Union Pacific will improve
Wisconsin and Illinois’ transportation infrastructures by investing nearly $15
million to improve the freight rail line that runs from Milwaukee, Wis., to
Chicago, Ill. Work on the more than 75-mile stretch of railroad track began
April 23 and is scheduled to be completed by mid-December.
It will be easier than ever
to step right on board a light rail train starting Saturday, November 6, when
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) marks the debut of level boarding at all light
rail stations.
Excitement abounds within
the University Circle community, as the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit
Authority learned it received $10.5 million from the U.S. Department of
Transportation to reconstruct the 53-year-old University Circle Rapid Station.
Of the $600 million available in competitive federal grants for the
Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) II program
around the country, RTA’s University Circle Rapid Station is one of 42 capital
projects selected and the only Ohio project.
CSX Corporation said that,
for the second year in a row, the company is ranked highest among all Class 1
freight railroads in Newsweek’s 2010 Green Ranking of the 500 largest U.S. companies.
The company is ranked 10th among all transport and aerospace companies and 215
overall.
A fast-growing Northern
Indiana steelmaker has begun making railroad beams three times longer than normal,
the Indianapolis Star reports. The longer rails require fewer welds at
installation and foster quicker safety inspections, both in an effort to cut
expenses and increase railroad durability for the nation’s train industry.
Work will continue this
week on the new pedestrian underpass at the Caltrain station in Santa Clara,
Calif. The underpass will connect the north- and southbound platforms, allowing
two trains to pass through the station at the same time and improving safety
for pedestrians in the station.
King County and Alliance
Wasatch I, LLC, a joint venture between Alliance Property Group Inc. and
Wasatch Advantage Group, LLC ("Alliance"), are joining Sound Transit,
the City of Burien, Wash., and Pankow Builders to host a groundbreaking Oct. 23
for the park-and-ride expansion project at the Burien Transit Center. The
ceremony, scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Burien park-and-ride lot,
will kick off construction of a multi-level, 462-stall garage and an adjoining
43-space surface lot that will add 164 spaces to the transit center’s parking
capacity. King County Executive Dow Constantine, King County Councilmember and
Sound Transit Board member Jan Drago, U.S. Congressman Jim McDermott, Burien
Mayor Joan McGilton, and Alliance representatives will be among those speaking
at the event.
Major construction progress
is being made to build the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which will
serve 250,000 people daily, including preparations to install massive Santiago
Calatrava-designed arches to form the roof of the Hub’s mezzanine level and the
floor for the 9/11 Memorial.
The MTA Long Island Rail
Road is advising its customers 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. During these weekends, the LIRR recommends customers use the LIRR
for essential business travel only
Shipyard workers paused
to wave at the passengers aboard a Norfolk Southern passenger train as it made
a slow start through the backyards of Chesapeake homes and over the waters
surrounding the Norfolk, Va., Naval Shipyard, the Suffolk News Herald reports. The
grey and blue piles of freight soon turned to a blur of green and red – the
colors of summer turning to fall – as the train picked up speed through the
Great Dismal Swamp and continued over Lake Cohoon and through miles of cotton
and soybean fields.
October 22-24, Washington,
D.C., Metro will upgrade its platforms, rail bridges and install communication
cables in support of expanded cell phone service throughout the Metrorail
system on the Red and Green lines to improve long-term reliability and service.
As a result of this crucial work, which is critical to maintain the railroad in
a state of good repair, trains will be single-tracking, and so riders should
expect their trips to take up to 30 minutes longer than usual.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn was joined by U.S.
Rep. Phil Hare, Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Joseph Szabo,
Illinois Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig and local officials to announce
full funding for the Moline Transportation Center that will serve as a station
for new Amtrak service between Chicago and the Quad Cities. The station project
will create 750 construction jobs. The realization of passenger rail service in
downtown Moline will support approximately 1,600 direct and indirect jobs.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee,
BART Board President James Fang and Board Member Carole Ward Allen joined local
leaders in government, transportation and building trades to celebrate the
ceremonial groundbreaking on the $484 million Oakland Airport Connector
project. In the short term, construction of this train-to-plane connection will
mean thousands of jobs in a recovering economy. In the long term, this
world-class, 100-percent electric train-to-plane connection between the
Coliseum Station and the Oakland Airport will provide travelers with frequent,
fast and reliable service.
Los Angeles-area Metro
officials applauded the U.S. Department of Transportation announcement of a low-interest
loan of $546 million for the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor project,
representing the largest public works investment in South Los Angeles.
Metra might start over on
its plan to rebuild 22 bridges on the Union Pacific North Line, rebidding the
contract it already awarded for the work while figuring out a way to reduce the
estimated $80 million cost of new retaining walls, officials said, the Chicago Tribune
reports. The Northeastern Illinois
commuter rail agency is sending the controversial $185 million project
to reconstruct century-old bridges back to its engineers to find a way to keep
two tracks in operation, officials said.
Strapped for cash and
waiting on high-speed rail to fund railway improvements, Caltrain isn’t
planning another grade separation project after San Bruno’s aboveground undertaking,
the San Carlos Patch reports.
Plans for light rail in
Virginia Beach, Va., are moving forward, local media report. Officials from
Hampton Roads Transit joined Virginia Beach City Council to update them on
bringing light rail to the resort city. Right now it’s looking like any light
rail expansion to the beach would include about nine stations.
It starts where
Norfolk leaves off at Witchduck Rd. and then goes right now the 264 corridor,
stopping at Town Center, Lynn Shores, Lynnhaven, Great Neck, Oceana, Birdneck,
the Convention Center, and finally stopping down at the Oceanfront on 19th St.
Freight trains may be ready
to roll again on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, but a dispute between two
public rail agencies threatens to sidetrack the cargo service, The Santa Rosa,
Calif., Press Democrat reports. North Coast Railroad Authority, which oversees
freight trains, and Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, which owns the tracks south
of Healdsburg, can’t agree on joint operating rules.
Houston METRO will change its weekend rail service due to continued
construction of an enclosed pedestrian bridge over Fannin at the Texas Children’s
Hospital.
The Gary/Chicago
International Airport has won a key nod from CSX Corp. that will open the way
for moving railroad tracks that block the expansion of its main runway, the
Northwest Indiana Times reports. CSX has agreed to do design work that would
allow the reroute of tracks belonging to Canadian National Railway on to CSX’s
own right-of-way on the north side of Chicago Avenue, according to Gary/Chicago
International Airport Interim Director Steve Landry.
