After more than one year of intense activity, Southern California’s Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority says that all structural work has been completed on the I-210 Gold Line Bridge.
A portion of the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) coastal rail line between Oceanside and Downtown San Diego, Calif., will be shut down as construction crews work to install a new rail bridge for the pedestrian safety undercrossing at Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded nearly $900,000 to the city of Indianapolis, Ind., to relocate freight rail traffic from the CSX Transportation mainline that goes through the heart of downtown Indianapolis to the nearby Indianapolis Belt Railroad. This project will separate passenger and freight rail operations, remove 10-12 existing grade crossings and improve safety while decreasing congestion and emissions.
United Transportation Union-represented employees of Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway and Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway have ratified new five-year agreements.
The Federal Railroad Administration and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) have issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for two routes connecting the Hampton Roads area to Richmond and the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor in Virginia. The newly identified route south of the James River recommends a new, 90-110 mph alignment from downtown Norfolk through Petersburg to Richmond, while maintaining Amtrak’s current service from Newport News through Williamsburg to Richmond.
In a letter dated August 28, 2012, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called on the governors of 26 states, Puerto Rico and the mayor of the District of Columbia, to prepare to meet new federal regulations that the U.S. Department of Transportation plans on proposing in the near future. The proposed federal regulations would require them to strengthen and increase their oversight of public transit safety and are part of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), a new two-year transportation authorization bill signed by President Obama in July, 2012.
The San Diego Trolley’s Green Line will run through Downtown San Diego past the Convention Center and Petco Park all the way to the 12th and Imperial Transit Center starting September 2,
Beginning Monday, September 3, segments of New York City Transit’s 4, 5 and 6 lines will be shut down from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., suspending all Lexington Avenue Line service between Grand Central-42nd Street and Atlantic Avenue in both directions for three consecutive weeknights for FASTRACK work.
Seattle, Wash.-area’s Sound Transit hired Michael Harbour, a 17-year veteran of Olympia’s Intercity Transit, as its deputy CEO.
The Chicago Transit Authority published its first-ever buying plan, designed to preview purchases of services, equipment and commodities the agency anticipates in the next 18 months.
Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), chair of the Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation; John Rockefeller IV (D-WV), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and Dick Durbin, (D-IL), have requested a Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of rail safety and how the Federal Railroad Administration, state rail safety agencies and other stakeholders cooperate to ensure the safety of people and goods. This request comes after multiple high-profile rail accidents in recent weeks.
RailComm has been selected to provide a wireless remote control derail system for Amtrak’s facility in Seattle, Wash. The power derails will be remotely controlled by two strategically located control panels. The system will also include two workstations that will allow managers to see the state of the facility at any given time.
The Denver, Colo., Regional Transportation District Board of Directors formally approved a current snapshot for implementing the FasTracks program with existing revenues as part of the Denver Regional Council of Government’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). RTD, the Colorado Department of Transportation and all the cities and counties in the region must identify the transportation projects that can be completed within the DRCOG 2035 plan to enable the region to continue receiving federal funding.
California’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s contractor Skanska Shimmick Herzog (SSH), a Joint Venture with LAN/T.Y. Lin, will begin the demolition of existing buildings at the future Milpitas Bay Area Rapid Transit Station located at the southeast corner of Montague Expressway and Capitol Avenue.
Union Pacific plans to replace the current berm/rail system on Shermer Road south of Willow Road in Glenview, Ill., with a permanent bridge. It is expected to be rebuilt within two years.
In the San Francisco Bay-area, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s Bay Area Rapid Transit Silicon Valley Project was allocated $40 million in Traffic Congestion Relief Program (TCRP) funding by the California Transportation Commission (CTC).
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York has submitted its Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and insurance claims to recover the $65 million in losses it suffered due to flood and wind damage to the regional transit infrastructure related to Tropical Storm Irene, which hit the region on August 28, 2011.
Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray recently joined Congressman John Olver, Congressman Richard Neal and Mayor Alex Morse of Holyoke for a first look at the potential site of the upcoming Holyoke Passenger Rail platform, signifying that construction is now underway to restore passenger rail service along the Connecticut River rail line, known as the Knowledge Corridor.
Invensys Rail’s PHW subsidiary has been awarded a sub-contract to install a microprocessor-based PTC system onboard all of Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s transit rail vehicles.
A commuter rail bridge, believed to be the largest truss bridge ever moved after assembly, was rolled into place over Torrence Avenue near 130th Street in Chicago, Ill.
