All trains on the Blue Line
rapid transit line from Boston to Revere, Mass., have been upgraded from four
to six cars, enabling the "T" to carry more passengers. The
transition began and was completed this fall.
The Chicago Transit
Authority is undertaking a study of the Red Line North and Purple Line – from
the Addison Red Line station to Linden on the Purple Line – that will provide
guidance for doing major rehabilitation work in the future, pending funding
availability. As part of this Vision Study, the public is invited to provide
input and feedback regarding these stations at a series of four open houses at
various locations on the North Side and in Evanston.
CSX Transportation has
put on hold two bridge projects in Medina County, Ohio, while details are
worked out between the railroad company and county officials, according to the
Medina County Gazette. A third project – replacing the 103-year-old bridge at
Mud Lake Road in Westfield Township – is scheduled to begin early next year.
The rebuilt bridge will allow double-stacked containers on rail cars to pass
under it.
A $4.8-million federal
grant will let Riverhead Town, N.Y., live out its longtime dream of having
freight trains running to and from the Enterprise Park at Calverton, the
Riverhead News Review reports. The entire cost of rehabbing the Calverton rail
spur, which leads into the park, will be funded with federal stimulus money,
lawmakers said.
For the first time in 38
years, passenger rail service is returning to the community of Stanwood/Camano
Island with daily Amtrak Cascades train
service making two morning and two evening stops at a new rail station
beginning the morning of Saturday, November 21.
The Illinois Commerce Commission has granted
approval Grade-crossing safety improvements in three communities across the
state. ICC OKed the installation of automatic flashing light signals and gates
at the 130th Street grade crossing of BNSF track located near Cameron, Warren
County. The estimated cost to install automatic flashing light signals and
gates is $234,377. The Grade Crossing Protection Fund will be used to pay 95
percent of the warning device installation costs, not to exceed $222,658. BNSF will
pay all remaining installation costs, as well as all future operating and
maintenance costs.
A $14.7-million
rail improvement project in Cary, N.C., will construct a new grade-separated
crossing under the railroad near Walker Street, local newspapers report. The
crossing will provide an alternative emergency service connection from south to
north Cary, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Dayton, Ohio, city
officials are in discussions with Norfolk Southern to tear down an abandoned
train trestle bridge now used as a tent-housing complex by the area’s homeless,
local newspapers report. Engineers from the city and railway company examined
the bridge that runs over South Patterson Boulevard, just south of Apple
Street, within the last two weeks, city spokesman Tom Biedenharn confirmed. He
said no decision has been made about the bridge’s fate.
The Federal Highway
Administration, Illinois Department of Transportation, Chicago Department of
Transportation and Association of American Railroads have agreed to
modifications to the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency
Program in response to changing needs. In particular, much of the Central
Corridor, as defined in the original CREATE Feasibility Plan & Preliminary
Screening is no longer required. Major portions of the southern half of the
Central Corridor are being retained, however, to provide an alternate route for
freight trains, in order to free up capacity on the existing route (over the Norfolk
Southern Chicago Line) for Amtrak trains from New Orleans and Carbondale into
Chicago Union Station, while minimizing impacts to Amtrak and freight service already
using this line.
GO Transit in
metropolitan Toronto is set to start an environmental assessment that will look
at what infrastructure upgrades would be required to expand rail service to the
Niagara Peninsula, including prospective building sites for new rail stations
and potential improvements to the existing rail line. The EA begins the week of
Nov. 16, with completion scheduled for summer 2010.
The City of Seattle and
Sound Transit are moving forward with plans to build a new streetcar line
linking the city’s First Hill neighborhood with Capitol Hill and the
International District. The city and Sound Transit have executed an agreement
that includes an expedited construction timeline – the line is anticipated to
open in 2013 instead of the 2016 completion that was earlier planned. The City
of Seattle will build and operate the new line, which voters approved as part
of the 2008 Sound Transit 2 ballot measure.
CN reached a voluntary
mitigation agreement related to its acquisition of the principal lines of the
former Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E) with the Village of
Lake Zurich, Ill., located 37 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. With this
agreement, CN has VMAs with 20 municipalities that are home to two-thirds of
the population living along the EJ&E in Illinois and Indiana.
The Patrick-Murray
Administration said MBTA will hire of a diverse group of 15 employees with
funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The new jobs support the
$9-million Fitchburg, Mass., Commuter Rail Line project, funded through the ARRA
stimulus program and part of Governor Deval Patrick’s Massachusetts Recovery
Plan. The Massachusetts Congressional delegation worked with colleagues in
Washington, D.C., to allocate a total of $319 million in recovery funds for
transit projects at the Regional Transit Authorities and the MBTA.
The Dixon administration is
expected to bring two contracts before the Board of Estimates Nov. 18 cementing
its two-year-old accord with CSX Transportation under which the railroad will
pay roughly three-quarters of the cost of replacing two of the city’s most
deteriorated bridges, the Baltimore Sun reports.
The Wheeling and Lake
Erie Railway Co. is on track to increase train speeds from 25 to 40 mph, and
railroad and public officials are advising motorists to take extra precautions
at crossings. The Gazette in Medina County, Ohio, reports.
As ridership continues to
increase at the Gateway Transportation Center, Amtrak passengers now have
another option for their personal vehicles- a long-term parking facility on
Amtrak-owned property at 421 South 16th Street, the corner of 16th and Poplar
Streets in Downtown St. Louis.
Burlington, Iowa,
officials say they hope to have a plan in place near Christmas to silence the
noise from passing trains, according to The Register-Mail in Galesburg, Ill.
Many Galesburg residents would like a similar Christmas present, or such a gift
any time of the year.
Northstar Commuter service in
the Twin Cities area became a reality Nov. 16, with the first paying customers
for the new rail line. Northstar is BNSF’s first new BNSF-employee-operated
commuter service in nine years and has been more than 10 years in the planning
and execution stage, the company newsletter reports.
The McHenry County
College Board of Trustees is requesting more analysis of the proposed site of a
new Metra station in Crystal Lake, Ill., according to the Northwest Herald. Metra’s
Board of Directors recently approved a tentative $1.53-million deal to buy land
for a new stop along the Union Pacific Northwest Line in unincorporated
Ridgefield on Country Club Road at Prairie Drive.
Pennsylvania
Governor Edward G. Rendell, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and CSX Chairman,
President and CEO Michael J. Ward joined together to celebrate the construction
of an improved rail route that generates hundreds of jobs. The completed
project will create an improved double-stack rail corridor to expand
Philadelphia’s freight transportation options and position the region for
future growth.