Dec. 3-5, Metro in
Washington, D.C., will upgrade its track and stations to improve long-term
reliability and service. As a result of this crucial work, which is critical to
maintain the railroad in a state of good repair, trains on the Red and Orange
lines will be single-tracking, and riders should expect their trips to take up
to 30 minutes longer than usual.
Progress Rail Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Caterpillar Inc., has announced its acquisition of C&S Signaling LLC, a
signaling business serving the railroad industry, based in Crestwood, Kentucky.
The acquisition strengthens Progress Rail’s position in grade-crossing warning
system design, material management and signal installation and maintenance.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
URS
Corporation, as part of a team with Mott MacDonald and Grimshaw, has been
awarded a contract by High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd. to provide engineering design
services for the development of a proposed high-speed rail line between
Birmingham and Manchester in the U.K.
The Société de transport de
Montréal (STM) presented its Triennial Capital Expenditures Plan outlining the
estimated C$1.9 billion in expenditures planned for 2011-2013 and their effects
on subsequent years. Such investments are needed to replace or upgrade
equipment and infrastructure that already have or will reach the end of their
service life in the next few years, including métro railcars and a number of
buses, among others.
Agreements between Huron
Central Railway and the federal and provincial governments are being finalized,
paving the way for infrastructure improvements along the rail line, the Sault
Star reports. Sault Ste. Marie CAO Joe Fratesi said Huron Central will sign
separate agreements with the federal and provincial governments that will see C$15
million from each level of government flow for the upgrades.
In December, Metro in Washington,
D.C., will conduct major track work on all the Red, Blue, Orange and Yellow
lines to help maintain the rail system in a state of good repair and help
improve service reliability. All weekend projects will impact travel times.
Metro
will not conduct any track maintenance work during the Christmas and New Year’s
holiday weekends.
Fourth Street in downtown
St. Paul is reopened to traffic after crews substantially completed utility
relocation and road construction the day before Thanksgiving. In December,
crews will finish installing pavers, lights, traffic signals and pole foundations
for the overhead system of wires that will power the light-rail trains.
Work will continue on the
new pedestrian underpass at the Santa Clara station. The underpass will connect
the north- and southbound platforms, allowing two trains to pass through the station
at the same time and improving safety for pedestrians in the station. Passengers
at the station are boarding the train from a temporary platform. The temporary
platform will be in use for approximately six months.
Dallas
Area Rapid Transit (DART) has deployed the SightLogix® video intrusion
detection system to provide perimeter security and prevent vandalism at the
transit system’s Northwest Rail Operations Facility (NWROF).
Light rail won’t be
operational until May, yet many local residents already want it extended, The
Virginian-Pilot
reports. A recent survey of local attitudes found that more
than 91 percent of respondents want to see light rail go beyond Norfolk’s
7.4-mile starter line.
BNSF and the State of
Illinois have reached a preliminary agreement on how to spend $45 million in
state funds to upgrade the rail network at Galesburg, Ill., to help passenger
and freight trains operate efficiently on the shared track system, The Journal
of Commerce reports.
One of Canada’s oldest
industries could open new markets to Asia without the need for an expensive or
controversial pipeline to the West Coast, executives from both major railroads
said, the Calgary Herald reports.
A Mississippi man is
concerned about a railroad bridge he believes is too dangerous for trains to
cross, local television news reports. Adam Webb visits the Coldwater River
often, and is fearful of a bridge located along Highway 178 in Olive Branch,
Miss. Webb believes the bridge is going to collapse under the weight of a
train.
The town of Middlebury,
Vt., is applying for a $15,000 federal grant to plan for a local, passenger
rail station in anticipation of ramped-up train service along the western part
of the state, the Addison Independent reports.
The December 6 opening of
the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Rail Green Line means more than just
transportation from 15 new locations, it is the addition of 15 new pieces to
the transit agency’s acclaimed public art collection.
Los Angeles’ Metro will
hold a Community Open House on December 1, in the City of Hawthorne, Calif., to
update the community on various proposed sites for a maintenance facility
selected for environmental review as part of the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor
Project light rail line.
A deteriorated CTA bridge
on the Red Line has an important story to tell about the health of the rail
system’s viaducts, the Chicago Tribune reports. Each day, thousands of CTA
elevated trains operate across 564 bridges, many 80-to-100 years old.
In July 2005, former
Sioux Falls, S.D., Mayor Dave Munson stood on the east bank of the Big Sioux
River near the white monolith of the abandoned Zip Feed Mill, the Sioux Falls
Argus Leader reports. He looked west toward downtown and at rows of railroad
tracks before him and imagined the future. In his mind, new retail,
residential, commercial and entertainment development enlivened the east bank.
The tracks were gone.
The following closure is
required to perform construction related to the supporting piers for the new
Metrorail extension in the Miami area: Two-month closure of SR 112/Airport
Expressway westbound exit ramp to NW 27th Avenue.
The Chicago Transit
Authority joins the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), Illinois
Department of Transportation (IDOT), Metra and Pace to present the 14th Annual
Transportation Symposium & Business Exchange. The symposium takes place on Tuesday, November 30 at the
Chicago Hilton and Towers.