Wabtec
Corporation has acquired Xorail LLC, a leading provider of signal engineering
and design services, for $40 million in cash. The company is based in
Jacksonville, Fla., and has annual sales of about $40 million. Wabtec expects
the transaction to be accretive in the first year.
Beginning April 3, 2010,
GO Transit is making several system-wide train and bus service changes to bring
schedules in line with actual travel trip times and to meet the needs of our
growing ridership across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
The South Shore commuter railroad plans to
temporarily bus mid-day passengers between South Bend, Ind., and Carroll Ave.
in Michigan City, Ind., on March 31 and April 1. South Shore maintenance crews will be replacing railroad
ties.
A number of projects vital
to SEPTA and its riders will become budget casualties if the federal government
does not approve a plan to provide dedicated funding for transportation in
Pennsylvania, according to Fiscal Year 2011 budget projections. The Federal
Highway Administration is currently reviewing Pennsylvania’s application to
convert Interstate 80 to a toll highway. This is a key component of Act 44, the
state law enacted in 2007 to create a dedicated source for transportation
funding throughout the Commonwealth.
Improvements by Pan Am
Southern to the rail route from Mechanicville, N.Y., to Ayer, Mass., in the
last year have increased capacity and speeds on the line and have the company
looking at further opportunities in New England, including the Fitchburg area,
the Worcester Telegram reports.
Where there’s a will
there isn’t always a way, if the way in question is a railway, said Toms Mills
in a column in the Sault Star. Both the federal and provincial governments are
apparently solidly behind providing money for infrastructure improvements to
keep the shortline railway operating between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury.
Sault Star But though signals are showing green, the money is stalled on a
siding somewhere. Squabbling over what program will be the funding vehicle, or
whether the province will sign on to a federal cost-sharing infrastructure
scheme, seems to be holding things up.
Persistence is paying off
in a big way for Levelland, Texas, suggests the dust flying above a 300-acre
tract on the south side of Highway 114 east of the city, the Lubbock Avalanche
Journal reports. Construction is in the early phases of the Levelland
Industrial Rail Park, which already has two companies signed on the dotted line
on a site that’s expected to attract $100 million in capital improvements and
1,000 new jobs to the Hockley County seat.
Norfolk Southern will break
ground on its Greencastle, Pa., intermodal rail facility this summer despite
news coming from Capitol Hill, a spokesman said, the Herald-Mail reports. The
mix of proposed legislation and funding denials that is troubling company
executives and local legislators has yet to slow the Greencastle project, said
Rudy Husband, director of public relations for Norfolk Southern.
"News of the 46-percent
cost overruns of the light rail project in Norfolk has some people wanting to
throw out the baby with the bath water. We shouldn’t," said Gene Waters, a
former Chesapeake City Council member, light rail committee chairman and an HRT
commissioner. "I personally observed the hard work, integrity and dedication of
both commissioners and staff at Hampton Roads Transit. After discovering the
cost overruns, I’m sure it was very difficult for Norfolk’s HRT representative,
Councilman Randy Wright and others to request the resignation of then-HRT chief
Michael Townes.
Long touted as a
"green" project that will reduce pollution, Norfolk Southern’s
proposed truck-to-rail terminal in western Fayette County could pose a threat
to the source of Memphis’ drinking water, The Commercial Appeal reported.
Work on a $2.8-million
project to add additional signals to the Caltrain signal system will take place
from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., Monday, March 15-19 between the San Mateo and Redwood
City stations.
The federal
Surface Transportation Board today will hold a public hearing this spring in
Maine on the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway’s application to abandon
233 miles of rail line in Aroostook and Penobscot counties.
An international expert
on transit systems provided the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s
Board of Directors with a verbal assessment of the transit agency so that the
Board could use that analysis during the transition to an interim and then
permanent general manager.
The U.S. 80 bridge over
the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, Miss., remained in "fair-to-good" condition
in 2009 – so says an early version of the 80-year-old structure’s annual
inspection report, according to the Vicksburg Post. Prepared by Baton Rouge-based
G.E.C., the report comes to the same conclusion as the previous two
assessments.
Four alternatives for state-sponsored
passenger rail service between Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Fort Worth are
detailed in a study released today by Amtrak and the Kansas Department of
Transportation. Start-up costs of
the alternatives, which are in 2009 dollars and based on 100 percent on-time
performance, range from $156 million to $479 million and the annual operating
support range from $3.2 million to $8 million. Annual ridership estimates of
the four alternatives range from 65,900 to 174,000.
Track maintenance on Washington,
D.C., Metro’s Red and Blue lines March 12-14 will cause inbound and outbound
trains to take turns sharing one track. Customers should add 30 minutes to
their trips.
The city of Virginia
Beach, Va., proposed $40-million deal to buy an old rail corridor for a
possible light rail project could cost more because a federal agency is asking
questions about the land’s value, The Virginian-Pilot
reports.
The Association of
American Railroads said that 2009 was the safest year in freight railroad
history, with preliminary year-end data indicating the train accident rate,
employee casualty rate and grade crossing incident rates were all at record low
levels last year.
Global Partners LP will
carry out a multi-million-dollar expansion and tank refurbishment project that
will add 180,000 barrels of ethanol storage capacity and rail access at the its
refined petroleum products terminal in Albany, N.Y. Developed jointly with
Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, the project, expected to be operational in
2010, includes modifications that will enable the Albany terminal to schedule
the delivery of 80-car trains of ethanol. Global Partners will connect the
terminal to CP’s adjacent Kenwood Yard rail facility via pipeline. The terminal
and rail facility are strategically located along the Hudson River, providing
access to the global Partners’ terminal network in the Northeast.
BART crews are installing
two new crossover tracks between Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek stations. This
work requires that the agency close the tracks between these two stations on
two weekends: March 26-28 and May 28-30 (Memorial Day weekend). To accommodate
customers, BART will provide a free bus bridge service between Walnut Creek and
Pleasant Hill (in both directions) during both weekends. BART suggests that customers
allow up to 20 additional minutes for the bus detour.