The Winter Haven, Fla.,
City Commission approved the first reading for a land-use change enabling
progress to continue on the proposed Integrated Logistics Center to be
developed in conjunction with the CSX Intermodal Terminal planned for the
southern portion of the city, the News Chief reports.
Senior executives from
Kansas City Southern and Norfolk Southern recently made their annual inspection trip across the Meridian
Speedway to see the capital improvements that have been made to increase
capacity and improve transit over the line from Shreveport, La. to Meridian,
Miss., KCS News, the company newsletter, reports.
Denver’s RTD has reached a
total $143.8-million agreement with BNSF that will move progress forward on two
FasTracks corridors to Arvada/Wheat Ridge and Westminster, Colo.,
according to a column by Kevin Flynn in InDenver Times. The
comprehensive agreement includes $102.7 million for the outright purchase of
railroad right-of-way for the Gold Line and several miles of the Northwest Rail
FasTracks corridors; a lump sum of $36.9 million in relocation funding for BNSF
to move and replace its facilities that are in the way of RTD’s projects; up to
$4 million in direct reimbursements of BNSF’s other costs for additional
construction or relocation that may occur incidental to the projects and
$200,000 for title insurance, closing costs and escrow fees.
Metra plans to spend $100
million to install a high-tech system that would keep trains from colliding or
prevent a distracted engineer from speeding through a warning signal to slow
down or stop, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Repairs to the
Fredericksburg, Va., train station could be under way this summer, The Free
Lance-Star reports. Virginia Railway Express received permission from its
Operations Board to issue an invitation for construction bids to repair the
drainage system in the station’s railroad bridge.
Momentum is building for
running conventional passenger trains between Norfolk and Richmond, Va., as an
interim step to getting high-speed rail, The Virginian-Pilot reports. The budget
approved by the Virginia General Assembly last week waives a 30 percent match
on state Rail Enhancement Funds, clearing a financial hurdle that will allow
construction to begin later this year and for trains to run within three years.
Los Angeles Metro will be
conducting a second round of exploratory drillings March 22-April 7 as part of
the planning and environmental analysis for the proposed Crenshaw /LAX Transit
Corridor Project.
Work on a $2.8-million
project to add additional signals to the Caltrain signal system took place from
8 p.m. to 4 a.m., Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20 between the San Mateo
and Redwood City stations.
Elburn,
Ill., Planning Commissioners revisited a past proposal to construct a
pedestrian crossing over the railroad tracks between the Metra station and the
north side of the village, local newspapers report. They hope the village can
pursue the project in the future to reduce risks for people walking across the
railway to and from the station and their homes or downtown Elburn.
The architecture firm
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has signed a contract with the Moynihan Station
Development Corporation to start design work on the first phase of the new
Moynihan Station in New York City, the New York Times reports. The project, which was proposed
by and later named for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, calls for converting
the Beaux-Arts James A. Farley Post Office – across Eighth Avenue from
Pennsylvania Station – into a train station.
The Board of Trustees of
the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is scheduled to meet at March
23.
The air smelled of fresh
paint, not beer and food, March 18 inside Byrnes Irish Pub, Maine Today reports.
Good reason. The business had hustled to have a grand opening March 17, just in
time to be mobbed on St. Patrick’s Day. Maine Street Station is a
new mixed-use development in Brunswick that will include retail space, offices,
a train station and perhaps a Concord bus operation. Patrick Byrnes is hopeful
that the turnout is a sign of things to come. His family chose to expand here,
from Bath, to take advantage of the planned arrival of Amtrak’s Downeaster
train service in 2012.
U.S. District Court Judge
John Kane on March 18 has denied a request by the Colorado Rail Passenger
Association to stop construction at Denver Union Station related to the
FasTracks regional rail-transit project, the Denver Business Journal reported. Construction
on the project has begun, with the contractor, Kiewit Construction, slated to
begin digging an underground bus station at Union Station this week.
After more than 11 years,
TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen said that he will be leaving the Portland, Ore., agency at
the end of his contract to pursue other opportunities. He released the
following statement regarding his announcement: "After 11.5 years at
TriMet, I have decided to pursue other opportunities. And although the Board of
Directors for whom I work hoped I would stay longer, I have informed them that
I will leave at the end of my current contract, June 30, 2010.
Workers were back at the
Hump to clean up the recent trimming job that left vegetation looking "ragged,"
Peace Arch News in British Columbia reports. Phase 2 of trimming started March
1 – a year and a half after protests temporarily halted the first phase – upon
requests from Hump residents.
The biggest empty chunk of
downtown Chicago is for sale, ready for somebody to take a chance on a future
cycle of real estate growth, David Roeder wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times. Buyers
should bring cash, great credit and patience.
Employees with a
sub-contractor for Norfolk Southern are making railroad track crossing
improvements in Sandersville, Miss., the Laurel Leader Call reports.
Workers
with Tubbys Construction Company of Lancing, Tenn., worked at the two railroad
crossings in Sandersville March 18 in an effort to make travel over those
crossings smoother.
The Chlorine Institute
has called on the Federal Railroad Administration to reexamine its rule on the
cost and benefits of implementing positive train control systems. The Chlorine
Institute claims that the FRA analysis of the benefits of PTC was flawed and
that positive train control systems result in business benefits to the
railroads. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Florida Department of
Transportation, through its newly created Florida Rail Enterprise, has selected
HNTB Corporation and Wilbur Smith Associates, in a joint partnership, as its
program manager for passenger rail in the state of Florida. The primary
assignment for this team will be assisting with implementation of Florida’s
high-speed rail program, which recently received a grant award of $1.25 billion
for Phase 1: Tampa-Orlando. This was one of the top awards in the Federal
Railroad Administration’s competition for $8 billion available in American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds through the Vision for High Speed Rail in
America program.
When high-speed rail
finally arrives in Central Florida, Orlando International Airport wants to be
ready – with a "Grand Central Station" of terminals that could
include multiple rail lines, food and retail concessions, a hotel and
rental-car counters, officials said March 17, the Orlando Sentinel reports. There
is no estimate yet on how much the terminal would cost or who would pay for it,
though airport leaders said they think state and federal officials should
provide most of the money.