Both Portland, Ore.-area TriMet and San Francisco, Calif.-area Caltrain are seeing strong ridership numbers.
Initial findings from the Caltrain annual ridership count show average weekday ridership at an all-time high, 42,354, an increase of 4,575 passengers per weekday, or 12.1 percent higher than 2011. This marks the second year ridership has increased, despite service cuts and fare increases driven by Caltrain’s on-going fiscal challenges.
RailAmerica, Inc., completed its acquisition of a 70-percent interest in the Wellsboro and Corning Railroad and Industrial Waste Group from Myles Group for approximately $18 million.
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.
A new glass-and-steel Harrison Port Authority of New York and New Jersey rail station is now on track to replace the currently deteriorating 76-year-old facility after the authority commissioners authorized key steps to move the project forward.
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.
U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) released the following statement after New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joe Lhota expressed his support for Amtrak’s Gateway Tunnel project under the Hudson River.
The second tunnel boring machine mining new light-rail tunnels in the Seattle, Wash.-area, between Capitol Hill and the University of Washington finished its underground journey Monday afternoon.
Brian Thompson joined Stantec as a senior railway engineer in Charlotte, N.C. Thompson has 21 years of experience in the design of mainline and industrial and rail yard tracks, transit design and environmental and civil engineering for the railroad industry.
Progress Rail Services Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., has hired Tim Heilig as senior vice president of customer solutions. In this role, Heilig will work with Progress Rail Services and its subsidiary, Electro-Motive Diesel, to enhance the companies’ many products and services. Additionally, he will be involved in helping develop new products.
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.