Comprehensive approach improves safety on Caltrain right-of-way






Caltrain, the 55-mile
commuter railroad serving the San Francisco Peninsula, has an ongoing
commitment to safety. The agency uses a multifaceted approach, addressing
safety issues on three fronts: engineering, education and enforcement.

Engineering improvements
include upgrades to crossings, such as pedestrian gates, and grade separation
projects that separate vehicle and pedestrian crossings from the train tracks.

This year marked the start
of construction on the San Bruno Grade Separation Project. The $147-million
project will elevate the Caltrain tracks above three existing at-grade street
crossings at San Bruno, San Mateo and Angus avenues. A new elevated Caltrain
station will be constructed between San Bruno and San Mateo avenues, replacing
the existing station at Sylvan Avenue. And pedestrian underpasses will be built
at Euclid, San Bruno and Sylvan avenues.

At the Santa Clara station,
a $40-million modernization project will add a new wider, longer
center-boarding platform to the station. A new pedestrian underpass will allow
passengers to move safely from one side of the platform to the other.

A $5.8-million project will
improve safety for motorists and pedestrians at eight crossings in Santa Clara
County. The improvements include signalized pedestrian gates, crossing panels
and, where appropriate, center medians to keep vehicles from driving around lowered
crossing gates.

In September, as part of
Railroad Safety Month, the agency installed the first of 250 suicide prevention
signs with a hotline number to a local crisis intervention agency. The signs
are part of national study to test the effectiveness of signs in preventing
suicides on railroads.

The signs will be posted
along a 10-mile stretch of the right-of-way between Menlo Park and Mountain
View. The hotline number on the new signs is routed directly to the Youth and
Family Services Crisis Intervention Center in San Carlos. The calls will be
tracked to determine if the signs are an effective tool for suicide prevention.

Caltrain is a member of
Operation Lifesaver, an internationally renowned organization promoting rail
safety. First organized 38 years ago, the organization has helped reduce the
number of train/vehicle collisions from a 1972 high of roughly 12,000 annual
incidents to a 2009 record low of approximately 1,900 incidents. This past
year, Caltrain has given Operation Lifesaver presentations to more than 1,300
people. Audiences have included students, community groups, police and fire
officials, elected officials and civic leaders. The presentation can be
targeted to specific audiences and includes videos and handouts.

Caltrain’s Transit Police
represent the enforcement component of Caltrain’s rail safety program. The
Transit Police Bureau, comprised of San Mateo County Sheriff’s officers, is
responsible for policing Caltrain property, including stations, parking lots
and railroad right of way. These highly-skilled law enforcement professionals
are familiar with railroad operations and the conditions at rail grade
crossings. Whenever a vehicle or pedestrian collision occurs along Caltrain’s
rail line, the Transit Police respond.

The Transit Police target
locations where people may engage in unsafe behavior, such as trespassing along
the rail line and walking around lowered gates at stations or grade crossings.
As of October, Transit Police had issued 560 citations.

Transit Police deputies
also receive specialized Crisis Intervention Training. This training helps
deputies recognize people who may be a threat to themselves or others in the
vicinity of Caltrain’s railroad. As a result, the Transit Police referred 17
people to treatment programs this year.

Caltrain is committed to
its role as a safety advocate and will continue to communicate safety messages
with the goal of increasing public awareness and ending tragic collisions,
fatalities and injuries at grade crossings and on the right of way.

Fort Worth & Western names Schlosser to succeed George as president and CEO






Fort Worth & Western
Railroad said that Steven George would retire in the first quarter of 2011 as
president and chief executive officer of the Fort Worth-based 276-mile regional
railroad. Succeeding him will be Thomas Schlosser, former chief executive
officer of Global Rail Systems, Inc., Marlin, Texas, and chairman of the
American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association from 2007 to 2010.

Bad railroad crossing not our fault, Fairfield, Maine, says

The rough railroad
crossings throughout the town of Fairfield, Maine, are a source of constant
complaints to local officials, the Waterville Morning Sentinel reports. But
because the railroad is privately owned, the town can’t repair the crossings.
The latest solution is to let aggravated drivers know who can fix them.

 

Koppers completes acquisition of Portec Rail joint business







Koppers Inc., a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Koppers Holdings Inc., said that it has completed a
transaction to acquire the rail joint business product line and related
manufacturing facility of Portec Rail Products, Inc. for a purchase price of
$10.1 million less certain assumed liabilities, subject to certain working
capital and other adjustments. The purchase price was funded with cash on hand.


Illinois agreement advances work on Chicago-to-St. Louis Corridor







Illinois
Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig said that a historic public-private
partnership agreement on high-speed rail development is in place to bring
Illinois one giant step closer to achieving high-speed passenger service
between Chicago and St. Louis by 2014.

L. B. Foster completes tender offer for shares of Portec Rail Products







L. B. Foster Company announced
the expiration of the subsequent offering period offered by its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Foster Thomas Company, for its cash tender offer for all outstanding
shares of common stock of Portec Rail Products, Inc. The subsequent
offering period expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on December 21, 2010.

Beach 105th Street, Beach 90th Street Stations back in service







MTA NYC Transit reopened
the Rockaway Park-bound platforms at the Beach 105th Street-Seaside and Beach 90th
Street-Holland stations. The rehabilitation of
these stations is part of a $117-million project encompassing nine stations on
the Rockaway Peninsula.

LA Metrolink experiencing mud slides on its Orange County Line/IEOC Line







Tracks between San Juan
Capistrano and Oceanside, Calif., remain closed due to mudslides. Trains are
only operating as far south as Laguna Niguel. Metrolink is continuing
to provide bus transportation between Oceanside and Laguna Niguel.

AASHTO lists Top 10 Transportation Issues for 2011







With a new majority in
the House, a new chairman and many new members of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee, as well as a changing national economic picture, it
is worth asking the question, "What’s ahead for transportation in
2011?"  The American Association
of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has compiled a list of very distinct – and pressing
– issues that loom at the local, state, and federal levels.

L.B. Foster supplying 28,500 tons of cwr for NECR Vermont upgrade






L.B. Foster Company has begun delivering 28,500 tons
of 115-pound standard continuous welded rail to New England Central Railroad
(NECR), an operating subsidiary of RailAmerica, Inc., for upgrading
approximately 140 miles of  track. L.B. Foster’s specially-equipped cwr
trains will complete 18 shipments of welded rail by mid-2011 for installation
at various locations throughout Vermont.

AAR issues 2010 edition of Railroad Facts






The Association of American
Railroads released the 2010 Edition of Railroad Facts – the premier industry statistical reference book.
The publication notes that in 2009, rail traffic experienced the largest
percentage decrease since 1949 with carloads down 15.1 percent and ton-miles
down 13.8 percent, but that aggressive cost management by railroads helped to
bolster year-end performance and allowed for record capital investment totaling
$9.9 billion.

BNSF Burlington, Iowa, bridge reconstruction moving ahead

The Burlington BNSF bridge is a swing span no more, the Burlington Hawk Eye reports. Ending 119 years as a less-than-150-foot navigation channel, the new lift span that was floated in December 20 will more than double the navigation channel when it reopens to barge traffic in the spring.

Crews with Ames Construction, based in Minnesota, worked over 30 hours, which started at about 6 a.m., December 20, to float out the temporary spans put in last month and float in the new lift span. The temporary spans will be relocated to make room for the new lift span.

During the 30-hour window of switching out of the spans, the bridge will be closed to train traffic. The navigation channel was closed last week to allow construction to continue on the bridge.

The bridge is expected to be operational by March, when river navigation reopens in the spring.

About 35 trains a day, including two Amtrak trains, use the Burlington bridge, and each month the bridge opens 300 times for river traffic.

"This is an important route for customers and passengers, and this new bridge will give us a more reliable and improved infrastructure that reflects that," Steve Millsap, an assistant vice president of BNSF, said previously in a release.

The remaining spans also will be replaced as a BNSF effort to replace the entire span gets under way in a separate phase of construction. BNSF also is replacing the approach spans on the bridge. Construction of those spans is expected to be complete by Walsh Construction by December 2011.

The lift-span project is funded primarily through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and previous funds from Congress.

NYC Transit installs 100 countdown clocks in subway

More subway customers than ever now benefit from knowing exactly when their train will arrive as countdown clocks have been activated in 100 stations along MTA New York City Transit’s numbered lines. This important milestone exceeds the MTA’s original goal to get 75 stations online by the end of the year. A similar project to activate informational signs continues to progress along the lettered lines as well.

Customers using Manhattan’s Houston Street Station on the No. 1 Line are the latest to receive up-to-the-minute next train information that takes the guesswork out of how long the wait time will be. The ambitious project to install Public Address/Customer Information Screens, more popularly referred to as Countdown Clocks, in the system’s stations is changing the habits of subway riders every day.

Now, instead of peering into the tunnel and guessing when the next train will arrive all they have to do is look up and they can see how many minutes until the next two trains reach the station. Originated on the L Canarsie Line in 2007, the system is in the process of being activated in 152 stations along the numbered lines in the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn.

"For years, transit riders in other cities around the world have been looking at digital signs to know when the next bus or train is coming," said MTA CEO Jay H. Walder. "But in New York, we were left peering down a subway platform looking for headlights. We’re changing that and improving our customers’ experience one station at a time."

"This is all about providing information to our customers who may see similar systems in other locations and ask, ‘Why not here?’ Well, we asked ourselves the same thing and we are now moving briskly ahead with this project," said NYC Transit President Thomas Prendergast.

The PA/CIS system, which is being rolled out along the numbered lines, is a major component of the MTA’s effort to substantially upgrade customer communications across the entire network. Providing train-arrival messages both visually and by audio, allows customers to be kept fully informed of regular service, delays or emergency situations, should they arise.

L.B. Foster extends subsequent offering period for shares of Portec Rail

L.B. Foster Company said that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Foster Thomas Company, has extended its cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of Portec Rail Products, Inc., until 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on December 22, 2010. The tender offer was previously set to expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City Time on December 21, 2010.

As of December 21, 2010, approximately 991,424 shares of common stock had been tendered in the subsequent offering period and Foster Thomas Company has accepted for payment all tendered shares. Foster Thomas Company now owns approximately 8,622,393 Portec Rail shares, representing approximately 89.78 percent of Portec Rail outstanding shares.

Railway company threatens council with lawsuit

An attorney for the Greenville and Western Railway Company has asked the Anderson, S.C., County Council to stop trying to regulate the safety of its tracks, and has threatened to sue council member Cindy Wilson, the Anderson Independent Mail reports.

The council approved a resolution at its December 7 meeting asking the company to keep its trains "at lower speeds" in consideration of drivers and families who live near railroad tracks. The resolution was introduced by Wilson.

The company’s lawyer, Marshall Lawson, says in a letter that the council went beyond the scope of its power in approving that resolution. Lawson says that Wilson has made "false and reckless statements" about the company, including some about the safety of its tracks.

The company has nearly 13 miles of tracks that run through Anderson County, and its trains carry fuel and freight. Lawson said the company "undertook a major and costly track-improvement project" in the last two years, and this month chose to change the class for a little more than half of its track mileage. The change allows that instead of traveling a maximum of 10 mph, trains on the upgraded tracks could go up to 30 mph, according to Lawson’s letter.

The resolution that the council approved this month reads as follows:

"A resolution to approve the request that Greenville and Western Railroad remain at the lower speeds due to the volatility of the product that they are transporting and the safety of families and motorist(s) adjoining the Greenville and Western Railroad."

Wilson said Tuesday that she is not sure that the company’s lawyer was fully aware of safety concerns involving the railroad tracks. She said she will continue to listen to the concerns of her constituents and will stand for any one of those concerns "whenever it involves a question of safety and life and the pursuit of quiet enjoyment."

Lawson’s letter, dated last Thursday, says that the Federal Railroad Administration inspected the company’s upgraded tracks on December 11 in response to an anonymous complaint.

"The FRA’s inspection determined the track to be in compliance with applicable regulations, with ‘no exceptions taken’ to the increase in classification and speed for the segment so designated," Lawson wrote.

Lawson said that any attempt by the council to regulate the train tracks is "pre-empted" by federal law.

"We, therefore, respectfully request (that) council rescind the ill-advised resolution and make no further attempt to regulate this area," Lawson wrote. "Should individual members of council continue to make false and defamatory comments about my client or take any legislative action purporting to usurp federal authority over railroad operations … I will have no choice but to advise my clients to seek all remedies available to it in the courts of law."

FTA: $25.7 million to help evaluate, select local transit options






The
Federal Transit Administration said $25.7 million was awarded through
competitive grants through the Alternative Analysis grant program to help
community officials in 15 states evaluate and select the best options to help
place new or expanded transit systems in their communities.

Siemens to equip new metro line in Santo Domingo

Siemens is set to supply the entire electrification and rail automation equipment for the new metro line in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Siemens received a corresponding order as member of a consortium including the French company, Thales, from the government transport authority Oficina para la Reorganización del Transporte (OPRET). Siemens’ share of the order is worth approximately about $94 million. The order also includes a maintenance contract for the period of three years.

The new Line 2 will be about 11 miles long and serve 20 metro stations. It will be built in two phases, with the first 7.4-mile stage of construction due for completion by the end of 2012. The plans for the second phase of this metro line project will be finalized by the operator OPRET in the course of next year.

Santo Domingo’s first metro line opened as recently as the end of January 2009. In that case, Siemens Mobility was in charge of the system integration and project management and also responsible for supplying the traction power supply system along with the signaling and control equipment. Line 2 is another step toward comprehensive modernization of the island’s transportation systems and reducing the increasing number of privately operated motor vehicles. Running underground over its entire length, it will link the city center with municipal districts in the east and west.

 

CN completes construction of Griffith, Ind., rail connection

Canadian National Railway has completed construction of the first major rail connection built as part of the continuing integration of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E) that, when all connections are constructed, will enhance the fluidity of train movements along CN routes in the greater Chicago area. The new $5-million connection at Griffith, Ind., creates an efficient, direct route for CN freight trains moving between Kirk Yard in Gary, Ind., and points farther east on the company’s rail network.

CN, which completed its purchase of the EJ&E on Jan. 31, 2009, is investing more than $100 million in infrastructure improvements to integrate the EJ&E into its other lines in Chicago.

The integration also includes building new rail connections at Mundelein, Ill., Bartlett, Ill., Joliet, Ill., and Matteson, Ill. Engineering or construction work is now under way on the balance of the connection projects.

Jim Vena, CN senior vice-president, Southern Region, said: "CN is pleased to have reached this milestone and finished the first major EJ&E connection project. This connection is a significant step toward our goal of fully utilizing the EJ&E and providing improved rail fluidity in Chicago."

The Griffith connection project, started in late 2009, was completed Nov. 19, 2010. Three trains per day operate over the new connection, which links CN’s South Bend Subdivision with the Matteson Subdivision leading to Kirk Yard.

Also, CN has reached a voluntary mitigation agreement (VMA) with the Village of New Lenox, Ill., located approximately 36 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, regarding its acquisition of the EJ&E. With this agreement, CN has VMAs with almost 80 per cent of the 33 communities along the EJ&E in Illinois and Indiana.

CN will provide New Lenox funding for the creation of a quiet zone, noise and safety mitigation, communications and emergency response training.

Vena said: "CN is pleased to have come to terms with the New Lenox on this mitigation agreement, which is the 26th VMA signed by CN with communities on the EJ&E line. We believe negotiated settlements like the one with New Lenox will help to establish solid ties between CN and the communities through which it operates on the EJ&E and ensure effective lines of communication in the future."

CN is also working closely with the few remaining communities on the EJ&E that do not have agreements with CN to ensure implementation of safety and environmental conditions in accordance with the requirements of the Surface Transportation Board.

HRT skirted contracting and bidding laws, audit finds

Virginia state investigators say Hampton Roads Transit’s former leaders flouted federal and state contracting laws, steering millions of dollars of publicly funded consulting work to "preferred individuals" over about four years, 
The Virginian-Pilot
 reports.

HRT manipulated some contracts to prevent them from coming before the agency’s governing board and failed to seek competition in nearly 70 percent of procurements reviewed by the Virginia Department of Transportation Inspector General’s office, that office says. Additionally, consultant work at times was "improperly" arranged without the knowledge of HRT’s procurement office or was secured under expired contracts, says the inspector general’s "special review," which was released the week of December13.

"HRT did not comply with applicable procurement laws," the report concluded.

Many contracts dealt with the $338-million Tide light-rail project, which the inspector general also examined. HRT’s senior staff concealed escalating costs from the governments funding it, according to the report. The Federal Transit Administration will conduct a formal review of HRT’s consultant selection process over the past two years.

Philip Shucet, HRT’s new president and CEO, is seeking legal guidance from state and federal law enforcement officials on how to respond to the report’s conclusions.

Meanwhile, Shucet has hired a forensic auditing firm to examine billings by one light-rail consultant and its subcontractors to find whether they overcharged the agency. Over four years, the consultant was paid $26 million. An internal analysis points to "significant discrepancies" in billing, according to HRT bid documents. Overhead costs, furniture, travel and living expenses and automobile expenses are among the areas to be audited.

The state inspector general was asked by Shucet to examine how HRT handled hiring consultants, as well as light-rail budgeting and management. Shucet replaced Michael Townes, who was forced to resign for cost overruns on the light-rail project and for not pursuing legal action for an alleged embezzlement by two former HRT employees.

Investigators reached their findings from reviewing procurement files, interviewing current and former staff and examining e-mails.

The report states that HRT: improperly hired consultants without seeking competition in 16 of 24 contracts; failed to establish an "impartial and comprehensive evaluation" in eight of nine contracts competitively bid; produced no documents to show price was considered in five of seven competitive bids; awarded five consulting jobs under expired contracts; and twice hired consultants as temporary employees to avoid seeking competition.

 

Virginia, NS sign landmark agreement for passenger rail service

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said that the Commonwealth of Virginia and Norfolk Southern Railway Company have signed a landmark agreement that is an important step toward bringing daily intercity passenger rail service back to Norfolk for the first time since 1977. The round-trip train will link Norfolk with a single-seat ride to Richmond, Washington, D.C., and cities as far north as Boston.

Speaking about the agreement, Governor McDonnell noted, "The new service will bring direct intercity passenger rail service to one of Virginia’s largest population centers. The Hampton Roads region is home to over a million Virginians, including thousands of Federal employees and military personnel, who currently have limited transportation choices for travel to Richmond, Washington, D.C., and into the Northeast. This service will provide an alternative to the heavily congested I-64 and I-95 corridors."

The agreement provides for the speedy upgrading of Norfolk Southern tracks between Norfolk and Petersburg so that they are suitable for use by passenger trains. Funded by an $87-million Rail Enhancement Fund grant, the projects include upgraded signaling, track extensions and connections, passenger train turning and servicing facilities and a track and platform near Norfolk’s Harbor Park for the passenger train. Also included is construction of a new connection between NS and CSX Transportation tracks near Petersburg. These improvements will enable passenger trains to run on NS’ busy Heartland Corridor route.

NS will work with the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation to complete the work outlined in the agreement. The project is already being designed and construction will begin in 2011.

 

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