CSX Corporation hosted a dedication ceremony for the new Fifth Street Bridge in Niles, Ohio. The upgraded bridge’s higher vertical clearance helps clear the way for CSX’s upgraded, double-stack freight rail corridor, the National Gateway, linking East Coast sea ports with the CSX Northwest Ohio Terminal and other Midwest distribution and manufacturing hubs.
Diamonds, frogs, turnouts and other special trackwork make difficult manuevers on the railroad possible.
Quality, reliability and safety are issues suppliers look to improve when it comes to the subject of welding rail.
Small in size, fasteners keep a tight grip on track.
Keeping track in place is imporant to all railroads, whether it’s a Class 1, regional, shortline or transit line. The following pages highlight this year’s most advanced fastening systems and an overall market outlook.
Earlier this month more than 900 CSX employees worked to complete the company’s 2012 maintenance “Jamboree” on a section of its network in the Southeast.
North Carolina Department of Transportation awarded a contract to preserve the bascule span bridge on the Carolina Coastal Railroad over the Newport River in Carteret County.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a law to begin the next phase of the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program, which is designed to create jobs, strengthen the transportation system and support economic growth across Illinois.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency in California has continued track improvement work on the Muni Metro system. From July 13 to July 16, SFMTA will install new track switches on the L Taraval Line between 22nd and 23rd avenues and at 35th Avenue.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and California Governor Edmund Brown Jr., visited the Port of Oakland Army Base redevelopment site in California on Monday, July 9, 2012, to see where the port will be constructing the first phase of its rail project that received $15 million in federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant funding.
The Outer Harbor Intermodal Terminal (OHIT) Rail Access project of the Port of Oakland is expected to improve rail access to and from the port and expand the port’s rail capacity, leading to faster and cleaner goods movement in Northern California, while also providing rail access for the proposed Oakland Army Base redevelopment. These federal funds, along with additional local and state funding, will support the transportation project.
“This $15 million grant from the federal government boosts state and local efforts to create thousands of jobs by investing nearly $1.5 billion in Bay Area transportation projects. We’re not just rebuilding our infrastructure, we are also rebuilding our middle class,” stated Governor Brown.
The Port of Oakland handles 99 percent of all containerized goods in Northern California and is the only major U.S. West Coast container port that handles more exports than imports.
“I am very pleased this federal funding we fought for is coming to the Port of Oakland, where it will create jobs and make important infrastructure improvements. The Port of Oakland’s ship-to-rail exchange project is an excellent investment of federal funds in local and national economies because it both creates jobs and it improves critical public infrastructure in the Bay Area,” said Rep Barbara Lee (D-CA.). “This $15 million TIGER grant for the Port of Oakland is a clear example of the success of the TIGER grant program and why we must preserve and protect TIGER grants from efforts to end the funding.”
The federal funding will be matched more than one-to-one to launch the first phase of the OHIT Rail Access project, which is part of the joint City-Port OAB redevelopment plan.
This OHIT rail project is expected to deliver greater efficiencies in the Port of Oakland’s rail operations, create additional capacity for cargo movement at the seaport, reduce congestion on local roads and highways, create jobs and promote sustainable economic growth in the region.
The project includes building a new arrival track and high-speed turnout from Union Pacific’s mainline, two track leads into the port’s new Joint Intermodal Terminal and a new manifest yard (Knight Yard) to replace the former Oakland Army Base Yard. Knight Yard will be able to handle 100-150 rail cars per day.
The combined City of Oakland redevelopment and the Port’s first phase rail access project on the former Oakland Army Base property is approximately a $500 million investment.
The Charlotte Area Transit System in North Carolina has received approval from the Federal Transit Administration to enter Final Design for the 9.3-mile LYNX Blue Line Extension (BLE) light-rail project. This allows the project to be developed from the 65 percent to the 100 percent design level and complete preparation of final construction plans, right-of-way acquisition, construction cost estimates, bid documents and utility relocation.
Harsco Corporation has secured an extended role in its ongoing support of the Houston Metro light-rail project to refurbish the historic Main Street Bridge in Houston, Texas.
New York City Transit will advance rehabilitation of a bridge and perform another round of FASTRACK improvements in the coming weeks.
Canadian National plans to construct five extended sidings on its B.C. North Line in 2012 as part of a multi-year capital program to expand freight train capacity to handle growing freight volumes along its important Edmonton, Alberta, to Prince Rupert, B.C., corridor.
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Houston, Texas, has completed six miles on the light-rail transit extension. Six miles equals about 64,000 linear feet of track in the ground, leaving nine miles to go.
July 2 marks the beginning of year two of construction on Oregon’s Triment Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Bridge. During the first year of construction, 64 firms worked on the bridge, which is now 41 percent complete. Overall project construction jobs total 1,525.
VIA Rail Canada, as part of its ongoing modernization, is taking action to better meet customer demand. VIA Rail is introducing significant improvements to its operations, including tracks, stations and trains, better interconnectivity with other carriers, enhanced customer experience and e-services.
Union Pacific is enhancing Nebraska’s transportation infrastructure by investing more than $22 million in the rail line that runs between O’Fallons, Neb., and the Wyoming border. The project is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by mid-October.
The Virgina Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) approved $11.4 billion in allocations for transportation improvement projects over the next six years beginning July 1. The Six-Year Improvement Program distributes funding for highway, road and bridge projects, as well as rail, transit, bicycle, pedestrian and other transportation improvements across the state.
Achieving another major milestone in the Los Angeles Country Gold Line Foothill Extension construction project, crews worked 18 hours over the past several days to place more than 200 truckloads of concrete to form the superstructure and main crossbeam of the I-210 Gold Line Bridge.
No official word from the U.S. Department of Transportation has been released regarding awards of the fourth round of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, but news from various congressional offices is revealing what projects will benefit from the latest round of grants. The initial tally indicates rail related projects did not fare as well as they had in past TIGER funding cycles, but several key projects will see federal money.