In anticipation of the start of next year’s Red Line South project, the Chicago Transit Authority held meetings with various community and neighborhood groups including local chambers of commerce, block clubs, faith-based groups and other organizations to answer their questions, listen to their concerns and suggestions.
The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority in Southern California has released the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension from Azusa to Montclair.
As part of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Project, on Saturday, August 25, the 130th & Torrence grade separation project general contractor, Walsh Construction, will use four Self-Propelled Mobile Transporters to relocate the fully-assembled,4.3-million-pound, 394-foot-long truss bridge to its final position on the new piers.
Chicago-area’s Metra broke ground on the reconstruction of the Fox River Grove Station on the Union Pacific Northwest Line. The $3.5-million project calls for the complete reconstruction of the station, which dates from 1959.
Kansas City Southern appointed Carlos Velez to vice president business solutions and marketing. In this position, he leads the business development, customer solutions, market research and sales force performance functions and reports to KCS executive vice president sales and marketing Patrick Ottensmeyer.
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority appointed Elizabeth Bradford to director of marketing in the authority’s Division of Public and Government Affairs.
Paul Skoutelas, a seven-year employee of Parsons Brinckerhoff, has been appointed director of the firm’s Transit & Rail Technical Excellence Center.
Project 16 of the West Vancouver Freight Access (WVFA) Project, a new rail entrance at the Port of Vancouver USA in Washington state, will begin work by the end of August and is scheduled to be completed by February 28, 2013.
L.B. Foster Company appointed John Kasel to senior vice president, Rail Business. In this new role, Kasel will be responsible for the performance and success of the company’s rail-related businesses, which will be combined under his leadership.
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.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is making more than $470 million in unspent earmarks immediately available to states for projects that will create jobs and help improve transportation across the country.
United Transportation Union-represented yardmasters employed by Canadian National’s Illinois Central Railroad have reached a new tentative agreement following mediation assistance from the National Mediation Board. A March tentative agreement was rejected by the membership, which will now vote, through September 15, on the new tentative pact.
Negotiations were led by UTU International Vice President Paul Tibbit and UTU General Chairperson Doyle Turner.
“This tentative agreement, as with others negotiated with Class 1 railroads, is intended to bring parity in wages, benefits and work rules to the thousands of employees in the railroad industry, along with the many other protections offered by union membership,” Turner said. “The seniority, scope and discipline rules these members now enjoy are what makes union membership valuable.”
Illinois Central connects Chicago with New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., and also reaches Omaha, Neb., and Sioux City, Iowa.
The Federal Railroad Administration has obligated $100,000 in response to an application from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs to study the restoration of Amtrak passenger rail service between Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile.
In Westchester County, N.Y., County Executive Robert Astorino, Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef and Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell explained their intention to vote yes at the next New York Metropolitan Transportation Council meeting to include the new Tappan Zee Bridge project in the region’s long-range transportation plan.
The Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway, a RailAmerica Inc. property, is now serving a new crude oil-unloading terminal developed by Genesis Energy, L.P. The Walnut Hill, Fla., terminal, which started service on Monday, August 13, is designed to receive approximately 100-car unit trains of crude oil via the AGR from various shale regions in the U.S. and Canada.
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority reached a three-year contract with the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing more than 2,300 bus and rail maintenance employees.
Caltrain’s San Bruno Grade Separation Project, which will enhance safety at three rail crossings in downtown San Bruno, Calif., is nearing the half-way mark. The supports and bridges for the $147 million public safety project are clearly visible, giving the public a clear idea of the size and scope of the grade separation.
The Editorial Board of Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit presented “The 2011 SAGE Best Paper Award” to researchers at Transportation Technology Center, Inc., including Principal Investigator Huimin Wu, Senior Vice President Technology Semih Kalay and Scientist Harry Tournay for their paper “Development of the wheel‐rail interface management model and its applications in heavy haul operations.”
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved construction authorization from the Ohio Rail Development Commission directing Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway to install safety upgrades, including flashing lights and gates at fourteen highway-rail grade crossings in Canton, Ohio.
Hampton Roads Transit in Virginia will mark the first birthday of The Tide light rail in Norfolk on Friday, August 17, with a celebration at the MacArthur Square station.