Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick appointed Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Board of Directors, adding to the panel new individuals with extensive expertise and leadership in transportation and business.
ENSCO, Inc., has delivered the TrackIT® Track Chart Management System to Amtrak. The web-based system hosts Amtrak’s official track charts and provides them as high-quality PDF digital copies or hard copies. The system is a module of ENSCO’s TrackIT Data Management System.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority’s investment in projects to rebuild and modernize its railroad, trains, stations and buses grew by 26 percent to $770 million in FY2012, an increase of nearly $160 million and is on track to continue ramping up to nearly a billion dollars this year.
Construction of light rail is back on the move in Phoenix, Ariz., with the re-launch of the Northwest extension along 19th Avenue from the current end-of-line north 3.2 miles to Dunlap Avenue. The project has received approval to accelerate the completion year from 2023 to 2016. Final design is underway; construction will begin in early 2013.
Amtrak ridership is surging this year with 11 consecutive monthly ridership records. In each month of the current fiscal year, Amtrak has posted the highest ridership total ever for that particular month with the final month of September also expected to be a new record. In addition, July was the single best ridership month in the history of Amtrak.
AECOM Technology Corporation was awarded a contract to provide final design services for the Denver Regional Transportation District’s forthcoming I-225 light-rail line.
After hearing concerns from citizens and re-evaluating the project budget, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has decided not to proceed with the design and construction of the 24th Street grade separation project in Kannapolis at this time. Instead, the department will conduct an in-depth study to determine the most effective location for the project with the fewest effects on residents, business owners and the environment.
Railway Age, International Railway Journal and Railway Track and Structures have partnered with RailAdvisor to present the world’s railway information in a more concise and global manner than ever before.
Keith Barksdale has accepted the position of assistant vice president of transportation safety at Watco Transportation Services. As assistant vice president of transportation safety, his responsibilities include leading the regional safety quality and assurance managers in carrying safety initiatives to the field level and ensure that the company has rule compliance on existing programs.
Amtrak has achieved the main focus of its project to replace the movable Niantic River Bridgein East Lyme, Conn. On the night of September 7, all rail traffic shifted to the new bridge and the existing 105-year-old bridge was removed from service.
The Federal Railroad Administration has finalized the grant agreement with local stakeholders unlocking $16.5 million in U.S. Department of Transportation funding for the Niagara Falls Intermodal Transportation Center in New York. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer wrote to FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo in July, urging the administrator to finalize this important grant agreement and allow this long awaited project to finally move forward.
The University of Alberta in Canada has launched a new partnership that will support jobs and long-term success in the Canadian rail sector. This new partnership, the Canadian Rail Research laboratory, is a joint initiative between the Government of Canada, Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures (AITF), the Association of American Railroads, Canadian Pacific, Canadian National and the University of Alberta.
The Federal Railroad Administration prepared a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require commuter and intercity passenger railroads to develop and implement system safety programs (SSP) to further improve the safety of their operations.
KCS president and CEO Dave Starling, executive vice president and chief operating officer Dave Ebbrecht and several others from the transportation, engineering, mechanical, sales and marketing and purchasing teams participated in an inspection trip of the lines between Heavener, Okla. and Shreveport, La., between Shreveport and Wylie, Texas, and south from Shreveport to the intermodal shipper facility in Kendleton, Texas.
United Transportation Union-represented maintenance-of-way employees on Georgia & Florida Railway are voting through September 22 on a tentative new agreement, their first since joining the union.
Southern California’s Caltrain Board adopted a proclamation for Railroad Safety Month. The agency addresses safety through a comprehensive, ongoing program that focuses on the “three E’s of railroad safety” – education, enforcement and engineering.
Crews joined the Minneapolis – St. Paul Central Corridor light-rail track to existing Hiawatha light-rail track as they welded the two lines together between the Metrodome and Cedar Riverside stations.
Union Pacific is enhancing Iowa’s transportation infrastructure by investing nearly $14 million in the rail line that runs between Grand Mound and Boone. The project is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by mid November.
The Chicago-area Metra Acting Chairman Larry Huggins and CEO Alex Clifford joined Alderman Ameya Pawar and Representative Greg Harris on September 5 to break ground on the construction of the new Ravenswood Station on the Union Pacific North Line.
On August 22, Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO) joined representatives from L.B. Foster and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association for a tour of the L.B. Foster facility in Pueblo, Colo.
