Continuing its pursuit of a
portion of the $8 billion available through the ARRA High Speed Intercity
Passenger Rail Program, the Washington State Department of Transportation
applied for more than $1.3 billion in ARRA stimulus funds for the Pacific
Northwest Rail Corridor.
Helping freight trains move
quicker and reducing the time motorists spend waiting for trains to pass are
goals of a $26-million federally funded project announced Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times
reports. Plans were unveiled to add a third main rail line over about three
miles in Blue Island and Alsip, Ill., easing congestion in the busy south
suburban corridor.
The imminent reactivation
of an old railroad route through Gastonia could mean that one or more local
street crossings will be closed to vehicular traffic, the Gaston Gazette
reports. The state-run N.C. Rail Co. wants to eliminate two crossings to reduce
safety concerns and avoid the cost of installing safety devices along the old
Piedmont and Northern railway.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s
Northwest Corridor to Irving/DFW Final Environmental Impact Statement is the
recipient of the Federal Transit Administration’s Outstanding Achievement Award
for Excellence in Environmental Document Preparation. The FEIS provided the
environmental clearances for the first nine miles of the Orange Line extending
from Bachman Station in northwest Dallas to Belt Line Station near DFW
International Airport.
Three members of the
Massachusetts Congressional delegation are renewing and amplifying the call for
greater construction oversight of Pan Am Railways’ rail-to-truck auto
distribution yard off Willow Road in Ayer, Mass., local newspapers report.
The future ain’t what it
used to be. Back in 1930, the movie "Just Imagine" dreamed of the
world of 1980, when everyone has a flying car. Other sci-fi scenarios pictured
personal jet packs and individual transit "pods" gliding along
monorails, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Union Pacific and Progress
Rail Services said that the ultra-clean diesel PR30C-LoNOx locomotive being
tested in intermediate line haul service has successfully achieved more than
500 operational hours. The locomotive — powered by a 3516 Caterpillar engine
— has been retrofitted with a state-of-the-art after-treatment system, making
it one of the cleanest locomotives operating in the United States.
There was something poetic
about the pouring rain when Union Pacific and Iowa state officials gathered Oct.
1 to dedicate the new Kate Shelley Bridge across the Des Moines River west of
Boone, Iowa, The Omaha World Herald reports. It was, of course, a stormy night
when the young teenager crawled across a rickety bridge in the dark and rain to
stop a train filled with hundreds of passengers from plunging into a creek. That
was 1881.
Passenger-rail giant Amtrak
has selected a site at the end of Malaga Street, across U.S. 1 and north and
west of the Main Fire Station in St. Augustine, Fla., as the site where a new
railroad passenger terminal should be built, local media report.
RailComm has provided a
wireless remote control yard system at CSX Transportation’s Tilford Yard in
Atlanta, Ga. The RailComm Domain Operations Controller (DOC®) System
remotely controls 17 GETS HydraSwitch machines and a crossing gate. RailComm’s
DOC® system is configured to control all switches individually as
well as provide eNtrance eXit (NX) routing functionality.
(Statement by APTA President
William Millar)
"The ‘Clean Energy Jobs and
American Power Act’ introduced by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John
Kerry (D-Mass.) this week potentially offers important new funding to expand
access to public transportation and improve our daily travels while reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and oil consumption. APTA supports their efforts to
move our nation toward a vibrant clean energy economy while controlling global
warming.
Sound Transit’s design
for a commuter rail line from Tacoma Dome Station to Lakewood is dividing city
leaders and residents and creating an election-season stir, according to the Tacoma
News Tribune. The debate is likely to erupt again when the Tacoma City Council
holds a public hearing on the master development agreement between Sound
Transit and the city. The council is expected to vote on the issue Oct. 13.
In the Washington, D.C.,
area, the Waterfront-SEU and Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Metrorail
stations will be closed, and the Green Line also will be closed at the L’Enfant
Plaza Metrorail station from 10:30 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 9, through Monday,
Oct. 12, with no service at these stations for three consecutive days. The Blue
and Orange Line at the L’Enfant Plaza Metrorail station will not be affected.
Service will resume at all Metrorail stations on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
North Carolina Gov. Bev
Perdue said that the state submitted the second round of high-speed rail
applications for competitive funding under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act. North Carolina is applying for funds totaling more than $5
billion for four projects to help further develop the federally designated
Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.
They don’t look like much
at first glance: Narrow, freshly installed medians jutting up in the middle of
the road on either side of two railroad crossings, the Grand Island, Neb.,
Independent reports. But since Sept. 1, those medians have allowed Broken Bow’s
east side to finally experience some respite from the horns of the trains that
regularly rush through town.
The Kansas Department of
Transportation has submitted a final grant application totaling $10 million to
the Federal Railroad Administration for funding under the High Speed/Intercity
Passenger Rail program using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act, said Ron Kaufman with KDOT, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
At the Northstar commuter
rail station in Fridley, Minn., installation of station platform pavers was
completed and roofing on the station shelters and east and west entrances continues.
Installation of glass for the station shelters and east and west entrances has begun.
Painting of the steel on the station platform and the east and west entrances
is completed for now and will continue after glass installation occurs.
(Below is a letter to The Honorable Peter M.
Rogoff, Administrator,
Federal
Transit Administration
, from the National Association of Rail Pasengers. The letter was co-signed by several other organizations interested in rail passenger service.)
Joined by federal, state and local officials in
united support, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger discussed his submission of the
state’s application for nearly $4.7 billion in federal American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act funding for engineering, design and construction on California’s
high-speed train system. Pledging a dollar-for-dollar match from state and
local funds, including the high-speed rail bond passed by California voters in
November 2008, the state’s application would generate a nearly $10 billion
investment. This funding would collectively create nearly 130,000 jobs
throughout California.
A map from 1900 that
highlighted Kansas railways would have just been one giant black blob from all
the crisscrossing railways, The Morning Sun in Pittsburg, Kan., reports.
That’s
no longer true. Five counties in the state no longer have any railway of any
sort (Rooks, Graham, Greenwood, Chautauqua and Comanche).