Feb. 6-11, between the
hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. crews will be finishing up work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program. Work will take place at the following locations: in
Burlingame at Oak Grove Avenue and Peninsula Avenue; in Redwood City at Main
Street and Chestnut Street; in San Mateo at Villa Terrace Avenue and First
Avenue; and in Menlo Park at Encinal Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, Oak Grove Avenue and
Ravenswood Avenue
Shuttle buses will
replace trains on the Blue Line on Saturday, Feb. 13, reports the Greater Cleveland
Regional Transit Authority. The rail will be shut down in both directions, from
Warrensville/Van Aken to Shaker Square, while construction crews remove an
outside wall at the Lee Road Blue Line station.
FTA Administrator Peter
Rogoff announced federal funding for Denver Union Station, the centerpiece of the
Regional Transportation District’s FasTracks transit expansion plan. The
Department of Transportation approved a $151.6-million Transportation
Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan and a $152.1-million
loan application under the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing
Program for Denver Union Station.
Hatch Mott MacDonald is
providing construction management services for Metro-North Railroad for an
$18.9 million design/build project at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The
project will convert an interior space from its previous use as a tennis club
to facilities for Metro-North train crews, fire brigade crews and building
services staff. The current facilities for the train and fire brigade crews and
building services staff have outlived their useful life and are in need of
substantial upgrade. This project will relocate the crews and staff members to
a better location with updated accommodations.
The Santa Clara Valley,
Calif., Transportation Authority Board of Directors unanimously adopted the
2010 Short Range Transit Plan Feb. 4. In compliance with the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission’s requirement, VTA produced the 2010 SRTP to plan for
transit service over the next 10 years. The Board’s approval of the 2010 SRTP
makes VTA eligible for federal and state transportation grants.
Since mid-January, when
MTA Metro-North railroad launched its new service, Train Time, more than 71,000
"hits" show it’s a real hit with customers. And live demonstrations
are now going to hit the following stations: Hastings on Tuesday, February 9; 
Brewster
on Tuesday, February 16; Port Chester on Tuesday, February 23. From 7 a.m. to
9:30 a.m., Metro-North Customer Service representatives will demonstrate how
this convenient, real-time train status and schedule information is easily
accessible via smart phones and computers.
They will show how, by
using a web-enabled smart phone or computer, a customer can select a station
from the user-friendly drop-down menu and simply click. So far, 67 stations
across all three lines are on-line, including Grand Central and Harlem-125th
Street, and more will be added this spring.
"This new service
allows customers to check the status of train service in real time at their
home stations or wherever they are traveling," said Metro-North President
Howard Permut. "It gives people the freedom to plan a trip and get
up-to-the-minute information to make necessary adjustments while they are out
and about. We think it’s a technology whose time has come."
Smart phones and computers
will show whether a train is On Time, Late, Canceled or Delayed, including the number of minutes it is late, also what track it will arrive on and what stops it makes.
Ohio’s planned passenger
rail system could be on a collision course with another one of the state’s key
economic priorities – expanding its powerful, growing freight and logistics
industry, Business First of Columbus reports. The state’s plan for a passenger
line calls for running passenger trains on heavily traveled freight tracks that
crisscross the state instead of putting them on dedicated lines, as may be done
in other states such as California.
A Kalamazoo-based Michigan
railroad is approaching its first anniversary of service on its
Elkhart-to-Grand Rapids route, and officials with the Grand Elk Railroad say
St. Joseph County is proving to be a critical part of its success and growth, the Sturgis Journal reports. After working out a long-term track lease
with Norfolk Southern last March, the Grand Elk and its seven distinctive black
and yellow locomotives began rumbling along the north-south route on April 1.
The Jo-Carroll Depot
Local Redevelopment Authority agreed to give Riverport Railroad a three-year
option to buy a 400-acre industrial park at the former Savanna Army Depot 20
miles north of Thomson Correctional Center, Executive Director Diane M.
Komiskey, local media report.
Police and firefighters are investigating what appears to be an intentionally set blaze that damaged one and destroyed another railroad track repair vehicle, the Dayton, Ohio, Daily News reports. It took firefighters less than 20 minutes about 5:40 a.m. Feb. 3, to get the fires under control along the railroad tracks near 506 E. Xenia Ave., according to reports.
Drivers will spend less
time waiting for trains to pass as Union Pacific increases the speed of its
trains on the rail line that parallels State Highway 279 in Malvern, Ark. The
train speed limit will increase from 35 miles per hour to 60 mph on nearly two
miles of track that crosses Banks, Babcock and Cabe Streets.
U.S. Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.)
gathered state, municipal and Congressional representatives and other
stakeholders of the U.S. Northeast Corridor (NEC) to help relaunch an effort to
bring high-speed passenger rail service to the region. Attending the meeting
were various officials and representatives from New York, New Jersey, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
The top transit official
for President Barack Obama’s administration will be in Denver Feb. 5 announcing
major funding for the FasTracks project, the Denver Business Journal reports. Peter
Rogoff, head of the Federal Transit Administration, is to join U.S. Senator
Michael Bennet, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Phil Washington, the head of
the Regional Transportation District, at Denver Union Station on Friday
afternoon.
Montreal, Maine &
Atlantic Railway said that it has filed a "Notice of Intent" with the
Surface Transportation Board to abandon certain of its lines. This notice is
required by the STB as a preliminary step in the abandonment process. MMA
continues to provide regular rail service and is continuing to work with Maine
DOT in order to find a solution that would permit continued rail operations on
these lines.
A rusty Missouri River
railroad bridge that came to symbolize the battle between historical tourism
and modern transportation has been saved from demolition due largely to federal
stimulus funds, local newspapers report. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said Union
Pacific has agreed to give the old bridge to the central Missouri city of
Boonville, which hopes to convert it for use by hikers and bikers on the Katy
Trail State Park.
Stella-Jones Inc. said
that it has received early termination of the waiting period under the
Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 in connection with its
proposed acquisition of Tangent Rail Corporation.
Cong. Dan Lipinski
(D-3rd) said that a railroad quiet zone eliminating the sounding of train horns
except in emergencies is expected to take effect in Oak Lawn, Ill., on
Wednesday, Feb. 17, the Southwest News-Herald reports.
The Belt Railway Company
of Chicago is now a subscriber to e-RAILSAFE ShortLine, a unique workforce
management service from e-VERIFILE.COM Inc. that assists shortline and regional
railroad operators with workplace safety/security management.
Work to raise the
historic Santa Fe Depot — the first step in its renovation for use as an
Amtrak Depot — should begin this spring n Ft. Madison, Iowa, the Hawkeye
reports. Mayor Steve Ireland has worked four years to make the project a
reality, and hopes renovations will be complete by next spring.
CN plans to establish a new
$100-million CN Calgary Logistics Park in Conrich, located in Rocky View County
north east of Calgary. The 680-acre park is planned to include a
state-of-the-art intermodal terminal with room for customers to co-locate with
CN and custom build their facility in place. The Logistics Park will be
designed to include a multi commodity transload and warehouse facility, an
automotive compound, and a liquid/bulk transload and distribution facility. The
site is strategically located a few miles east of the Calgary Airport, on Twp
Road 250/ McKnight Boulevard, providing fluid access to Stoney Trail and other
major roadways.