Parsons Brinckerhoff was awarded two contracts covering design of railway systems, one of which is for the United Kingdom’s second high-speed rail line, which will run between London Euston and Birmingham in the West Midlands.
Sound Transit contractors have connected the University Link light-rail tunnels with the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) in Washington state. The tunnel-boring machine (TBM) nicknamed “Brenda” recently completed its one-mile trip on the second tunnel between Capitol Hill and downtown.
The completion of the nearly $8 million San Mateo Creek Bridge, gateway to California’s Trestles Beach and its famous surf break, was formally marked on Monday as a northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner made its way across the new bridge.
BNSF Railway Company plans to invest an estimated $242 million on maintenance and rail capacity enhancement and expansion projects in Kansas and an additional $130 million in Missouri this year.
CalAmp Corp., provider of wireless products, services and solutions, received initial purchase orders totaling approximately $5 million to supply interoperable Positive Train Control radios to two North American Class 1 railroads for delivery in the second half of calendar 2012.
Invensys Rail and DPS Electronics entered into a manufacturer’s licensing arrangement under which DPS may manufacture and sell its end of train devices (EOTs) with certain telemetry features patented by Invensys. For those EOTs, Invensys Rail will provide the communications, central office services and end-user experience through its software as a service business hosted at www.eotph.com and commonly referred to as EOT Phone Home.
A new fare structure is set to go into effect for the New Mexico Rail Runner Express this month.
This will be the first express train between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Passengers using this new service will be able to save 20-25 minutes in each direction on their commute between the two cities.
In April, there were more than 8.8 million trips taken on Portland, Ore.-area TriMet buses, MAX and WES commuter rail. For 13 consecutive months, weekday and weekly trips and total monthly ridership increased. System-wide, all modes were up in all categories of ridership for April.
The Surface Transportation Board approved the request of Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC, for common carrier status, which will allow them to reopen the Tahawus Line between North Creek and Newcomb, N.Y., and resume hauling freight to and from businesses along that line.
Invensys Rail Corp. acquired PHW, Inc., from the current owner/managers for up to $24,000,000.00. The company will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Invensys Rail Corp.
L.B. Foster Company plans to sell its railway securement business in a transaction expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter. L.B. Foster acquired the shipping systems division as part of its acquisition of Portec Rail Products, Inc. in December 2010.
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has completed the work that transformed the southern terminal of the A Line into a sparkling, steel and glass, state-of-the art transit facility and was marked with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by MTA leaders and local elected officials.
Norfolk Southern is making it easier for communities, businesses and informed observers to report issues relating to public safety and security to the railroad’s police force. The NS announcement is a significant expansion of the community-based rail security initiative started by BNSF.
Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo joined in celebrating the completion of new train station platforms in Brunswick and Freeport, Maine, in preparation for the expansion of Amtrak’s Downeaster line, which will begin serving both cities this fall. Administrator Szabo was joined by Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt and local business leaders.
There are three components to Kansas City Southern’ U.S. public safety program, education, enforcement and engineering. KCS works closely with Operation Lifesaver on the education and enforcement components. Example activities include Officer on a Train events, like the one in May in Gulfport, Miss., that yielded 42 citations for violations at public crossings; the multitude of presentations given by employees who volunteer their time to speak to community organizations about public safety and KCS police participation with local law enforcement at annual public safety expos throughout Louisiana.
Construction of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit project in Minnesota is 50 percent complete and on track to be 75 percent done by year’s end.
“The contractors really hit the ground running in March. We now have work occurring in all areas of the nearly 10-mile long project, employing more than 3,000 workers to date,” Metropolitan Council Chair Sue Haigh said.
The Denver Regional Transportation District, the Colorado Department of Transportation and SEMA Construction broke ground on RTD’s I-225 Light Rail Line extension. This kicks off construction on the first segment of the light-rail project from Nine Mile to Iliff.
A final agreement of $15.8 million for the West Detroit Connection Track project has been made. The project will eliminate congestion for Detroit-area Amtrak passengers by addressing a bottleneck that comes from serving both freight and passenger rail on the same tracks.
Momentum is building for improved Amtrak service to and from Michigan with a series of positive developments for intercity rail passengers.
Amtrak Wolverine Service and Blue Water passengers can now expect the return to normal travel times from Kalamazoo to near Dearborn with the completion of track and crossing improvements performed by Norfolk Southern Railway to eliminate the speed restrictions imposed by NS in March.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road will be replacing wood ties on the Ronkonkoma Branch between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma beginning May 14. The work will be completed in three phases to minimize customer impact. When completed by the end of the summer, the work will help ensure greater service reliability and a smoother, more comfortable ride for customers.