Forty-two capital
construction projects and 33 planning projects in 40 states will share nearly
$600 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s popular TIGER II
program for major infrastructure projects ranging from highways and bridges to
transit, rail and ports, Secretary Ray LaHood said Oct. 20.
Ohio-based Construction
Polymers Technologies, Inc., was named as the new North America licensee of the
LVT slab track system from Sonneville AG (formerly Sonneville International
Corporation).
Norfolk Southern CEO Wick
Moorman was joined by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Federal Railroad
Administration Deputy Administrator Karen Rae, Rep. Bill Shuster and other
state and local dignitaries to officially break ground for the new Franklin
County Regional Intermodal Facility in Greencastle, Pa.
Earlier this month, SEPTA in
the Philadelphia area joined local officials and community members, for a
ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the completion of renovation work at the North
Wales Station.
BART is seeking public
input on future improvements to the Hayward, Calif., Yard. The agency will
present a project overview of the Hayward Maintenance Complex at the Oct. 21
meeting in Union City, Calif.
As part of the Patrick-
Murray Administration’s Massachusetts Recovery Plan to enhance economic
development and create jobs by strengthening public transit and rail service, Mass.
Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray joined U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Ray LaHood and Congressman John Olver to announce the groundbreaking for the
$55.5-million Wachusett Commuter Rail Extension Project.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said
that the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is providing $150 million
over the next three years ($50 million per year) for transit agencies
throughout Ohio.
Metro in the Washington,
D.C., area will close the eastern end of the Orange Line between the
Stadium-Armory and New Carrollton Metrorail stations and there will be no Blue
Line service between the Stadium-Armory and Benning Road Metrorail stations
from 10 p.m., Friday, Nov. 5, to closing on Sunday, Nov, 7, as the agency
undertakes a major rehabilitation and rebuilding project to improve safety,
comply with a safety recommendation made by the National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB), maintain service reliability and return the area to a state of
good repair.
St. Louis Metro and the
St. Clair County Transit District (SCCTD) have avoided potential service
disruptions to MetroLink by completing a $2.7-million project that halted
erosion and stabilized soil along 4.5 miles of tracks between Fairview Heights
and Swansea, Illinois. The project that began in May was completed nearly two
months ahead of schedule and 10 percent under the $3 million budget.
FRA is issuing Safety
Advisory 2010-03 to remind railroads and their employees of the importance of
situational awareness and the need to stay alert whenever the job that is being
performed changes, particularly in main track territory.
Carmanah Technologies
Corporation, Canadian manufacturer of self-contained solar LED Lighting systems
for marine, aviation, traffic and off-grid lighting applications worldwide
today announced a strategic partnership with Trojan Battery Company, the world’s
leading manufacturer of deep-cycle batteries. Under the agreement, Carmanah
will use Trojan’s deep-cycle batteries to provide energy storage for its EverGENTM
portfolio of outdoor solar LED lights.
The Nevada Department of
Transportation board has approved a list of projects including funding for the
next leg of the V&T Railroad reconstruction, the Nevada Appeal reports. The
track now stretches from Virginia City past Eastgate Station where the train
crosses Highway 50 and into the upper end of Carson River Canyon to what was
the site of Eureka Siding.
The V&T project
approved this week would use up to $3 million in stimulus funding to continue
work on the railroad reconstruction.
Flip Screen Australia Pty
Ltd., a designer and manufacturer of an award-winning line of screening
attachments, has appointed Peter Bigwood as president of its United States
headquarters, Flip Screen USA. In his new position, Bigwood is responsible for North
American sales operations, which includes identifying new market segments and
applications, building a sales team, and developing new relationships with
dealers and distributors. He will be attending the Association of Equipment
Dealers (AED) summit in January 2011, with the goal of establishing new dealer
and distributor partnerships
Connecticut’s recently
convened contract watchdog board has ordered the state DOT to explain the cost
efficiency of its long-running practice of hiring private engineers to inspect
state rail and highway bridges, the Stamford Advocate reports. The six-member
State Contracting Standards Board voted to require the Department of
Transportation to determine if it could complete the work more cheaply by
expanding the ranks of in-house inspectors to tackle inspections of rail and
highway bridges that private firms are usually hired for, said Gale Mattison,
the chairman of the standards board.
The Metra Board of
Directors approved the release of the Chicago-area agency’s proposed 2011
Program and Budget book for public hearing and comment. Metra’s proposed 2011 budget includes $634.2 million
for operations and a $407.5-million capital program. No fare increase is
planned in 2011.
BNSF has
selected T.J. Lambrecht Construction and Walsh Construction as the primary
civil contractor to construct its new intermodal facility southwest of Kansas
City in Edgerton, Kan.
After years of fits and
starts, the U.S. Transportation Department awarded Fort Worth, Texas, a $34
million grant Friday to upgrade the Tower 55 rail intersection near downtown,
the Star Telegram reports. Tower 55 is one of the most congested rail
intersections in the country. Fort Worth officials had been pushing for years
to secure the funding to construct a new north-south rail line there.
U.S. Senators Olympia J.
Snowe and Susan Collins and Representative Mike Michaud announced that the U.S.
Department of Transportation has awarded $10,546,436 to the Maine Department of
Transportation to repair and improve the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway
(MMA) line in Aroostook and northern Penobscot counties. The funding is being
made available through the second round of grants from the Transportation
Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. U.S. Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood called Senators Snowe and Collins and Rep. Michaud this
morning to inform them of the DOT’s decision.
U.S. Senators Charles E.
Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter announced that
$16,500,000 in federal grant funding would be coming to Niagara Falls, N.Y., to
revitalize the Niagara Falls Customhouse, which will soon be known as the
Niagara Falls International Railway Station. The funding comes from the
Department of Transportation’s competitive TIGER grant program, which was
enacted as part of the stimulus bill.
A new Amtrak station is
open near Orlando for the more than 244,000 annual Amtrak Auto Train passengers.
At about 10,000 square feet, the station in Sanford seats 600 passengers and is
about four times larger than its predecessor. Thomas Carper, chairman of the
Amtrak Board of Directors, joined local, state and federal officials for the
celebration. The original depot, constructed in 1971 and renovated in 1995, was
not large enough to accommodate growing demand for the Auto Train, which just
reported a year-to-year ridership increase of nearly five percent – despite the
economic recession.
