As the city ponders how
to pay for light-rail budget overruns, the Hampton Roads Transit board took
action Sept. 23 to help control project costs, The Virginian-Pilot reports. The
board approved changes in the final large contract for rail construction that
HRT President and CEO Philip Shucet said will allow the agency to avoid
spending an additional "few million dollars."
(The following editorial by
Mike Norman appeared in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.) Time for a Fort Worth
streetcar update — or, as I call it, the local obsession that won’t go away.
Public support for rail
service from Pittsfield, N.Y., to New York City is gaining steam, according to a
survey of potential riders who expressed strong interest in the idea, the Berkshire
Eagle reports.
September 24-26, Metro in
the Washington, D.C., area will install new crossties, upgrade its track and
trim weeds on the Orange, Blue, Yellow and Green lines to improve long-term
reliability and service. As a result of this work, which is critical to
maintain the railroad in a state of good repair, riders can expect delays of up
to 30 minutes.
MTA Long Island Bus will
provide bus and van service in place of four Long Island Rail Road trains at
three Port Washington Branch stations in the early morning of Saturday,
September 25, in order to allow overnight track inspections. LIRR customers
will be able to transfer between trains and buses/vans at the Great Neck
Station, and should allow up to 30 minutes of additional travel time in either
direction.
Due to bridge repair work
in the Rail Runner corridor, the #502 train from Belen (8:50am) and the #505
train from Santa Fe (11:20am) will be cancelled, Sunday, September 26, between
8:50 am and 1:00 p.m. The two later trains will still run on their normal
Sunday Schedule
National Transportation
Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman appeared before a U.S. House of
Representatives subcommittee to discuss the final report and safety recommendations
from the NTSB’s investigation into the fatal June 2009 collision of two
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) trains on the Red Line
in Washington, D.C.
The Metropolitan Council awarded
Aldridge/Collisys, a joint venture, an $87.9-million systems contract to build
the traction-power substations and overhead contact system for the Central
Corridor LRT Project. Aldridge/Collisys
also will construct the communications system, train-to-wayside communications,
radio, public address system and train control system with control centers,
wayside signals and remotely controlled power-operated switches.
The public is invited to a
community meeting about the San Bruno, Calif., Grade Separation Project from
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sept. 30 at Belle Air School in San Bruno. The meeting
will include a presentation on the project, which will elevate the Caltrain
tracks above San Bruno, San Mateo and Angus avenues. The project also includes
a new elevated train station between San Bruno and San Mateo avenues that will
replace the current station, three pedestrian underpasses and a new parking lot
with 191 spaces. In addition, Posy Park and the streets and sidewalks in the
neighborhood will be improved.
(The following column,
"Don’t let this opportunity slip away: Keep Hudson rail tunnel project on
track," was written by Martin E. Robins and appeared Sept. 23, 2010, in
the Newark, N.J., Star Ledger. Robins is director emeritus of the Alan M.
Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, was the original project
director of Access to the Region’s Core from 1994 through 1998.) No one can blame Gov. Chris
Christie for his 30-day moratorium on the Access to the Region’s Core project,
the enormous undertaking to build a new passenger rail tunnel under the Hudson
River. But he must do everything in his power not to let this extraordinarily
valuable public works project slip away over exaggerated fears of future costs
that may never materialize.
Continuing to emphasize the
priority of safety, Washington, D.C., Metro’s Customer Service, Operations and
Safety Committee has recommended that the full Board of Directors establish a
Safety and Security Committee and that the Board also adopt a new mission
statement that clearly places safety at the forefront of the transit agency.
The
actions serve to demonstrate the transit agency’s commitment to safety as its
top priority and address a recommendation by the National Transportation Safety
Board for increased safety oversight by the Metro Board, which is expected to
vote on the recommendations at its regular monthly meeting on Sept. 30.
Though the local permitting
process for the project seemingly crawls along, officials at CSX Transportation
are hopeful that their $100-million plan to expand the company’s freight yard
behind Union Station will be completed by 2012, the Telegram reports.
Rotted wood was the only
thing holding the rails together, the San Angelo Standard Times reports. Now
government entities have secured funds to put in new railroad ties, new
railroad crossings, new rails and a new bridge, with construction having
already begun near downtown San Angelo, Texas.
An upgrade to the railway
signal system near Rahway, N.J., Station will have a major impact on weekend
rail commuters, NJToday reports.
Adrian Share and Conrad
Blankenzee have joined HNTB Corporation to work in the firm’s growing
high-speed rail practice in Florida. HNTB, in a joint partnership with Wilbur
Smith Associates, was selected by the Florida Department of Transportation in
March 2010 as the program manager for passenger rail in the state of Florida,
primarily the link between Tampa and Orlando.
The historic Union Depot in
St. Paul, Minn., is on the road to restoration, the Star-Tribune reports. The
Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority on Sept. 21 approved a $149-million
construction contract for the renovation and transformation of the building
into a transportation hub. The vote was 6 to 1, with Commissioner Janice
Rettman dissenting.
Harsco Corporation said two
follow-on orders in its Harsco Rail track maintenance business group are valued
at more than $15 million and that both of them continue Harsco’s strong
presence in providing specialized rail grinding equipment and services to
leading U.S. and international railways.
Railroad maintenance
crews have been a thorn in the side of Pittsburg, Kan., drivers for about a
month, blocking some streets for up to a week at a time, The Morning Sun reports.
And those drivers could have to wait a few more days before the repair crews
have finished their job.
Mike Cory, CN Rail’s
senior vice-president in the Western Region, attended the Prince Rupert, B.C.,
and District Chamber of Commerce lunch to speak about the bright future of
Prince Rupert’s Port, and made a donation on behalf of CN to the Prince Rupert
Heritage Advisory Committee for the Pillsbury House, The Northern View reports.
While some feel the trains
need to blow their horns for safety purposes when traveling through a populated
area, others have grown tiresome of hearing the whistle at all times of the day
and night and have called upon the city to apply for Quiet Zone status, The
Troy Record reports.