News and Opinion

Oregon port lands rail deal with Union Pacific






Port officials in Coos Bay,
Ore., expect to sign a deal with Union Pacific as soon as next week to take
control of the rail line between the North Spit and Coquille, The World
reports. Port commissioners approved an agreement that Executive Director
Jeffery Bishop has been working on for nearly a year, said spokesman Martin
Callery. The deal means rail service can reopen as soon as next year, all the
way from Eugene to Coquille — an important step for southern Coos County shippers.

CSX celebrates 40th Anniversary of Earth Day






CSX Corporation is
celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with a week-long celebration
around its network that includes rail yard clean sweeps, employee engagement
and education activities and local beautification projects.

Soil work, track inspection will delay some LIRR trains






MTA Long Island Rail Road
train service between Babylon and Speonk, N.Y., will be suspended for the
weekend of April 24-25 so LIRR workers can restore a stretch of track replaced
last year to allow National Grid to conduct an environmental cleanup of the
area under the track just west of Bay Shore Station.

Caltrain construction, maintenance April 16-22






Work to reconstruct the
pavement and track at the Caltrain Villa Terrace crossing in San Mateo, Calif.,
began April 16. The crossing will be closed from 8 a.m. Friday, April 16, until
6 a.m. Tuesday, April 20. The work is part of a 10-week project to rebuild
three railroad crossings in the cities of Burlingame and San Mateo. The work at
Peninsula Avenue in Burlingame has been completed. After the Villa Terrace
crossing has been competed, work will begin on the Bellevue Avenue crossing.

LA Metro to hold meetings on South Bay Metro Green Line Extension






Los Angels’ Metro will
hold four public scoping meetings beginning April 26 for the South Bay Metro
Green Line Extension project. These scoping meetings are the first step in the
environmental process and Metro is seeking public comments and input for
extending rail service farther into the South Bay to improve mobility in
southwest Los Angeles County.

RailComm awarded contract for Wisconsin & Southern’s GCOR dispatch system






RailComm has been selected
to provide the Track Warrant Control system for the Wisconsin & Southern
Railroad. RailComm’s state-of-the-art Domain Operations Controller train
control system will be accessed through a web-enabled Software-as-a-Service
(SaaS) delivery model. RailComm’s SaaS offering provides a "pay-as-you-go"
model, thus eliminating capital equipment procurement constraints.


CSXT hikes PTC cost estimate to $1.2 billion






CSX Transportation now
expects to spend $1.2 billion or more developing and installing the crash
avoidance technology known as positive train control, which has been mandated
by a 2008 federal law, the Journal of Commerce reports. That is up from roughly
$750 million that CSXT previously estimated to put in PTC across its network as
required by the end of 2015. Company officials gave the new estimate in an
April 14 conference call with Wall Street analysts.

Norfolk Southern goes social on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr






Norfolk Southern
Corporation has expanded its communications with online audiences, distributing
information, video and photos on popular social media Web sites. News media,
customers, shareholders, bloggers, and other opinion leaders now can keep up to
date on Norfolk Southern news and information through Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, and Flickr.

Government of Canada Investing in 155 grade crossings






Canada’s Transport
Minister John Baird, Rob Merrifield, Minister of State (Transport), and Denis
Lebel, Minister of State for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the
Regions of Quebec, said that the Government of Canada will upgrade
high-priority rail grade crossings across the country – a move that will help
to keep Canadian communities safe.

$765 million from U.S. DOT for Access to Region’s Core rail project






U.S. Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood said that the Federal Transit Administration will make a
further "down payment" toward an eventual commitment of $3 billion by approving
a $765-million Early Systems Work Agreement amendment to continue and expand
work on the Access to the Region’s Core rail project, which will carry the rail
line under the Hudson River. The agreement includes $385 million in federal
funds matched by $380 million in local funding.

Metra BNSF Stone Ave. Station construction to start






On April 19, construction
will begin on the western half of the inbound and outbound platforms at the
Stone Avenue Station on the Metra BNSF Line in LaGrange, Ill. Commuters will
only be able to board and exit the train from the east half of the platforms.

California delaying high-speed rail EIS






California High-Speed
Rail Authority representatives said the project’s environmental impact report
will be delayed until next year to help the agency deal with concerns from
cities along the bullet train’s proposed path, the Orange County Register
reports.

Illinois governor derails Genoa’s dreams for Amtrak






An unexpected about-face on
the route to be used for new Chicago-Dubuque Amtrak train service leaves Genoa-
and South Elgin-area leaders feeling bewildered, the Elgin Courier-News reports.
But the decision makes it more likely that a new Metra commuter service could
be set up in coming years from Elgin through Gilberts and Huntley to Belvidere
and Rockford.

UP participating in more than 100 Earth Day events






Union Pacific will
participate in more than 100 Earth Day events in nearly 70 communities in April.
The events will include an array of activities such as tree plantings,
beautification projects, hands-on school activities, shoe recycling programs
and the annual Earth Day Fair at the Union Pacific Center in Omaha.

Pittsburgh work to causes weekend street closures






Two street closures will
affect both Port Authority riders and motorists in Pittsburgh April 16-19. On
Friday, April 16 at 4 a.m., Port Authority contractors will fully close the
intersection of Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street in order to conduct backfill
work associated with North Shore Connector construction. This is the first step
in eventually reopening all lanes of the intersection. Currently, vehicles may
only travel westbound on Penn across Stanwix. That lane is scheduled to reopen
on Monday, April 19 at noon.


Elevators coming into operation at several Montreal stations






The Société de transport
de Montréal said the elevator located in the St-Denis entrance to Berri-UQAM
station would be open to the public from the time the métro opens on the
morning of Friday, April 16. This completes the second phase of the elevator
installation work at Berri-UQAM station, bringing the number of operational
elevators in that station to three, making access to the Orange line, in either
direction, easier for all public transit users.

Track work to cause delays on Metrorai






Metrorail customers in the Washington,
D.C., area can expect delays of up to 40 minutes April 16-18 as old track
components are replaced on the Red, Blue, Orange and Green lines, causing
inbound and outbound trains to take turns sharing one track on portions of the
rail system. 

Riders planning to take the Red, Blue, Orange or Green lines to
area sports events this weekend should add up to 40 minutes to their travel
times.

North Temple Viaduct in Salt Lake City to close for 18-month rebuild






Utah Transit Authority and
Salt Lake City will close a segment of North Temple Street starting April 18
for an 18-month rebuild of the North Temple viaduct. The viaduct, which crosses
Union Pacific and UTA railroad tracks between 600 West and 300 West, will be
demolished and rebuilt as part of the Airport TRAX light rail project.