investments in America’s
freight rail system would create thousands of green jobs, improve the country’s
infrastructure, reduce dependence on foreign oil and lower carbon emissions,
according to a new report released today by the BlueGreen Alliance and the
Economic Policy Institute.
As part of the Patrick-Murray
Administration’s Massachusetts Recovery Plan to support economic development by
strengthening public transit and rail service, Congresswoman Niki Tsongas
joined MassDOT Secretary and CEO Jeffrey Mullan to announce the groundbreaking
of the $17.4-million Haverhill Commuter Rail Project funded by the American
Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The project complements a $50-million
ARRA-funded double-tracking and rail improvement project on the Fitchburg
commuter rail line.
The Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) invited the public to a special
community meeting on May 18 to hear an update on the proposed alignments
linking the potential Century City and Westwood/UCLA stations being examined as
part of the Westside Subway Extension Project environmental study now under
review.
The first trains to use the
Greenville, N.C, new railroad connector rolled through the city the evening of
May 3, The Daily Reflector reports. The connector, constructed this year to
relieve traffic problems at several city train crossings, is located at the
intersection of 14th and Beatty streets near Garris Evans Lumber Company. It’s
the first major step in ongoing efforts to address train traffic in the city.
MTA Long Island Rail Road
service on the Main Line east of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., will be affected by two
grade crossing renewal projects during two weeks in May. The Peconic Lane
crossing in Peconic will be reconstructed during the week of May 10 through May
14 and the Horton Lane crossing in Southold will be reconstructed during the
week of May 17-May 21.
Several members of the
U.S. House of Representatives held a field hearing Monday in Miami to review
national high-speed rail plans, including Florida’s project to build a
high-speed line between Miami and Tampa via Orlando partly funded by Obama
administration stimulus money, the Miami Herald reports. While Florida sought
$2.5 billion for the Tampa-Orlando stretch and $30 million to advance the
Orlando-Miami leg, the Federal Railroad Administration granted Florida $1.25
billion for Tampa-Orlando and nothing for Orlando-Miami.
During the last eight
months, Frankfort residents have spent more than $1 million on new landscaping,
courtesy of the Canadian National Railway, the Southtown Star reports. And
they’re not done yet.
IBM unveiled a new software
framework designed to transform the way airlines and rail companies track and
manage critical aspects of their businesses. Transportation systems are
tremendously asset-intensive and use large amounts of energy. Using IBM’s
advanced information management, analytics, automation and process integration
software, airlines and rail companies can model and manage optimal routes,
schedules, and capacity in near real-time and ultimately improve the consumer’s
travel experience while minimizing energy costs.
CN said today that
customer-focused innovation and balanced accountability among transportation
partners are the keys to improving the effectiveness of Canada’s logistics
supply chain. CN, in a submission to the Rail Freight Service Review panel
appointed by the Canadian government, said hard facts compiled for the panel
establish the quality of CN’s rail transportation product, most notably in
terms of hub-to-hub transit time performance.
CN has reached a voluntary
mitigation agreement (VMA) with the Village of Barrington Hills, Ill., located
approximately 40 miles northwest of Chicago, addressing the municipality’s
environmental and safety concerns with CN’s acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet
and Eastern Railway Company. With this agreement, CN has VMAs with 22 of the 33
communities situated on the EJ&E in Illinois and Indiana.
Construction begins Monday,
May 3, on a rainwater control project in San Bruno, Calif., the first step in a
grade-separation project that will result in dramatic safety improvements at a
key series of intersections in that community. Caltrain will build a new
underground box culvert to divert water away from the area during the
construction and help reduce flooding in the neighborhood east of the railroad
tracks.
Floodlights glared deep
in a century-old tunnel under an Appalachian hillside. An excavator poked at
the arched ceiling like a pterodactyl, the Hampton Roads Pilot reports. Chunks
of sandstone shattered and fell thunderously into an empty rail car.
Starting in mid-June,
contractors will add a second set of tracks to a 2-mile stretch of the coastal
railway through Carlsbad, Calif., the North County Times reports. Having a
double set of tracks will provide new passing points for trains and reduce
delays for both local Coaster commuter trains and Amtrak long-distance trains,
John Eschenbach, senior project manager for Amtrak, said.
SEPTA General Manager
Joseph M. Casey was joined by a host of local officials and dignitaries on April
29 to celebrate the completion of rehabilitation work at the North Philadelphia
Station on the Broad Street Line.
RailComm has provided a
wireless remote control yard system at CSX Transportation’s Avon Yard in
Indianapolis. The RailComm Domain Operations Controller (DOC®)
System provides remote control to several GETS HydraSwitch machines. RailComm’s
DOC® system is configured to control all switches individually as
well as provide eNtrance eXit (NX) routing functionality.
British Columbia’s
TransLink delivered significant, promised expansion in road and transit
infrastructure and services in 2009 to Metro Vancouver, while also dealing with
softer revenues to successfully reduce the size of its forecast deficit. Metro
Vancouver’s transportation authority prioritized, ensuring that services and
efficiency worked together to produce value-for-money for customers and
taxpayers.
(The following editorial appeared
in the Fort Worth, Texas, Star Telegram.) America’s railroads have a good track
record when it comes to hauling toxic inhalants. Accidents are extremely rare
even though volume is extremely high — trains hauled 72,000 tank cars of such
dangerous cargo in 2008.
PennDOT says moving
freight by rail eases congestion on highways, saves fuel costs and, with some
enhancements to the current lines, the state could improve upon its position as
an important crossroads for the rest of the country, the Beaver County Times
reports. A PennDOT study released earlier this month outlines what officials
hope will be the future of the rail industry-freight and passenger-and spells
out what needs to happen to achieve the goals the report sets for 2035. And
while the report makes it clear that many of the goals must be achieved by both
sides of the industry, it sets a few priorities for specific improvements that
will help improve freight rail in the state.
Six months ago, the
biggest day in Dallas Area Rapid Transit history turned into one of its worst
when thousands of football fans found themselves stranded at rail stations in
Dallas waiting to get to or from the Texas-Oklahoma game. Many fans vowed never
to ride the rails again, The Dallas Morning News reports.
Freight traffic could
resume on the Upper Hudson River Railroad as soon as next year, as a northern
Warren County business seeks to get its product to market more cheaply, the Post
Star reports. Barton Mines would use trains to transport product from its North
River mines to markets right now, if it could, said Chuck Barton, chief
operating officer of the company.