Intercity

All Aboard Florida selects AMEC as its environmental engineering firm

All Aboard Florida (AAF), developer of the privately-owned, operated and maintained intercity passenger rail system that will connect South Florida to Orlando, has selected AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc., as the environmental engineering firm overseeing the design planning and environmental compliance and permitting efforts for the 230-mile passenger railway infrastructure.

New COO readies the X Train

Las Vegas Railway Express, Inc., has appointed Penny Stegeman to chief operations officer, passenger services, to the Las Vegas X Train team.

Indiana Gateway Project receives $71.3 million in federal funds

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $71.3 million to Indiana to help alleviate congestion in one of the region’s most delay-prone rail corridors. The Indiana Gateway Project will both relieve congestion and support the development of higher performing intercity passenger rail service in the Midwest.

VIA Rail’s Belleville Station officially open

As part of the ongoing modernization of VIA Rail Canada, Daryl Kramp, member of Parliament for Prince Edward-Hastings on behalf of the Honorable Steven Fletcher, Minister of State (Transport), officially opened the new Belleville train station, overhead walkway and island platform in Ontario.

ENSCO delivers TrackIT® System to Amtrak

ENSCO, Inc., has delivered the TrackIT® Track Chart Management System to Amtrak. The web-based system hosts Amtrak’s official track charts and provides them as high-quality PDF digital copies or hard copies. The system is a module of ENSCO’s TrackIT Data Management System.

Amtrak continues to hit ridership records

Amtrak ridership is surging this year with 11 consecutive monthly ridership records. In each month of the current fiscal year, Amtrak has posted the highest ridership total ever for that particular month with the final month of September also expected to be a new record. In addition, July was the single best ridership month in the history of Amtrak.

Amtrak opens Niantic River Bridge

Amtrak has achieved the main focus of its project to replace the movable Niantic River Bridgein East Lyme, Conn. On the night of September 7, all rail traffic shifted to the new bridge and the existing 105-year-old bridge was removed from service. 

Sen. Schumer: FRA OKs Niagara Falls Intermodal Center funding

The Federal Railroad Administration has finalized the grant agreement with local stakeholders unlocking $16.5 million in U.S. Department of Transportation funding for the Niagara Falls Intermodal Transportation Center in New York. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer wrote to FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo in July, urging the administrator to finalize this important grant agreement and allow this long awaited project to finally move forward.

LOSSAN pedestrian safety project installs rail bridge

A portion of the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) coastal rail line between Oceanside and Downtown San Diego, Calif., will be shut down as construction crews work to install a new rail bridge for the pedestrian safety undercrossing at Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas.

Richmond to Hampton Roads HSR Project receives Final Environmental Impact Statement approval

The Federal Railroad Administration and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) have issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for two routes connecting the Hampton Roads area to Richmond and the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor in Virginia. The newly identified route south of the James River recommends a new, 90-110 mph alignment from downtown Norfolk through Petersburg to Richmond, while maintaining Amtrak’s current service from Newport News through Williamsburg to Richmond.

Knowledge Corridor construction advances

Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray recently joined Congressman John Olver, Congressman Richard Neal and Mayor Alex Morse of Holyoke for a first look at the potential site of the upcoming Holyoke Passenger Rail platform, signifying that construction is now underway to restore passenger rail service along the Connecticut River rail line, known as the Knowledge Corridor.

X Train selects architect for terminal facility

Las Vegas Railway Express, Inc. (X Train), the company building a luxury passenger train with planned rail service between Southern California and Las Vegas, Nev., has selected Carpenter Sellers Del Gatto Architects as its chief architectural design firm for the X Train’s Las Vegas terminal facility, as well as the interior design concepts for the passenger cars.

2012 chief enigneers’ survey: WISH LIST

Safety remains at the top of engineering department’s list of equipment guidelines.

You want to impress a railroad engineer with a piece of maintenance equipment? Make sure it’s versatile, reliable, as well as easy to maintain, to transport and to use. Above all else, it must be safe.

Maintaining ballast below the ties

Optimal track conditions rely heavily on ballast maintenance.

Ballast doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. For those outside of the industry, the flashy signals, rail and crossties are what railroad lines are made of.

CREATE program update: keeping Chicago fluid

The CREATE program continues to improve movement through the nation’s rail nucleus.

The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program marked nine years of existence in June 2012.