The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $53.7 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants that will help rail projects in six states and District of Columbia.
The New Jersey Transit Board of Directors has appointed Neil Yellin as the agency’s new deputy executive director and Robert Lavell as vice president and general manager of NJ Transit Rail Operations.
Several rail-related projects across eight states will benefit from close to $90 million million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants.
The M-1 Rail streetcar project in Detroit, Mich., has set up an assembly line near Cass Avenue to weld steel rail into about forty 560-foot-long strings of continuously welded rail (CWR).
Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Metro-North Railroad employees have successfully rebuilt a switching control house in Cos Cob, Conn.
Union Pacific will begin a major rail replacement project September 15 on its West Line, which serves freight and Metra passenger trains in Illinois.
Metrolink, Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) and Operation Lifesaver Inc., launched a combined safety campaign September 4 of “See Tracks? Think Train!” to honor Rail Safety Awareness month in California.
The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) in Nashville, Tenn., has selected Parsons Brinkerhoff, Inc., to conduct a study of cost-effective transit improvements to serve the Northwest area of Middle Tennessee, which will bring the state one step closer to having passenger rail service between Clarksville and Nashville.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority New York City Transit (NYCT) G Line service was restored on September 2 after a five-week suspension between Court Square and Nassau Avenue for maintenance crews to make Fix&Fortify resiliency repairs to the tubes, which were flooded and badly damaged during Superstorm Sandy nearly two years ago.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) opened the Assembly Orange Line station, the first new MBTA station in 27 years, on September 2. MBTA said the station is a key element in the creation of a transit-oriented development at Assembly Row, providing a vital transit link between Assembly Row and Boston.
The Minneapolis City Council granted the Southwest light-rail transit project municipal consent, allowing the Metropolitan Council to seek approval from the federal government to enter Final Engineering. Hennepin County and the cities of Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Hopkins and St. Louis Park all provided municipal consent to the project previously.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s Illinois Jobs Now! capital program will make a $102-million investment to improve system performance and reliability on a key segment of the Chicago-to-St. Louis high-speed rail line.
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will close the California Blue Line station for 42 days beginning Thursday, September 4, for major renovations as part of the “Your New Blue” modernization program for the O’Hare branch of the Blue Line. The station is scheduled to re-open October 16.
Michael J. Scanlon, who has led the San Mateo County Transit District for the past 15 years, is retiring. The Transit District is an administrative body that holds jurisdiction over SamTrans bus service, Caltrain commuter rail and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority.
Officials from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) joined local Cleveland officials, as well as representatives from the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority on Aug. 28 for a ribbon cutting ceremony at Cleveland’s Cedar-University Rapid Station.
A Blue Ribbon Panel of transportation experts studying safety and maintenance practices at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) three railroad operations – Metro-North Railroad, the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and New York City Transit (NYCT) – has released its final recommendations for improvement, including creating better data systems to monitor track conditions, adjusting schedules to provide more time for track work and bolstering the safety culture at Metro-North.
Local and federal officials gathered on Thursday, August 21, 2014, for a ground-breaking ceremony of a underpass at Carpenter Street in Springfield, Ill. The grade separation is part of a larger rail project that will consolidate rail traffic and improve safety as part of the Chicago to St. Louis high-speed corridor.
The Metropolitan Council received federal approval to begin designing the METRO Blue Line Extension northwest of Minneapolis, Minn., the region’s fourth light-rail transit project. Future approvals needed include approval to enter Final Engineering (anticipated late 2016) and approval of the Full Funding Grant Agreement (anticipated in 2018).
A Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) on a proposed extension of the Gold Line light-rail system from East Los Angeles to either South El Monte or Whittier was released by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA).
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) published its final rule concerning Positive Train Control (PTC) systems in the Aug. 22 Federal Register. The rule, which takes effect Oct. 21, 2014, expands certain exemptions and comes 16 months before the full implementation deadline of Dec. 31, 2015.