The replacement of century-old catenary wire that powers the New York Metro-North New Haven Line trains will resume on Monday March 19th, on two tracks between Southport and Bridgeport and will continue through the end of November.
Improvements to make Newark Light Rail’s Bloomfield Avenue Station accessible to customers with disabilities and more convenient for all customers will begin this spring, under a contract approved today by the NJ Transit Board of Directors.
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will expand the operation of test trains along the LACMTA Expo Line corridor beginning Sunday, March 18, running trains from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week, on a schedule of every 12 minutes to simulate regular service on the line once the system opens in early 2012.
BNSF Twin Cities Division employees in Northtown, Minn., braved freezing temperatures, wind and snow flurries to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge for the second consecutive year, so far raising more than $27,200 for Special Olympics of Minnesota.
Union Pacific’s board of directors named Eric Butler executive vice president marketing and sales. Butler succeeds Jack Koraleski, who recently was appointed acting president and CEO while Chairman Jim Young is on medical leave.
Canadian National will offer new import/export container train services between the Port of Prince Rupert, B.C., and Calgary (now in operation) and Edmonton, starting in June 2012. According to CN, Alberta is one of the fastest growing industrial and consumer-based economies in North America and has a fast increasing need for efficient supply chains.
BNSF customers reduced carbon dioxide emissions in 2011 shipping freight by rail instead of its products moving entirely over the road. In 2011, customers avoided emitting more than 30 million metric tons of CO2 by using BNSF, which is equivalent to reducing the annual fuel consumption and resultant greenhouse gas emissions of more than six million passenger vehicles.
Regional Transportation District in Denver, Colo., has received a proposal for the I-225 Light Rail Project from Kiewit Infrastructure Company.
CTA ridership grew by more than 15 million (three percent) in 2011, with more than 530 million boardings on trains and buses across the city, the highest total in 20 years and one of the highest increases among big-city transit operations across the United States.
Invensys Rail Corp. and Lilee Systems have joined forces to bring a new Wayside Messaging Server (WMS) to PTC applications across North America. Invensys Rail will provide sales, application engineering and field service support for the WMS-2000, which was developed by Lilee.
Duane Stephenson joined Watco Transportation Services in the position of general manager of the Baton Rouge Southern Railroad. Stephenson will be responsible for the day to day operations on the BRS including achieving per¬formance goals with optimum safety, economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
He previously worked for Genesee & Wyoming (G&W), where he held multiple management positions over the past five years. His most recent position was operations manager where he led his region in the lowest human factor incident (HFI) rating per 200,000 man hours and going on five years injury free. Duane began his railroad career with Lodestar Logistics as the Logistics Coordinator in 2004.
Axion International received its second purchase order from San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit for switch ties. Axion says its ECOTRAX ties has no chemicals or preservatives added and can be reused at the end of their useful lifecycle, eliminating standard disposal issues.
Union Pacific is enhancing Arizona’s transportation infrastructure by investing $9.2 million in the rail line that runs between Crag and downtown Phoenix. The project is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by the end of April.
Light rail transit, not more buses, is the most cost effective option for supporting the existing jobs and the tens of thousands of jobs the Southwest corridor will add before 2030, Minnesota’s Twin Cities Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh told a State Senate panel.
Thales and Siemens have been awarded a contract to provide a permanent communications-based train control test track facility for Metropolitan Transportation Authority New York City Transit.
The Maryland Transit Administration’s MARC Train service recorded some of the best on-time performance numbers ever during the month of February.
John McPherson has been elected as a director to the Board of Las Vegas Railway Express, Inc.
“X” Train CEO/President Michael Barron said, “We are pleased that Mr. McPherson has joined our company on the board. He brings a very successful career to the company and an oversight role to our operations.”
On March 12, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will receive a $900 million grant commitment from the Federal Transit Administration for the Bay Area Rapid Transit Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension Project.
In the Seattle, Wash.-area, a Kittitas County Superior Court Judge issued a summary judgment in the lawsuit by Kemper Freeman seeking to stop the East Link light rail project.
Sustained public education efforts, engineering improvements and law enforcement programs have contributed to a nationwide reduction in vehicle-train collisions and pedestrian-train deaths and injuries in 2011, according to Operation Lifesaver, Inc.
