Work begins on East 180th Street 25 Station; signal modernization continues






MTA New York City Transit
said that beginning Saturday, March 27, and continuing for 18 months through
August 2011, there will be no weekday rush hour 5 express service in either
direction between East 180th Street and 3rd Avenue-149th Street. During this
period, 5 trains will make all 2 local stops. Currently, 5 trains run express
in the peak direction during morning (southbound) and afternoon (northbound)
rush hours between East 180th Street and 3rd Avenue-149th Street. It is anticipated
that this service change will add about five minutes to customers’ trips.

Construction continues for light rail in Seattle






Wabtec Signs Contract To Provide Electronic Braking To South Africa’s<br /> Spoornet

Construction at the
University of Washington light rail station in Seattle is under way and during
the week of March 15, 2010 there will be several construction activities along
Montlake Blvd. adjacent to Husky Stadium that will affect the roadway and sidewalks.

Wabtec acquires Xorail, a provider of signal engineering, design services






Wabtec Signs Contract To Provide Electronic Braking To South Africa’s<br /> Spoornet

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.

GO Transit making changes to meet increased demand






Wabtec Signs Contract To Provide Electronic Braking To South Africa’s<br /> Spoornet

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.

South Shore schedules railroad tie replacement






Wabtec Signs Contract To Provide Electronic Braking To South Africa’s<br /> Spoornet

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.

SEPTA unveils Fiscal Year 2011 capital & operating budgets






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.

Railroad lists upgrades in a pitch for customers






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.

Brighter future for Sault if railway were fast-tracked






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.

Levelland’s new rail park under construction has companies waiting






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’s Greencastle project on track






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.

Hampton Roads light rail, high-speed rail deserve support






"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.

NS terminal presents risks to Memphis aquifer






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.

Caltrain construction, maintenance updates March 13-19






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.

STB to hold public hearing in Maine on MMA abandonment

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.

Transit expert conducts assessment of D.C. Metro






February 14, 2001

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.





Old Vicksburg, Miss., bridge judged ‘fair to good’






February 14, 2001

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.

Study outlines alternatives for Kansas rail passenger service






February 14, 2001

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.

D.C. Metro sets weekend rail service changes






February 14, 2001

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.

Price to buy old rail corridor could change






February 14, 2001

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.

2009 safest year ever for nation’s freight railroads






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.