Author: jrood

Officials announce almost $275 million for New York transit projects






U.S. Senators Charles E.
Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Jerry Nadler and Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney said that the United States Department of Transportation will
allocate more than $274 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act for the Long Island Rail Road East Side Access Project and the Second
Avenue Subway Project. The East Side Access Project will create a rail link
from the Long Island Rail Road via the 63rd Street Tunnel to Grand Central Station
that will help tens of thousands of Nassau, Suffolk and Queens commuters save
hours on their daily commutes. The Second Avenue Subway Project will help to
ease congestion on the Lexington Avenue line, the most crowded subway line in
the nation.

 

FTA delivers scathing report on safety of D.C. Metro






A federal investigation has
identified pervasive flaws in rail safety at Metro and severe inadequacies in
the agency responsible for oversight. Findings released March 4 call for
widespread changes in how the nation’s second-busiest subway system is
supervised and managed, the Washington Post reports.

Officials gather for groundbreaking for Chicago’s Englewood Flyover






On
March 5, Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-Ill) joined House Transportation &
Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), Chicago Mayor
Richard M. Daley, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and IDOT Secretary Gary Hannig for
the groundbreaking on the Englewood Flyover, which is now expected to begin
this year thanks to $133 million in new federal funding.

 

BNSF Burlington, Iowa, bridge project adjusts






Engineers who design
facilities and structures live in a cycle of planning and planning again, the
BNSF electronic employee newsletter reports. But sometimes, even with the best
of planning and looking "around the corner," a surprise comes along
that requires a different approach. That’s what happened with the Burlington,
Iowa, bridge project, which involves rebuilding a bridge originally built in
1867-1868.

LIRR Ronkonkoma parking lot renovation completed






MTA Long Island Rail Road
customers using the busy Ronkonkoma Station now have almost 300 new parking
spots available to them thanks to completion of a railroad-funded renovation
project on the northeast side of the tracks in the Town of Brookhaven. The
rehabilitation of the former dirt lot included drainage, curbs, asphalt paving,
sidewalks, lighting, striping, signage, fencing and landscaping.

Railroad ordered to remove old ties











Hundreds – perhaps
thousands – of old creosote-soaked railroad ties dumped along a 30-mile stretch
of the Deschutes River may be removed in coming months thanks to persistent
cage-­rattling by Eugene, Ore., businessman and clean-water enthusiast John
Brown, The Eugene Register-Guard reports.

IMPulse NC LLC names Jeffrey Wharton president






IMPulse NC LLC promoted of
Jeffrey Wharton to president. Wharton previously served as executive vice president
and general manager for the company. He has more than 30 years of transit
construction and manufacturing experience and currently serves on the board of directors
of the American Public Transportation Association, and as Chair of the APTA Business
Member’s Business Development Committee.


Aurora GO customers now have more parking options






A five-level parking
structure opened at Aurora, Ont., GO Station near Toronto offering customers
866 new parking spaces. Customers at this station now have access to more than
1,700 parking spots, making it easier to leave their cars behind.

PUCO approves upgrade of warning devices for Ohio railroad crossings






The Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio approved construction authorization from the Ohio Rail
Development Commission directing Norfolk Southern to install flashing lights
and roadway gates at grade crossings in Montgomery, Summit and Warren counties.
PUCO also approved an agreement authorizing CSX Transportation to install
flashing lights and roadway gates at the Taylor Road (154-092R) and Ringwood
Road (154-089H) grade crossings in Oxford Township, Butler County.

 

Construction continues on new LIRR Bridges






Buses will replace train
service for Long Island Rail Road customers traveling between Long Beach and
Valley Stream, N.Y., the weekend of March 6-7 as work continues on the
construction of two new railroad bridges over Powell Creek and Hog Island
Channel. The shutdown of train service on this upcoming weekend was added to
the LIRR’s original construction schedule because recent snowstorms have
impeded work on previous weekends. The railroad’s goal is to complete the
installation of both bridges before Memorial Day.


Koppers closing Cindu acquisition






Koppers Holdings Inc. said that one of its wholly-owned
subsidiaries, Koppers International B.V. has completed a transaction to acquire
100 percent of the outstanding shares of privately-owned Cindu Chemicals B.V.
("Cindu") from joint owners Cindu B.V. and Corus Staal B.V. for an
undisclosed purchase price. Koppers has funded the acquisition primarily with
cash on hand in Europe.

Worceser, mdass., residents wary of CSX yard expansion






Residents in the area of
the CSX Transportation freight yard on Franklin Street in Worcester, Mass., made
it clear at a meeting they are not looking to fight the company’s plans to more
than double the size of its facility, but they emphasized they want to have
some say in those plans to mitigate potential negative impacts to their
neighborhood, the Worcester Telegram reports.

Cleveland RTA Board seeks project earmarks






At a Cleveland Regional
Transportation Authority meeting, Joe Calabrese, CEO & General Manager,
presented RTA’s federal legislative priorities. RTA is seeking four earmarks in
the 2011 appropriations cycle:

1. $5 million for the
construction of the proposed Mayfield Road Station
rehabilitation in
Cleveland near Little Italy.

2. $4.5 million for the construction of a new
Red Line station on Brookpark Road on the Cleveland-Brook Park border.

3. $1.5 million to
prepare the final design of a proposed .5 mile extension of
the Blue Line in Shaker
Heights.

4. $5.0 million to
construct the final design of the Clifton Blvd.
Transit Enhancement Project
in Lakewood and Cleveland.

LA Metro Blue Line sets next weekends closure for construction work






Los Angeles Metro Blue
Line passengers will experience travel delays of up to 40 minutes for two consecutive
weekends beginning March 5 due to construction of the Expo light rail line,
which will connect with the Metro Blue Line in downtown Los Angeles. The bus
bridge begins March 5 at 9 p.m. Work will begin at 9 p.m. on March 5 and will
continue until the early morning hours of Monday, March 8, on the first
weekend. The same plan is for the second weekend beginning Friday night, March
12, and continuing until the early hours of Monday, March 15.

Metro sets March track maintenance schedule






During weekends in March,
Metro in Washington, D.C., will weld rail and replace track fasteners, track
circuits and floating slabs that will help ensure more reliable Metrorail
service. Customers should expect travel delays during the weekends of March 5
to 7, March 12 to 14, and March 19 to 21. 

Metro will not conduct major track
maintenance during the opening of the National Cherry Blossom festival on
Saturday, March 27. 




Gary, Ind., airport gets latest piece of grant






Gary/Chicago
International Airport received its fifth installment of federal funding to
support airport expansion efforts, U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville,
said, according to the Gary Post-Tribune. The $5-million grant will go toward
the airport’s runway extension project and is part of a $57.8-million
allocation over 10 years. To date, the airport has received more than $25
million from its grant awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration.


NJ Transit enters emergency spending freeze, cuts jobs






NJ Transit will cut 200 jobs and apply an emergency spending
freeze in an attempt to fill a $300 million budget gap. Executive salaries will
be reduced by five percent and contributions to employee 401(k) retirement
accounts will be cut by a third, The Star-Ledger reported.  

Although the reductions will save more than $30 million, the
agency is expected to announce service cuts and fare hikes next week, which
could start as soon as May and could be increased by 20 to 30 percent. The
state is also dealing with its own $2.2 billion budget gap and may withhold
close to $33 million in subsidies from the agency.

The 200 union and non-union layoffs represent around two
percent of the 10,500-person workforce at NJ Transit, the nation’s
third-largest public transit system. It is the deepest one-year workforce
reduction in the agency’s 30-year history.

NJ Transit will hold a series of public
meetings and information sessions around the state later this month. They are
scheduled for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. March 25 at the Passaic County Community
College Theater in Paterson, NJ Transit headquarters in Newark, the Trenton
Transit Center and the Monmouth County Library in Manalapan; from 5:30 to 8:30
p.m. March 26 at the Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station in Secaucus, Camden City
Hall, Morristown Town Hall, Long Branch Middle School auditorium and Port
Authority Bus Terminal in New York; and from 1 to 4 p.m. March 27 at Bergen
County Freeholders public meeting room in Hackensack and the Atlantic City Rail
Terminal.