This is always a busy time of year around our offices. Between the Railroader of the Year dinner, Railroad Day on the Hill and AAR’s annual research review, I sometimes wish I had a cheat sheet of where everyone will be and on what day.
Union Pacific is enhancing Kansas’ transportation infrastructure by investing $14.4 million in the rail line that runs between Kansas City and just east of Topeka. The project is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
The 55-mile project includes replacing nearly 11 miles of rail, along with about a mile of rail in various curves, as well as renewing the surfaces at 83 road crossings. In addition, crews will be replacing 52,400 ties, spreading 21,400 tons of ballast to help provide a more stable roadbed and replacing 14 switches.
Union Pacific is enhancing Kansas’ transportation infrastructure by investing $14.4 million in the rail line that runs between Kansas City and just east of Topeka. The project is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
The Canadian government has set aside up to CA$7.5 million (US$7.48 million) for work on the restoration of the Vancouver Island Railway between Victoria and Courtenay, BC.
The Virginia Fairfax County Board of Supervisors confirmed the county’s participation in Phase 2 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation will hold a citizens’ informational workshop regarding the proposed railway safety improvement project affecting railroad crossings on and between Carmon Road and Frieden Church Road in Guilford County. The workshop will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24.
During Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s recent visit to Japan and South Korea, Japanese and South Korean officials both expressed interest in supporting and providing high-speed rail in the state of Texas. Congresswoman Jackson Lee is laying the groundwork to invite these officials to the 18th Congressional District to see first-hand the needs and plans for an expanded rail transportation system.
The demand for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2012 grants have far surpassed the available funding, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo reaffirmed the Obama Administration’s commitment to passenger rail and stressed the need for long-term planning to create market-driven passenger rail corridors while speaking at the Northern Flyer Alliance’s Passenger Rail Symposium at Kansas City’s Union Station.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority released a schedule of planned major track work for the second half of 2012. WMATA’s massive rebuilding effort, known as Metro Forward, will resume with midday trackwork on Monday, April 16 and with weekend trackwork on Friday, April 20.
The Utah Transit Authority officially announced an opening date of Monday, December 10, 2012, for the new FrontRunner Provo to Salt Lake City line. The new 45-mile commuter rail line is an extension of the FrontRunner Salt Lake City to Weber County line that opened in April 2008.
New York City Transit’s FASTRACK is returning to the Seventh Avenue Line. Metropolitan Transportation Authority New York City Transit conducted four FASTRACK line shutdowns in the first quarter of this year resulting in an unprecedented amount of work. During the first late-night shutdown on the Broadway/Seventh Avenue 123 corridor, 800 maintenance workers completed more than 400 tasks each night, a monumental effort that would have taken months under normal operations. And, according to NYCT, there is still more work to be done.
San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which oversees all transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway (Muni), joined U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the SFMTA Centennial Honorary Committee, to launch the 100th anniversary celebration of the Municipal Railway, founded on December 28, 1912.
Following work set to begin April 16, Amtrak Wolverine Service and Blue Water passengers can expect normal travel times on Norfolk Southern tracks in Michigan by early May.
For the past several months, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has been working to complete both planned and emergency construction projects on the Norristown High Speed Line.
Iowa City will proceed with the Iowa City Industrial Campus Railroad Siding and Spur Improvement Project after the city council approved details of the project with a 6-0 vote.
In New York a major track renewal and component replacement project along the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Queens Boulevard Line will begin on April 7. The track closure will be in effect 24 hours a day as the tracks and support equipment are completely replaced with new ties, tie blocks, plates and rails.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority revised its Business Plan to launch high-speed rail service, capable of traveling 220 miles-per-hour, from Merced to the San Fernando Valley, within 10 years.
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in cooperation with the city of Los Angeles, will hold three community meetings in April to update the public on the Alternatives Analysis study that is evaluating options to improve north-south travel opportunities in the East San Fernando Valley and provide connections to the regional transportation network. The AA study is a precursor to the draft environmental document.