Two Pittsburgh-area
companies that have served the railroad industry since the 1800s are competing
to install 21st Century technology to prevent trains from colliding and from
hitting workers on railways, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
One of the worst rail
bottlenecks on the east coast is Washington’s Virginia Avenue Tunnel, Greater
Greater Washington reports. While the tunnel originally carried two tracks, it
was narrowed to one to allow taller and wider freight cars. With growing
freight rail traffic across the United States, the century-old tunnel is in
dire need of replacement.
Federal Railway
Administrator and former Riverdale, Ill., Mayor Joseph Szabo returned to the
south suburbs on April 13 to tout the Obama administration’s plans for a
"rail renaissance" and highlight the area’s potential for rail-related
economic development, the Northwest Indiana Times reports.
Up to 40 trains a day
eventually could travel through Reno on Union Pacific tracks, meaning more
horns waking up sleeping residents in west Reno and the west Truckee Meadows,
the Gazette-Journal reports.
Maine’s Governor Baldacci
has created a task force to look into saving railroad services in Aroostook
County, local media report. Earlier this week, Maine lawmakers approved a bond measure that sets
aside $7,000,000 to purchase and preserve about 240 miles of track in Northern
Maine.
There is a big difference
between an important letter mislaid or lost (with apologies to Canada Post) and
a letter that is deliberately destroyed, according to an editorial in Ontario’s
North Bay Nugget. There is always hope that the lost letter will turn up
somewhere, at some time. The destroyed letter is gone forever unless someone
made a copy.
Construction on the
Belmont Road underpass in Downers Grove, Ill., will resume in June with a
two-week closure of the street, according to the Downers Grove Reporter.
Warning signals and gates
are expected to be guarding Annandale’s increasingly busy South Poplar Lane railroad
crossing within a year, The Annadale Advocate reports. The Annandale City
Council approved an agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway and the state
of Minnesota to install the system at its regular meeting.
Officials say rust
gathering on Norfolk, Va., Light Rail tracks is not a problem, local media
report. The sight is concerning some people, especially since Norfolk’s Light
Rail project is over budget and behind schedule.
On Saturday, April 24,
and Sunday, April 25, regular Metrolink San Bernardino Line weekend service
will be replaced by a temporary schedule for
the installation of the pedestrian underpass at Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.,
station.
The Northwest Maintenance
Railway Club named Tom Swalboski of Stanley Railroad Product its Supplier of
the Year for 2010. In naming Swalboski the third recipient of this annual
award, NWMRC stated "Tom exemplifies a commitment to the railroad industry and
has been an active member of the NWMRC for more than15 years."
Congressman Jerrold Nadler
(D-N.Y.), the senior Northeastern Democrat on the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee, joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Congressman Jose
Serrano and Councilman Michael Nelson for the City’s unveiling of the its new
comprehensive waterfront plan.
Saskatchewan shortline railways, which primarily
serve grain producers, will receive C$500,000 for this year’s infrastructure grants
to assist them with projects such as track maintenance, railway tie
replacements and bridge repairs.
Engineering firm Stantec is
designing a new signaling system for a portion of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit
(DART) system in Dallas, Texas. The new system is part of the construction of
the new Lake Highland station along the light rail’s Blue Line between downtown
Dallas and Garland.
MTA New York City Transit
officials said that real-time train arrival countdown clocks or message screens
are now operational and being tested at several stations along the 2 3 lines in
Brooklyn. Funded by the 2000 – 2004 MTA Capital Program, the PA/CIS system is
now in the process of being activated for customer use at stations along the
IRT or numbered lines (123456) system-wide. PA/CIS offers subway customers
audio and visual train arrival information. The expansion of the screens to
Brooklyn follows the successful rollout of similar message boards at eleven
stations in the Bronx along the Pelham 6 line.
Planning for a proposed
pedestrian railway underpass at Goshen College in Goshen, Ind., is back on
after it recently hit a slowdown, local media report.
When some of Amtrak’s
taller, double-decker trains pass underneath the 1917 railroad overpass on
Courthouse Road in Fredericksburg, Va., the clearance is extremely tight, the
Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star reports The distance between the train and the
bridge can be measured in inches, said Rob Shackelford, Virginia Department of
Transportation area construction engineer.
Due to scheduled bridge
maintenance that will be performed between Morton Grove and Golf, Ill., on April
17, Metra Milwaukee District North Line train #2627 passengers will be bused
from Morton Grove to Golf. Passengers will detrain at Morton Grove and board a
bus that will bring them to waiting equipment at the Golf Station. Train #2627
is scheduled to depart Chicago at 12:25 a.m. and arrive Morton Grove at 12:55
a.m. and Golf at 12:58 a.m.
Parsons Brinckerhoff is
expanding its operations in Canada and will co-locate with Balfour Beatty
Capital, which opened its Balfour Beatty Capital-Canada office in 2009 in
Toronto. Both companies are part of Balfour Beatty plc. Parsons Brinckerhoff,
founded in New York City in 1885, is the professional services division of
Balfour Beatty. Balfour Beatty Capital, headquartered in Pennsylvania, is a developer,
sponsor and operator of public infrastructure projects.
Gary Newgard and Mary
Schofield Nowee have been named senior supervising architects in the San
Francisco office of Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global infrastructure strategic
consulting, planning, engineering and program/construction management
organization.