It became clearer that the
state’s high-speed train will run above ground in the Peninsula and South Bay
— including on so-called "Berlin Walls" that some cities fear will
divide their communities and demolish homes and businesses, the San Mateo
(Calif.) County Times reports.
North Charleston, S.C.,
Mayor Keith Summey said it’s urgent the city move forward on its own railroad
plan because the state and just about everyone else with a stake in the new
port terminal is dragging their feet or will never act in the city’s interests,
The Post and Courier reports.
Transportation authorities
in Delaware and Maryland soon will begin studying the possibility of a new
passenger rail line that would run north and south through the First State, The
News Journal reports.
The Maryland Transit
Administration said that Amtrak’s project to replace concrete railroad ties on
the MARC Train Penn Line is proceeding on schedule. Work has been completed
from New Carrollton to north of Halethorpe. As work moves to a new section, the
MARC Train Penn Line schedule will be modified to allow trains to move through
the work area.
New timetables are
available in MARC stations and on-line at www.mta.maryland.gov, but the MTA urges all MARC riders to be aware of
the changes that take effect August 9, 2010.
Businesses
in Grand Forks, B.C., are looking to the city to rescue the Kettle Falls
railway – it’s a question of survival. A recent presentation from the
stakeholder group to the City of Grand Forks proposed that the solution would
be for the city to either purchase the line, or invest in the needed
infrastructure upgrades, or both, The Boundary Sentinel reports.
Construction of the new
parking structure at BART’s Richmond, Calif., Station has begun. The remainder
of the parking lot between 15th and 16th Street on the west side of the station
will be closed starting on Monday August 16th. The bus stop, passenger
drop-off, taxi stand and accessible parking will remain open. Assisted parking
in the parking lot on the east side of the station will provide replacement
parking during the construction.
On or around August 25,
Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project crews will dramatically shift the eastbound
lanes south into parking lots of car dealers and other retailers from the Best
Buy area west to the Dulles Toll Road (Route 267) interchange. This shift will
create the large construction zone that is needed in the median of Route 7 to
build the future Tysons West Metrorail Station. This change involves both the
Westwood Center Drive/Tyco Road and Spring Hill Road intersections where
pedestrians and drivers will need to pay special attention to new lane patterns
and the wider Route 7 crosswalks.
L.B. Foster Company Pittsburgh,
Pa., was awarded a $5.3-million contract by the Northern New England Passenger
Rail Authority (NNEPRA) to supply 5,561 tons of rail for the
Downeaster-Portland North Project. NNEPRA is using a $35-million grant from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help fund the project’s 26.4-mile
track rehabilitation and expansion between Portland and Brunswick, Maine. The
new Downeaster line will offer improved Amtrak service within the area and
south to Boston.
Work on railroad crossings
and rail lines near downtown Fort Worth, Texas, could begin as soon as spring
if the Tower 55 project is awarded federal funding, officials told the
Star-Telegram. Officials from Fort Worth-based BNSF and Omaha, Neb.-based Union
Pacific appeared cautiously optimistic that the project will make the cut for
federal transit grants. A decision is expected in Washington in the fall.
Generators drown out the
quiet, slow moving Elkhorn River these days. It’s a dramatic difference from
the roaring, rushing water as Norfolk, Neb., flooded in June, local media report.
August 6-8, Metro in Washington,
D.C., will upgrade its track on the Red and Green lines to improve reliability
and service. As a result of this crucial work aimed at keeping the railroad in
a state of good repair, riders can expect delays between 20 and 40 minutes.
Railroad maintenance
activities are planned at Batavia Street between Angus and Walnut Avenue
in the City of Orange, Calif., starting on Friday, August 20, at 8:00 p.m., and
continuing until 8:00 p.m. Saturday, August 21. No service delays expected.
Wright County, Iowa,
Economic Development Director Dennis Bowman and Hamilton County Supervisor Doug
Bailey talked to the Wright County Board of Supervisors about a proposed 280-acre
business park in Hamilton County with access to the Canadian National Railway,
the Belmond Independent reports.
A Clinton County, Ohio,
railroad crossing has been called "a dire safety hazard" and a "very dangerous
intersection" by current and former railroad safety advocates, as well as by
one Ohio foundation that works to make the nation’s railways safer, the News
Journal reports.
The BART website
(www.bart.gov) went live with new trip planning functions, including bicycle
directions and station area points of interest that use the Google Maps API. In
addition to walking and driving directions, visitors now can get bicycling
directions between BART and any address using the BART QuickPlanner. They can
also get more information about points of interest near BART stations,
including directions, using the Neighborhood Map tab on any station page.
The North Dakota Public
Service Commission is working to arrange a meeting with BNSF, the City of
Bismarck and Fraine Barracks after residents close to the barracks crossing
complained the work to make the crossing private is taking too long, the Bismarck
Tribune reports.
The train whistles are
still blowing and some residents are frustrated that construction and legal
work are taking so long after the commission signed its order May 19. The order
doesn’t make Fraine Barracks a private crossing by default, but it does make
the crossing private once certain conditions have been met.
BNSF is working with the
city to hash out a contract that will detail what maintenance the city is
responsible for and what liabilities it will have once the crossing is private.
The city is unable to start construction until the agreement is signed. City
officials would not say Wednesday how long they’ve been working on the contract
or when they received it. City Attorney Charles Whitman would not say what
liabilities the city would be forced to take on through the contract. But in an
e-mail to PSC staff, City Administrator Bill Wocken said it "indemnifies the
railroad from almost all real or imagined events."
The commissioners set a
tentative meeting with the three parties for Aug. 24.
Commission Chairman Kevin
Cramer questioned whether BNSF was unhappy with the agreement and "stonewalling
the process."
BNSF’s attorney during
the hearing, Stephen Plambeck, said, "No I don’t think that what’s going on at
all." Rather, he said, the agreement was simply still being worked out.
BNSF did not appeal the
commission’s order, but Commissioner Tony Clark questioned, "how formally that
opportunity was presented to them." Cramer said the company is sufficiently
legally represented to be informed of the process.
Regardless of what is
causing the hold-up, nearby residents want the whistles to stop.
"They’re (BNSF) just
dragging their feet on this and a lot of people in western Bismarck are upset,"
said Highland Acres resident Jim Christianson. "The agreement was signed over
two months ago, and the needed improvements could be completed in less than a
week."
Wocken said the contract
has taken longer to work out than the city desired.
"To say we have not
achieved any real progress at this point would be very close to correct, as the
whistles keep blowing," Wocken said in his email to PSC staff. "We have not
lost our resolve to continue to work of this process, but it is very slow going."
In 1935, Cyrus Holland
founded Holland Co, now Holland LP, to supply railroad car snubbers to the
industry. Today, Holland is celebrating 75 years in the railroad supply
business.
Construction of an
enormous railroad overpass in Colton, Calif., remains on a scheduled late 2011
start, as officials finalize details of a design agreement, The
Press-Enterprise reports. Members of San Bernardino Associated Governments are
poised to agree to the contract for design of the Colton Crossing at the
agency’s monthly meeting.
This month, SEPTA will
undertake a grade crossing renewal project along the Media/Elwyn Regional Rail
Line temporarily closing local roadways to traffic in Delaware County. On
Thursday, August 5, through Tuesday, August 10, Amosland Road will be closed
between Franklin and Highland Avenues near the Morton Regional Rail train
station. Trains at Moylan-Rose Valley, Wallingford, Swarthmore, and Morton-Rutledge
Stations will change boarding location during this time.
Lisa Stabler, former AVP,
Quality & Reliability Engineering at BNSF, joined TTCI’s senior management
team as VP of Operations and Training. Stabler will provide officer level
oversight to TTCI’s Operations and Facilities program, the Safety, Health, and
Environmental program and to the Security and Emergency Response Training
Center.