The Sound
Transit Board on Thursday unanimously approved a contract to dig twin-bored
tunnels between the Capitol Hill Station and downtown Seattle for the
University Link light rail extension. The contract, with JCM U-Link Joint
Venture, is for $168.9 million, which includes a 10 percent contingency. The
firm’s bid was 12 percent below the engineer’s estimate.
Construction activities
at the Fridley, Minn., Northstar commuter rail station are slightly behind
schedule. However, crews remain optimistic that the station will be ready for
opening day.
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi
Rell said that she would push ahead with plans to borrow $100 million so that
the state can build a key part of the New Haven rail yard, the Hartford Courant
reports. One of Connecticut’s biggest contractors recently offered to build a
293,000-square-foot maintenance center for rail cars that was only about half
as expensive as transportation officials and a consultant had projected.
The Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors has approved the 2009
Long Range Transportation Plan that will guide transportation development in
the county through the year 2040, a period in which the county is expected to
experience unprecedented growth.
Fulfilling a commitment to
the PATH rail system’s long-term growth, the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey’s Board of Commissioners authorized more than $340 million worth of
contracts to help replace antiquated mechanical train controls on the
101-year-old system with state-of-the-art, computerized signals.
TriMet in the Portland,
Ore., area is beginning work on the first of several stimulus-funded projects
aimed at improving rider and pedestrian safety, security and convenience at
Eastside MAX stations. TriMet is using federal stimulus funds to repaint six
MAX stations, starting at the E 162nd Ave station in Gresham.
The North County Transit
District reached an agreement with AECOM (formerly DMJM+Harris) to settle all
claims arising from the design services performed by DMJM+Harris for the SPRINTER
light rail project in the San Diego area. The settlement allows each party to
avoid future litigation regarding disputed claims. With this agreement, NCTD
should complete the SPRINTER project well within its federally approved budget
of $484.2 million.
Hampton Roads Transit’s
board awarded a $3.96-million contract to build 11 light-rail stations,
slightly under the $4.09 million projected budget, according to The
Virginian-Pilot. The contract went to W.M. Schlosser Company Inc., which is
already building the light-rail vehicle storage and maintenance facility. The
company has done similar work for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit
Authority.
Although it has been a part
of our lives for more than 150 years, public transportation is one of the key
investments to create jobs as we address the new emerging green economy, according
to the American Public Transportation Association as it released a new report Oct.
23. With previous research showing public transit’s significant contribution to
reducing greenhouse gases, the report, "Economic Impact of Public
Transportation Investment," demonstrates how increased investment in public
transportation provides good green jobs, wages and business income in
industries that have been particularly hit hard by the economic downturn.
BMWED National Division
President Freddie Simpson convened a meeting Oct. 21 for the purpose of
reviewing membership surveys and finalizing bargaining demands that will be
served on the nation’s freight railroads in November. The national contract
with most freight railroads will expire January 1, 2010 and the next round of
bargaining will begin.
North County Transit
District leaders in the San Diego area floated the idea of refusing to pay for
an expensive and federally mandated rail safety program, then did a quick
about-face when they learned such a move could shut down the district’s coastal
railway, the North county Times reports. In the end, the district’s board voted
8-1 to pay for a $332,728 study of how to install positive train control. The
required safety technology could cost NCTD anywhere from $27 million to $90
million. To put that in perspective, as board member and Solana Beach City
Councilman Dave Roberts did, $90 million is about the size of NCTD’s entire
annual budget.
On October 22, railway
control and communications systems provider Invensys Rail, Brazilian
engineering company Montagens e Projetos Especiais (MPE) and Spanish telecoms
specialists Infoglobal have signed a milestone $418-million contract to upgrade
the Signaling and ATC on lines 8, 10 and 11 of São Paulo’s rapidly developing
Metro system.
Work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program, which will enhance safety at 25 grade crossings
in San Mateo County, continues in Burlingame, Menlo Park and Atherton. Throughout
the project area, at least one lane of the impacted street will remain open.
Flagmen will direct traffic and pedestrians around the construction.
Unitrac Railroad Materials,
Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Healey Railroad Corporation and a specialty
trackwork manufacturer and distributor of new and relay rail, has received the
contract to supply 72 panelized turnouts for the Evansville Western Railway project
located in North Baltimore, Ohio.
The
Board of Directors of Caterpillar Inc. elected Douglas R. Oberhelman to the
offices of Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – Elect, effective January
1, 2010. Oberhelman, 56, currently serves as Group President of Caterpillar
with responsibility for the company’s engine and gas turbine businesses, human
services, rail services and remanufacturing divisions. As Vice Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer – Elect, Oberhelman will take on the additional
responsibilities of managing the leadership transition and updating the company’s
strategy.
North Coast Railroad
Authority Chairman, Allan Hemphill said that $40 million in repairs to 62 miles
of the Northwestern Pacific railway between Napa County and Windsor have been
completed. He said Federal Railroad Administration inspection of the repairs to
trackway, crossing signals, and bridges between Windsor in Sonoma County and
the national rail interchange (Lombard), located North of American Canyon in
Napa County, will take up to 90 days.
Global Rail Systems, Inc.,
a Marlin, Texas-based railroad automation company, said that Vossloh has
acquired a majority interest in the company, effective October 16, 2009. Vossloh
is a global player in the rail technology markets. The acquisition of Global
Rail Systems complements Vossloh’s three other U.S.-owned companies: Vossloh
Track Material (formerly Pohl Corp.), Cleveland Track Material, Inc., which
manufacture track switches, and Vossloh Fastening Systems America Corp., based
in Chicago. Under terms of the agreement, Global’s management will remain in
place.
A recent study by the
SouthEast Commuter Rail Development Board confirms what Crete, Ill., Mayor
Michael Einhorn said he’s known for years: that commuter rail service to the
southeast suburbs is necessary, according to the Southtown Star.
Whether trains or buses
will roll along the abandoned North Shore Rail right-of-way on Staten Island will
be decided in the coming months, after the MTA said it has hired a consultant
to evaluate the options, the Website SILive.com reports. SYSTRA Engineering,
Inc., was chosen to conduct the study at a cost of just under $1.5 million. The
company has done previous work on the North Shore Rail and West Shore Light
Rail projects.
SkyTrain, operated by the
BC Rapid Transit Company Ltd., is being recognized as ‘Best Organization’ at
the Fifth Annual Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Public Safety – BC’s highest
safety honor.