A long-term commitment is
needed to help freight and passenger rail accommodate future U.S. economic and
population growth. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced
these findings of a new report, Moving Forward: A Progress Report, that updates
the U.S. Department of Transportation’s efforts to develop a first-ever
comprehensive National Rail Plan (NRP).
Transportation experts will
take a closer look at realigning the railroad through North Pole, Alaska, thanks
to nearly $1 million in federal funding announced Sept. 27, the Fairbanks Daily
News-Miner reports.
Long Island Rail Road
customers are advised that during two weekends in the fall – October 23-24 and
November 6-7 – there will be extremely limited LIRR service, especially between
Jamaica Station and Penn Station, as the LIRR cuts over to a modern signal and
switching control system at Jamaica, N.Y. As a result of the extremely limited
service, the LIRR advises that only customers traveling for essential business –
such as first responders (police, fire) and service employees with no other
alternatives – should use the LIRR during these two weekends. Customers
traveling for recreational purposes during this period should consider travel
on the Port Washington Branch or other travel alternatives.
The Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority (VTA) will host a Design Build Contract Information
Forum for the BART Silicon Valley Project at the San Jose Convention Center,
Thursday, September 30, 2010.
Washington, D.C., Metro
will close two Blue and Orange Line stations and there will be no Blue or
Orange Line service at the Metro Center Metrorail station during the three-day
Columbus Day Holiday Weekend from 10 p.m., Friday, Oct. 8, to closing on
Monday, Oct. 11, as the agency undertakes a major rehabilitation and rebuilding
project to improve safety, to comply with a recommendation made by the National
Transportation Safety Board and maintain service reliability and a state of
good repair.
What do you get for 30
million bucks? To start, Huron Central Railway has "probably" agreed
to operate its line between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury until the end of its
lease with CP Rail in 2017, "possibly" longer, said Tony Martin, the
Sault’s MP, Sault This Week reports.
New
York Governor David A. Paterson announced approval of more than $42 million in
funding for 34 rail and port capital improvement projects in New York State.
Grants from the Renew and Rebuild New York Transportation Bond Act of 2005 and
the Governor’s Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program will fund these
infrastructure investments and security improvements, bringing with them
economic development and job creation and retention opportunities across the
State.
A Next-Generation
High-Speed Rail service could be successfully developed in the Northeast with
trains operating up to 220 mph on a new two-track corridor resulting in a trip
time of about three hours between Washington and Boston, cutting in half or
better the current schedules, according to a concept plan released by Amtrak.
When it comes to the
planned multibillion-dollar commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River, New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie isn’t doing much to build bridges, U.S. Sen. Frank
Lautenberg says, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. The longtime Democratic
senator said the Republican governor has refused to let NJ Transit engineers
and professional staff meet with federal transportation officials to break a
30-day construction delay that threatens to scuttle America’s largest public
works project.
(The following commentary
appeared in The Virginian-Pilot
September 26, 2010.) The Tide’s financial mismanagement
will cost Norfolk’s citizens millions of dollars more than originally planned. That’s
hardly news.
Michigan Tech is working on
what it believes is a first-ever collaborative study between the U.S. and the European
Union to improve railway education.
Suffolk,
Va., City Council members viewed a proposal to create a combined Amtrak and
Hampton Roads Transit station in downtown Suffolk, near the Saratoga
neighborhood, the Suffolk News Herald reports. City leaders pinpointed the
former site of the Golden Peanut Company, in between Saratoga and Wellons
streets, as a suitable location for a train and bus transportation hub. The
site still includes the company’s abandoned buildings, which feature broken
windows, graffiti and at least one tree growing on the roof.
Michel Labrecque, chairman
of Montreal’s STM Board of directors, said the agency signed the Sustainable
Development Charter of Union internationale des transports publics (UITP) in
Brussels.
West Lake Street in Ft.
Collins, Colo., will be closed to all traffic at the BNSF railroad tracks west
of College Avenue for track repairs and improvements, the Coloradoan reports. The
work is scheduled to begin Sept. 28 and continue through Oct. 5, weather
permitting. A detour route will be provided to direct through traffic to use
College Avenue and Centre Avenue.
Even in a time of
belt-tightening and dreams deferred, a long-sought CTA project is in the works,
offering the promise of improved transportation and economic rebirth for poorly
served Chicago communities, according to a story by Jon Hilkevitch in the Chicago
Tribune.
The Illinois Department of
Transportation has selected Hanson Professional Services of Springfield to
evaluate environmental consequences of building a new rail line between St.
Louis and Chicago for high-speed passenger trains, the State Journal-Register
reports. Hanson will work with the Parsons Transportation Group, a branch of
the construction and engineering firm of Parsons Corp., headquartered in
Pasadena, Calif.
As part of the Sound
Transit 2 plan approved by Metropolitan Seattle voters in 2008, the agency is
starting the formal planning process for mass transit between Northgate and
Lynnwood with early scoping. Sound Transit wants to hear from residents because
public input received during this early scoping process will help us identify
the best way to serve a given community.
Kansas and Oklahoma
officials already are at work on a development plan for rail passenger service
between the Kansas City area and Oklahoma City, with a stop in Topeka, even
though they haven’t actually seen Washington’s money yet, the Topeka Capital
Journal reports. The Federal Railroad Administration recently announced the
approval of a $250,000 grant to the Kansas Department of Transportation to do
the planning.
Work to improve the train
station in Burlington, N.C., should begin this fall or winter, with about
$685,000 worth of improvements being added there, the Times-News reports. The
station, an Amtrak hub on the Raleigh-to-Charlotte line, will get a new backup
electric generator, video security system and passenger information display
system. The size of the boarding platform will be doubled in length, allowing
the train to stop only once to board and unload passengers.
Recent flooding caused
little damage locally on the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, the
Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minn., reports. Mike LoVecchio, spokesman for
Canadian Pacific Railway, which owns DM&E, said no damage occurred on the
east-west line, which passes through Rochester, but that a small washout
suspended traffic on the north-south line near Owatonna. The line was expected
to be restored to service shortly, LoVecchio said.