Several options for high-speed passenger rail service between the Twin Cities and Rochester, Minn., known as Zip Rail, will undergo the first phase of a two-step environmental impact statement review process.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) says years of work on the goal of restoring passenger rail service between Vermont and Montreal took a major step forward March 16 as the United States and Canada signed a long-awaited agreement designed to improve cross border travel and security between the two countries.
The Amtrak Hoosier State service between Indianapolis, Ind., and Chicago, Ill., will continue through the end of April. The announcement follows a Federal Railroad Administration phone call with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) Commissioner Karl Browning, during which Acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg committed to reconsider the position that would force the Hoosier State service to end.
The Metrolink Board of Directors unanimously appointed Art Leahy to chief executive officer, effective April 20.
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Board approved the award of a $25.6-million contract to F.H. Paschen and S.N. Nielsen for the renovation of five O’Hare branch CTA stations, in what is the next major phase of the historic $492 -million Your New Blue modernization project.
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (SCVTA) celebrated another milestone for the Bay Area Rapid Transportation’s Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension as joint venture
contractor Skanska, Shimmick, Herzog (SSH) recently installed the first set of tracks.
The House of Representatives approved a bill March 3 that improves the nation’s passenger rail system and reforms Amtrak by reducing costs, creating greater accountability and transparency, leveraging private sector resources and accelerating rail project delivery, according to a release from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG) received the Notice of Determination (NOD) of its Redlands Passenger Rail Project Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) in a public hearing and board meeting March 4.
U.S. Rep. and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Jeff Denham (R-CA) joined representatives from HDR, Inc., and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) for a tour of the Colton Crossing Rail-to-Rail Grade Separation Project.
Gannett Fleming appointed Bryan Mulqueen, PE, to director of transit & rail. Based in the Raleigh, N.C., office, Mulqueen serves as a vice president in the company and a project principal for the firm’s most critical transit projects.
The U.S. railroad industry has been scrambling since 2008 to meet the requirements of an unfunded federal government mandate—namely, having Positive Train Control installed and fully operational by Dec. 31, 2015 on 60,000 miles of track where hazmat and passenger trains operate. Parallel to the PTC initiative has been a battle waged on Capitol Hill to extend the end-of-the-year deadline. That effort may be paying off, and the railroads may one day be grateful that they have a Thune on their side.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded New Jersey Transit $147,086,000 through the Federal Transit Administration’s Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program for repair, recovery and resiliency projects associated with Superstorm Sandy.
Chicago Transit Authority will soon begin construction on three major transit infrastructure projects as part of the new Loop Link initiative that will redevelop and modernize transportation from Union Station to Millennium Park. Included in the projects is a new Washington-Wabash CTA ‘L” station, which will begin construction in mid March.
Metrolink reached a critical milestone March 2, 2015, by launching Positive Train Control (PTC) in revenue service demonstration (RSD) along the its San Bernardino Line between Los Angeles and San Bernardino, Calif.
In Minneapolis, Minn., the Metropolitan Council and the Park and Recreation Board have reached an understanding on the Southwest Light Rail Transit (Green Line Extension) crossing of the Kenilworth Channel.
Sound Transit set an all-time annual record in 2014 for boardings on its trains and buses. The latest numbers reported reflect an increase of more than eight percent over 2013, bringing average weekday boardings to more than 109,000 for 2014 and total boardings to an estimated 33 million.
The Massachusetts Department of Transporations(MassDOT) Board of Directors voted unanimously to make Frank DePaola, currently serving as highway administrator and MassDOT’s chief operating officer, interim general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), effective March 4, 2015.
In southern California, full Metrolink service on the agency’s Ventura County Line resumed Feb. 25 after a vehicle on the tracks was struck the morning of Feb. 24. 24 by Metrolink Ventura County train 102.
Starting in March, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will begin the next construction phase of the Wilson Station Reconstruction Project, which will require three-track operations in which southbound Red and Purple Line Express trains share a single track for part of their trips.
Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) has finalized the design for the new station in Hicksville, a $120-million investment meant to revitalize the region’s busiest transit hub and kick-start residential and commercial development in the hamlet’s downtown.