Last week, a Kansas City Southern production gang completed a 50-day effort to install 100,000 crossties and 4.5 track miles of new rail to replace the 112-pound rail in curves. The production gang also renewed crossings and surfaced the track between mileposts 22 and 147 (approximately West Killam to Robstown, Texas) on the Laredo Subdivision.
HDR has named two directors to its transportation group.
Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., added North American railroad operations executive, Stephen Tobias, as the seventh nominee for the Canadian Pacific Board of Directors.
Iowa Interstate Railroad promoted Dennis Miller from president & CEO to vice chairman of the board, effective March 31. Miller, who has been president since 2002, joined the company in 1985 and previously served as vice president of information systems, customer services and operations. His railroad service also includes 10 years with the Peoria and Pekin Union Railway and two years with the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
Unitrac Railroad Materials, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Healey Railroad Corporation, received a $1.1 million contract to supply special trackwork to Amtrak.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is seeking innovative proposals from small businesses to address research needs facing the Department’s agencies. On April 2, U.S. DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration/John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center released the final Fiscal Year 2012 solicitation for its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The solicitation contains eight research topic descriptions and invites small businesses to submit research proposals no later than June 5, 2012. The solicitation will be available online at http://www.volpe.dot.gov/sbir.
Congress approved a three-month extension of current transportation programs and the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012 was signed by President Obama on March 30, extending the authority to make expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund for HTF-financed programs through June 30, 2012.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel put into action a $7 billion, three-year infrastructure program, Building a New Chicago, which is one of the largest investments in infrastructure in the city’s history. The program will touch nearly every aspect of the city’s infrastructure network and create more than 30,000 jobs over the next three years.
Massachusetts Department of Transportation Secretary and CEO Richard A. Davey and Acting Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Jonathan Davis announced their recommended proposal for closing the MBTA’s $185 million budget gap for next fiscal year.
The Transportation for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which oversees all transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway (Muni), released proposals to balance the agency’s upcoming two-year budget. The proposals make a significant investment in maintenance that will increase Muni’s reliability, reduce overtime through adequate staffing and focus on key initiatives such as the Transit Effectiveness Project.
Granite Construction Incorporated, in a joint-venture with Old Pueblo Trackworks, comprising Granite and RailWorks Track Systems, has been awarded a $56 million contract by the city of Tucson, Airz., to build the first federally-funded streetcar project in more than 60 years. Granite will book its share, approximately $29 million, into backlog during the first quarter of 2012.
A groundbreaking in Osage, Mo., has taken place for a new railroad bridge that will eliminate one of the worst rail bottlenecks in the country. The $28 million project received $22.6 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Program.
The Illinois Department of Transportation and Union Pacific will be upgrading Illinois’ high-speed route, Chicago-St. Louis, for future high-speed Amtrak trains, from April 16 through May 25. The improvements for 110-mph service include the installation of new premium rail with concrete crossties and ballast; upgrades to bridges, culverts and drainage; signal and wayside equipment installations and upgrades and roadway-rail grade crossing improvements.
The City of Charlotte, N.C., signed a lease agreement with Norfolk Southern Corporation, a move that will kick off construction of Charlotte’s new regional intermodal facility at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). Once operational, the facility is expected to generate $9 billion in economic impact over the next 20 years.
The San Francisco Bay area Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved a regional agreement to fully fund the electrification of Caltrain on March 28 and is the first step in bringing modernized rail service to the region spanning San Francisco to San Jose.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Long Island Rail Road is expanding its Quiet Car pilot program to include all peak hour trains on the Far Rockaway Branch and select rush hour trains on the Hempstead, Long Beach and West Hempstead branches beginning Monday, April 2.
Canadian National sold two rail line segments in the Greater Toronto Area to Metrolinx for C$310.5 million (US$311.6 million).
GO Transit’s Richmond Hill commuter rail service operates over a portion of CN’s Bala Subdivision. Metrolinx is acquiring a segment of the subdivision from approximately Rosedale Valley Road north through the Don Valley to CN’s main east-west freight line north of Steeles Avenue near the Toronto-York Region border.
The Texas Fort Worth Transportation Authority’s TEX Rail commuter rail project has been approved by the Federal Transit Administration to advance to Preliminary Engineering.
The approval to enter PE will allow the authority to proceed with the engineering needed for construction.
Newly selected Honolulu Area for Rapid Transit CEO and Executive Director Daniel Grabauskas met with the head of the Federal Transit Administration and with Hawaii’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., to discuss the status of Honolulu’s rail project in preparation for receiving additional federal funds.
From the editors at Railway Age
New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo reportedly has brokered a deal with Republican state legislative leaders to fully fund the last three years of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s five-year capital plan.
