The California Transportation Commission has allocated $950,000 for the Pacific Surfliner-Sea Cliff Siding and Track Realignment project in Ventura County to complete preliminary design and environmental review on the rail subdivision approximately 17 miles south of Santa Barbara.
With trespassing being the leading cause of rail-related fatalities in the United States, Canadian National is marking Rail Safety Week through May 6, 2012, with a public awareness campaign stressing the deadly risks of trespassing on railway tracks and property. CN police are urging the public to call CN Police at 1- 800-465-9239 to report unsafe behavior on railway property.
BNSF honored the accomplishments of employees from across its network at a recent awards ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas. The event recognized BNSF’s Safety Employees of the Year, Achievement Award winners and the “Best of the Best” leaders of teams that showed outstanding safety performance in 2011.
Seattle’s Sound Transit Board of Directors identified potential station locations for staff to study as part of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for light rail between Northgate and the Lynnwood Transit Center. The DEIS will also look more closely at impacts associated with the alignment running along the I-5 corridor.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics added a new safety section to the Multimodal Transportation Indicators that will track seasonal and long-term rail fatality trends. The latest monthly rail data comes from the Federal Railroad Administration. The rail data exclude public grade-crossing accidents, eliminating double-counting that would occur with highway fatalities.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors certified the Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report for the $1.37 billion Regional Connector Transit Corridor Project, a priority transit project that will connect light-rail lines through downtown L.A. and greatly improve connectivity for the entire L.A. County transportation network.
The general committees of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference representing the conductors, trainmen, yardmen, locomotive engineers and rail traffic controllers employed by Canadian Pacific said they have been authorized by their membership to launch a strike against the railway.
RailComm has provided its Track Warrant Control (TWC) System for Chile’s Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE). RailComm’s Domain Operations Controller train control system is used for dispatching and train management at two of EFE’s three dispatching centers.
Members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes have ratified a new agreement with the nation’s major freight railroads, joining 12 other unions that had previously ratified new contracts.
Amtrak is creating a new Emergency Management and Corporate Security department to integrate existing company-wide efforts into a single, cohesive unit to more effectively prepare for emergencies and disasters, mitigate effects and allow for fast and efficient response and recovery.
Officials from the Chicago Transit Authority and the Village of Wilmette will celebrate the 100th anniversary of ‘L’ service to the North Shore community on Saturday, April 28.
Michael Iden, a Union Pacific employee from Chicago, Ill., has been awarded the 2012 John H. Chafee Environmental Excellence Award. U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) was honored with the 2012 John H. Chafee Congressional Environmental Award.
Daniel L. Brown, 76, of Glen Carbon, Ill., born July 29, 1935, in St. Louis, Mo., passed away on Saturday morning, April 21, 2012, at Anderson Hospital in Maryville, Ill.
The National Association of Railroad Passengers 2012 Dr. Gary Burch Memorial Safety Award was presented by the Burch family to three Amtrak employees for their groundbreaking work on the monitoring of track conditions, reducing the risk of accidents and derailments. The award, which honors individuals who have significantly enhanced rail passenger safety, is sponsored by the family of Dr. Burch, who died in a 1991 passenger train derailment in South Carolina.
Koppers Inc., a subsidiary of Koppers Holdings Inc., and CSX Transportation Inc., have agreed to extend their existing sales contract for an additional five years through January 31, 2017. Koppers provides treated railroad crossties as well as other railroad related products and services to CSX.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and the Illinois General Assembly proclaimed July 1, 2012, as Union Pacific Railroad Day in Illinois and honored Union Pacific Railroad on its year-long 150th anniversary celebration.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority Board of Directors approved an updated expenditure plan for the Foothill Extension light-rail project from Pasadena to Claremont. The expenditure plan includes an estimated cost to complete the 23-mile light-rail extension and a timeline for needing funding.
The Chicago City Council passed an ordinance to create the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, a way to leverage private investment for transformative infrastructure projects and guide the city’s renewal of these elements in the 21st century.
“Chicago will be a city that shapes its own destiny,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Nowhere is this more important than with our critical infrastructure needs. The Chicago Infrastructure Trust will allow us to consider transformative infrastructure projects and build a world-class infrastructure for our city.”
Mayor Emanuel announced the Trust on March 1, in an event in which he was joined by former President Bill Clinton.
The trust will provide advantaged financing, enabling each project to customize a financing structure using taxable or tax-exempt debt, equity investments and other forms of support. Each project will be coordinated with the city and its sister agencies’ long-term plan for transformational infrastructure investments.
The Chicago Infrastructure Trust was created with the private sector, non-profit organizations and union leaders. An amended ordinance was submitted this week, which calls for one Alderman to be on the trust’s board and clarifies that the trust will be completely subject to FOIA, Open Meetings laws and the city’s ethics ordinance.
The trust will require City Council approval for all projects and will operate as a non-profit organization as it seeks projects.
The trust passed by a vote of 41-7.
The city of Seattle, Wash., and Sound Transit broke ground on Seattle’s newest streetcar line, the First Hill Streetcar.
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is building a 21st century system linking all of L.A. with mass transit.
