Commuter/Regional

SEPTA celebrates Ryers Station improvements

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, elected officials, community leaders and other dignitaries gathered to celebrate the completion of a federally-funded, non-stimulus $7.9 million renovation project at Ryers Station.

Canada and Ontario financially support preliminary engineering study for commuter rail

The governments of Canada and Ontario announced funding to support a preliminary engineering study on a commuter rail link between Peterborough and Toronto, ON. Dean Del Mastro, member of Parliament for Peterborough and Jeff Leal, member of the Provincial Parliament for Peterborough, were joined by Tony Smith, founding president of the Shining Waters Railway, to confirm the successful negotiation of the funding agreements.

LIRR plans $211.5 million in infrastructure improvements

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority Long Island Rail Road plans to invest $211.5 million in Main Line infrastructure improvements, including a $55 million facelift for Hicksville Station. Other projects include a new bridge in Westbury and track drainage fix in Mineola.

MBTA releases See Say smartphone app

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Transit Police Department released the See Say smartphone app. With this iPhone App, riders are able to instantly report suspicious activity on the MBTA to Transit Police. In just a few clicks, riders can share pictures, text and incident location details.

New Rail Runner express train and fares begin May 21

A new fare structure is set to go into effect for the New Mexico Rail Runner Express this month.

This will be the first express train between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Passengers using this new service will be able to save 20-25 minutes in each direction on their commute between the two cities.

TriMet ridership continues to rise

In April, there were more than 8.8 million trips taken on Portland, Ore.-area TriMet buses, MAX and WES commuter rail. For 13 consecutive months, weekday and weekly trips and total monthly ridership increased. System-wide, all modes were up in all categories of ridership for April.

Invensys Rail acquires PHW, Inc.

Invensys Rail Corp. acquired PHW, Inc., from the current owner/managers for up to $24,000,000.00. The company will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Invensys Rail Corp.

LIRR to replace crossties on the Ronkonkoma Branch

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road will be replacing wood ties on the Ronkonkoma Branch between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma beginning May 14. The work will be completed in three phases to minimize customer impact. When completed by the end of the summer, the work will help ensure greater service reliability and a smoother, more comfortable ride for customers.

Metrolink CEO Fenton resigns, heading to Patriot Rail

Southern California’s Metrolink Chief Executive Officer, John Fenton will step down from his post at Metrolink after leading a two-year comprehensive reorganization that has put in place new leadership, policies and standards that have increased ridership and enhanced safety in the region.

Lilee Systems earns Red Hat Hardware Certification

Lilee Systems, provider of communication systems designed exclusively for the railroad industry, has achieved Red Hat Hardware Certification for the company’s WMS-2000 wayside messaging server, making it the first wayside messaging server with internal 3G, GPS and IP KVM options to achieve Red Hat certification. Now, Lilee says customers deploying WMS-2000 with embedded Red Hat Enterprise Linux are offered proven performance and reliability.