. Emphasis will be on projects located in Interior Alaska. · Seward - 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Friday, February 4 - Breeze Inn, 303 N. Harbor Street. Emphasis will be on projects located in and around Seward and Southcentral Alaska. The Alaska Railroad has budgeted approximately $55.9 million in new spending for capital improvements in 2011. About $13.8 million will come from FTA grants. This amount includes a required 9 percent matching contribution from the Alaska Railroad. Other federal funding includes $2.93 million in FEMA-administered grants and $1.38 million in "Stimulus" (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009) funding. ARRC will spend another $23.7 million toward internally-funded capital projects using revenues generated from passenger, freight and real estate activity. Finally, the railroad will spend about $14.1million of funds generated from the sale of revenue bonds that were sold in 2006 and 2007. Bonds are repaid with FTA formula fund appropriations. @font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }