Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has accepted delivery of its first track geometry vehicle (TGV), a specialized railcar equipped with advanced technology to analyze the condition of rail and track infrastructure and to alert WMATA to potential defects.
The Federal Transit Administration granted the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority a Record of Decision for the $1.37 billion Regional Connector Transit Corridor, officially certifying that the project has now satisfied all federal environmental guidelines.
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Houston, Texas, has completed six miles on the light-rail transit extension. Six miles equals about 64,000 linear feet of track in the ground, leaving nine miles to go.
HDR Engineering, Inc., has acquired InfraConsult LLC, an infrastructure management and advisory firm with five offices in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Hawaii. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Going forward, InfraConsult will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of HDR Engineering, Inc.
Ontario, Canada, is moving forward to deliver the largest transit expansion in the city of Toronto’s history, which will help ease congestion and create thousands of jobs.
The Federal Railroad Administration issued a Notice of Intent that it will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to evaluate potential passenger rail improvements on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston, Mass. The FRA is leading the planning and environmental evaluation of the NEC, an effort known as NEC Future, in close coordination with the involved states, the Northeast Corridor Infrastructure and Operations Advisory Commission, Amtrak and other stakeholders.
Founded July 1, 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, Union Pacific today celebrates 150 years of building America. Starting by helping construct the first transcontinental railroad, surviving the country’s multiple economic crises, supporting America’s military men and women through conflicts and forging forward to overcome hurricanes, floods and droughts, Union Pacific remains on America’s landscape.
July 2 marks the beginning of year two of construction on Oregon’s Triment Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Bridge. During the first year of construction, 64 firms worked on the bridge, which is now 41 percent complete. Overall project construction jobs total 1,525.
Both the House and Senate passed “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century,” or MAP-21, on Friday, June 29. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law shortly.
The Denver Regional Transportation District is breaking ground on two expansion projects. The final structure on the West Rail Line that will serve Denver, Lakewood, Golden and Jefferson County and the first segment of the Northwest Rail Line between Denver Union Station and south Westminster.
Canadian Pacific appointed Hunter Harrison as president and chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors.
The state of Illinois has made a $8.6 million commitment toward the Phase II engineering studies on high-speed rail service on a consolidated 10th Street corridor through Springfield, should that be the chosen corridor in the Record of Decision. The planned commitment coincides with the Federal Railroad Administration’s approval to release Draft Environmental Impact Statements on future enhancements to the Chicago-to-St. Louis high-speed route currently under construction.
The Seattle Sound Transit Board of Directors adopted a lifetime budget and schedule to extend light rail from the University of Washington to the Northgate area north of Seattle. Sound Transit expects to break ground on the North Link project this summer and open for service in 2021.
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation submitted a request for $1.55 billion in federal New Starts funding for the Honolulu rail transit project.
The Alaska Railroad Corporation was informed by the office of Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) that ARRC will continue to receive funding near current levels through Federal Transit Administration formula funds.
Kansas City Southern promoted Jeff Songer from assistant vice president planning and administration for KCS’ U.S. engineering department to vice president and chief engineer of KCS U.S. subsidiary, closely coordinating with the leadership of its Mexican subsidiary, effective July 1.
Patriot Rail Corp. hired James Schultz to its management team as executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Schultz will be responsible for all rail-related administrative functions and will assist the CEO in providing overall daily organizational governance of the company.
A new 30-year, $30-billion plan to enhance Toronto, ON, Canada, transit was unveiled yesterday.
California Transportation Commission unanimously approved a commitment of $61.3 million in state high-speed rail connectivity funds to the The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Central Subway Project.
BNSF plans to invest an estimated $92 million on maintenance and rail capacity improvement projects in Oklahoma this year.
