Telecoms illegally lay cable on Albany ranch, lawsuit says






Telecommunications
companies need to bury thousands of miles of fiber optic cable to meet their
customers’ needs, the Casper, Wyo., Star-Tribune reports. They could approach
tens of thousands of landowners and hundreds of local governments for contracts
and permits, or even seek court-ordered condemnation of property, all of which
would take years and money with no guarantee of success. Instead, they used a
150-year-old industry in Wyoming: the railroads.

Cleveland RTA plans two rail shutdowns June 4-6






Construction projects are
affecting Rapid service June 4-6 on the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit
Authority. On the East Side, from 8 p.m. Friday, June 4, through Sunday, June
6, shuttle buses will replace trains between Shaker Square and Green Road
eastbound and westbound on the Green Line. Reconstruction of the Attleboro Road
grade

Met Council to award first Central Corridor heavy construction contract






The Central Corridor
Project Office in the Twin Cities will recommend a contractor in June for the heavy
construction work for the line’s eastern seven miles. The Metropolitan Council is
expected to make the award June 23.

Rail spur may run near Safford Airport






At its May 24 meeting, the
Safford, Ariz., City Council unanimously voted to instruct city staff to
negotiate selling city land to the Arizona Eastern Railway so it can build a
rail spur to the Safford copper mine, the Eastern Arizona Courier reports.

PB appoints Lucey to head New York operations






Neil Lucey has been named a
senior vice president in the New York office of Parsons. In his new position, Lucey
will serve as area manager for PB’s New York office, responsible for client
management and project performance of all New York operations.

Port Authority, NJ Transit, MTA, MasterCard team up for fare cards






Customers on the Port
Authority’s PATH rail system now can simply "tap and go" with their credit
cards, under a regional six-month pilot program that began today. Eleven of
PATH’s 13 stations (except the Christopher and 9th street stations) have been
equipped with special payment readers, allowing riders to tap a contactless
credit card or other device like a key fob to pay fares.

Two Arizona light-rail projects to begin






Last summer, the sagging
economy spurred Phoenix to indefinitely delay construction of the northwestern
extension of Metro light rail, The Arizona Republic reports. But to prepare for
future light-rail construction, work in the corridor continues, in July the
city plans to begin two projects that will beautify 19th Avenue frontage roads
near Bethany Home Road and Dunlap Avenue. Motorists will see road restrictions
for several weeks starting in August.

Denver RTD adds to its senior leadership team






Denver Regional
Transportation District General Manager Phillip Washington noted the completion
of recruitments for several key RTD positions. These recruitments have been
under way since February as part of GM Washington’s reorganization and
restructuring of the agency, and will not require an increase in headcount.

Washington, D.C., Metro sets June weekend track maintenance schedule






Each weekend in June, there
will be major track work taking place to address Metro’s priority of
maintaining a state of good repair on the Red, Blue and Green lines. In addition,
construction work on the extension of rail to Dulles will take place on the
Orange Line. All of June’s weekend projects will impact travel times and cause
delays. 

UP invests $5 Million for track improvements to Fremont, Neb., line






Union Pacific will improve
Nebraska’s transportation infrastructure with a $5-million investment to
improve the rail line that runs from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Fremont, Neb. Work
on the more-than-33-mile stretch of railroad track began May 26 and is
scheduled to be completed by the end of July.


Quebec Bridge inspection to begin






CN has awarded a contract
to Roche Ltd. Consulting Group of Quebec City to perform a comprehensive
engineering inspection of the Quebec Bridge, which spans the St. Lawrence River
between Quebec City and Levis.

Caltrain passes key milestone in modernization effort






Caltrain’s plan to
electrify and modernize Peninsula commuter rail service received a critical and
historic approval from the federal government yesterday – clearance to run the
most modern equipment available in the world. The Federal Railroad
Administration issued a waiver of longstanding rules that prohibit what is
known as "mixed traffic" – operating standard American trains and lighter rail
equipment on the same tracks.

Canadian Pacific’s m/w workers ratify a three-year agreement






Canadian Pacific notified
by the Teamsters Canada Maintenance of Way Employees Division that the
Memorandum of Settlement reached in April 2010 by Canadian Pacific and the TCRC
MWED has now been ratified by the membership.

Major set for main entrance of Montreal’s Place Saint-Henri station






Société de transport de
Montréal must temporarily close the main entrance building to Place Saint-Henri
métro station, located on Saint-Ferdinand St., to carry out renovation work. As
the renovations will extend from June 7 to August 29, bus stops will be
relocated to the corner of Saint-Jacques and Saint-Ferdinand streets.

Dulles Metrorail Project holiday weekend construction work completed

The Memorial Day Holiday weekend Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project work on Metrorail’s Orange Line that had resulted in the disruption of rail service between the West Falls Church-VT/UVA and East Falls Church stations in northern Virginia was completed successfully and service between the two stations resumed at 5 a.m., Tuesday morning, June 1.

TransLink selects companies to propose Smart Card/Faregate system






Three consortia that supply
smart card electronic fare payment systems and fare gates to some of the
biggest transit operations in the world have qualified to submit proposals to
supply a Smart Card and Faregate system for Vancouver’s TransLink, to be in
operation by the target date of first quarter of 2013.

Perris Valley Line criticism lingers after draft report






Frustrated by the
clanging and banging of freight trains through their neighborhood near UC
Riverside, Calif., residents have demanded better sound protection and more
specifics on safety improvements before they support a planned expansion of
Metrolink service, The Press-Enterprise reports. But retrofitting more than 100
homes, adding underpasses and developing a community safety plan could cost
millions of dollars and potentially delay the Perris Valley Line.

Rail gangs arriving in Great Fall, Mont., area






Gangs will be in the
north central area and across the HiLine of Montana this spring and summer, but
these gangs are an indication of an improving economy, the Great Falls Tribune
reports. BNSF will invest $77.2 million in capital maintenance projects,
including rail replacement, tie replacement and track surfacing.

FEC names James Hertwig chief executive officer






Florida East Coast Railway named
James Hertwig president and CEO of the company effective July 1, 2010.  Hertwig is an accomplished expert in
intermodal transportation and is highly respected throughout the industry. He
has been president and CEO of Carolina Freight Carriers Corporation, president
of Landstar Logistics, Inc., and most recently president of CSX Intermodal.

CSXT forms rail security partnership with Florida






CSX Transportation said
that it has entered into a rail security partnership with the State of Florida
that represents a model CSXT hopes to use with other states it serves.

LOAD MORE