J.L. Patterson & Associates, Inc. (JLP) and STV, Inc., received a contract worth up to $10 million from the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) to provide on-call professional engineering design services for Metrolink.
Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo called on elected officials and transportation planners in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to develop a shared vision of rail service along the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor (SEHSR) between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Ga.
Alaska Railroad (ARRC) crews continue to make progress on plugging an 80-foot-long washout following high waters at Skookum Creek (ARRC milepost 59.7).
The incident began about 7:30 a.m. June 17, when high water eroded the trackbed, leaving the track suspended over the water. Alaska Railroad track maintenance crews, heavy equipment and a rockhauling work train have been working round-the clock for three days to plug the gap and re-route a high volume of water.
“Earlier this week, this area experienced significant isolated rainfall that measured as much as a half inch every 10-15 minutes for a sustained period,” said ARRC Vice President Engineering Clark Hopp. “We are essentially dealing with a new river channel that did not previously exist.”
While freight traffic is not affected, passenger train traffic southbound from Anchorage has been suspended since the incident occurred. A decision to restore passenger service will be made at 7p.m. on June 20 and is based on the progress of the repair efforts.
The railroad has not yet determined the final financial impact of the outage. However, ARRC says revenue losses are expected to reach tens of thousands of dollars due to refunds and cancellations. Track repair expenses will also be considerable, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Alaska Railroad passenger train traffic southbound from Anchorage was interrupted June 17 due to high water damage to the track at Skookum Creek, located between Luebner Lake and Portage.
The California General Assembly and Gov. Jerry Brown reached a budget deal that will includes a $250 million appropriation for high-speed rail in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Working to improve rail service, reliability and address a longstanding bottleneck along Amtrak’s busy Northeast Corridor (NEC), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Amtrak are advancing an engineering and environmental study to examine various
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the fiscal year 2015 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) funding bill on a vote of 229-192. The legislation includes funding for the Department of Transportation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other related agencies.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA-10) plans to introduce an amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill, H.R. 4745, preventing any appropriated funds from being used for high-speed rail in the state of California. In June of 2012, Rep. Denham offered the same amendment to the THUD appropriations bill for the year 2013, H.R. 5972.
The second annual Rail Summit, held in Chicago, Ill., proved to be another success, rallying some 300 rail executives and decision makers to discuss this year’s theme of economic opportunities resulting from the surge in energy and intermodal growth.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy has called for a crisis summit to be held on Monday, June 9, with the state of Connecticut, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Metro-North to address the recent incidents that caused the failure of the New Haven Line’s “WALK Bridge” in Norwalk.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) Commissioner James Redeker and other state and local officials on June 5 led a tour of the New Haven Rail Yard, which is undergoing a $1.15-billion, multi-year upgrade and expansion.
HDR, Inc., has hired Tom Waldron as transit market sector director, based in HDR’s New York City office. His responsibilities include setting HDR’s vision and initiatives for continued growth and expansion in transit across North America and globally.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence joined representatives from Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration and Norfolk Southern on May 29 to kick off the $71.4-million Indiana Gateway project to improve rail lines between Porter, Ind., and the Illinois state line.
VIA Rail Canada has developed an action plan based on a study conducted by RailTerm, Hatch Mott MacDonald and Siemens that looked into issues with Automatic Warning Devices (AWDs) systems at six Barrhaven-area rail crossings in Ottawa.
The application period for the sixth round of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants recently ended. Once again, USDOT says the request for funds far exceeds what is available. The 797 eligible applications, compared to 585 in 2013, request $9.5 billion, 15 times the $600 million set aside for the program.
The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) released its proposed bill text for the MAP-21 Reauthorization Act (S. 2322). The six-year legislation plans to maintain highway program funds at current levels plus inflation.
A tentative agreement has been reached between VIA Rail Canada and Canadian National, which will allow VIA Rail’s passenger rail service to continue on the Newcastle subdivision. Under the agreement, which must be ratified by their respective boards, VIA Rail will provide funding to CN for rehabilitation work on the line between Nelson Junction and Nepisiquit Junction. Work will be done on 70.8 kilometers (44 miles) of track and represents a CA$10.2-million (US$9.3-million investment for the railroad.
As a result of this agreement, VIA Rail will be able to continue to offer its Ocean passenger rail service between Bathurst and Miramichi three days per week in each direction as part of its Montreal-Halifax service. VIA Rail will hold discussions with the province and municipalities along the subdivision to explore ways they can assist in increasing train ridership.
“Our government is committed to creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. The continuity of VIA Rail’s Ocean service on this rail line in Northern New Brunswick is excellent news as it will not only benefit the users, but also each community along the route by maintaining jobs and supporting the local economy,” said Canada’s Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt.
In other news, the Canadian government has appointed Yves Desjardins-Siciliano as president and chief executive officer of VIA Rail.
Prior to his appointment, Desjardins-Siciliano was VIA Rail’s chief corporate and legal officer and corporate secretary. Prior to joining VIA Rail in 2010, he has held executive positions, in a variety of industries, in both Montréal and Toronto.
“As Directors of VIA Rail, we are delighted that the government has chosen to lead Canada’s national passenger railway, someone whose career demonstrates a breath of experiences and expertise, an intimate knowledge of our largest markets, an ability to develop new value-creation strategies and a keen understanding of public policy. He can count on our full support,” said Paul Smith, chairman of the board.
Desjardins-Siciliano takes over from VIA Rail’s Interim President and CEO, Steve Del Bosco. Steve will be resuming his previous role as VIA’s chief commercial planning officer. Del Bosco had been in the interim position since January 4, 2014.
Amtrak began service to Union Depot in St. Paul, Minn., with the May 7 arrival of the Empire Builder from Chicago. Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Boardman was among several transportation leaders who cut the ribbon for the first-ever Amtrak service in Downtown St. Paul.
Caltrain‘s Board of Directors appointed Jerry Deal to serve as its representative on the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA), the body responsible for overseeing a new intermodal terminal called the Transbay Transit Center, a rail extension for Caltrain and high-speed rail and adjacent transit-oriented development in downtown San Francisco.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) Board of Directors certified the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) for the Fresno to Bakersfield project section of the high-speed rail program and approved a high-speed rail alignment within the Fresno to Bakersfield project section.