Caltrain construction, maintenance Feb. 21 – 26






Feb. 21-25, between the
hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., crews will be finishing up work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program. Work will take place at the following locations:

• Burlingame: Broadway, Oak
Grove Avenue and Peninsula Avenue.

• Redwood City: Main Street
and Chestnut Street.

• San Mateo: Villa Terrace
Avenue, First Avenue, Second Avenue, Third Avenue, Fourth Avenue, Fifth Avenue
and Ninth Avenue.

• Menlo Park: Encinal
Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, Oak Grove Avenue and Ravenswood Avenue.

• Atherton: Fair Oaks Lane.

OnTrackAmerica points to new developments in Pennsylvania






OnTrackAmerica, a
non-profit transportation consultancy committed to revitalizing North America’s
economy and environment by placing railroads at the center of a balanced
transportation system said there have been several new developments in its
ongoing, multi-faceted agenda.

 

A cost to complete and a new date for The Tide






Hampton
Roads, Va., Transit said that the final cost to complete construction of The
Tide light rail system will be $338.3 million and that passenger service will
begin in May 2011. The
new figure comes after a six-month review by HRT and its financial advisor to
identify costs not fully accounted for in previously released budgets,
including the additional time required to design project changes and then
complete construction.

BNSF Burlington, Iowa, bridge work shifts navigation span






After a month-long delay,
work is under way again to replace a portion of the BNSF bridge over the Mississippi
River at Burlington. Iowa, only now the project will be shifted 75 feet east. After
discovering debris on the riverbed that prevented the contractor from drilling
a foundation for a new pier, construction was halted while the U.S. Coast Guard
reassessed relocating the navigation channel, The Hawk Eye reports.

NYC Transit’s Rockaways A Stations rehab project moving ahead






New York City Transit’s
Far Rockaway-bound platforms at Beach 60th Street and Beach 36th Street are
next in line to be closed as part of ongoing rehabilitations of stations in the
Rockaways. These platforms will be closed for approximately four months
beginning at 5 a.m. on Monday, February 22.

Heartland Corridor on target for summer opening






The Heartland Corridor
double-stack rail project is on schedule to be completed by summer 2010 said a
Norfolk Southern marketing representative speaking at the February lunch
meeting of the Hampton Roads Foreign Commerce Club according to the Port of
Virginia Website

Maine lawmakers consider a bond issue to save rail line






The Maine state
legislature is now involved in the effort to save 240 miles of railroad tracks
in Aroostook and Northern Penobscot Counties from being abandoned, according to
local media. Representative Ken Theriault has introduced a bill that would put
a $20 million bond issue to voters to buy the rail line owned by Montreal Maine
and Atlantic Railway.

Amtrak sets time line for Connecticut bridge work






Amtrak said that the
replacement of the Niantic River Bridge would begin March 1. Town officials are
making preparations by closing a section of the boardwalk, The Day reports. The
eastern portion, which begins at the wooden boardwalk section and continues to
the bridge area, will be closed until further notice.

VRE study to examine proposed rail extension






Virginia Railway Express is
expected to award a $2.5 million contract Feb. 19 to a firm that will study the
environmental impact of extending the commuter rail line to Gainesville and
Haymarket, Va., local media report.

Downtown train horns silenced in Tulsa






The downtown Tulsa,
Okla., area is now a quiet zone for train horns, officials said. The
"quiet zone," or Downtown Sealed Corridor Project, which consists of
five extended railroad crossings, requires railroad operators to not blow their
horns in designated downtown areas except in emergency instances, the Tulsa
World reports.

Hardin County, Ken., looking at passenger rail






If efforts to
re-establish passenger rail service in Hardin County, Ken., were a children’s
story, it would be titled, "The Little Engine that Couldn’t." 

Regardless of
how tall that hill may be, though, two recent developments have given at least
some steam to the possibility, local newsppers report.

 

Theft of rails leads to $100,000 in damages






Officials are calling it
Laurinburg’s not-so great train robbery, The Laurinburg, N.C., Exchange
reports. Someone stole about 800 feet of railroad beams and caused several
train cars to derail. The accident occurred on some tracks between McFarland
and Shaw Currie roads.

Track work may cause weekend BART delays






Beginning February 20 BART
will need to run northbound Pittsburg/Bay Point line trains on a single track
due to ongoing weekend track work for the Central Contra Costa Crossover
Project. Single-tracking will take place on weekends only and BART expects to end
this work in mid-May. Single-tracking trains may result in slight delays of up
to 10 to 15 minutes on weekend trains going toward Pittsburg/Bay Point Station.


WMATA weekend rail changes






Track maintenance on the
Orange Line in the Washington, D.C., area Feb. 19-2 will cause inbound and
outbound trains to take turns sharing one track.

Bring on the freight trains






A New Jersey construction
company could begin restoring the long-dormant railroad extension in Calverton,
N.Y., as early as mid-March, with the possibility of work being completed by
summer’s end, officials said. Freight trains could start heading into the
Enterprise Park at Calverton, or EPCAL, soon after the job wraps up, said town
community development director Chris Kempner, the Riverhead, N.Y., News-Review
reports.

CSX to move Massachusetts operations






CSX Corp. is set to begin
discussions with officials in Worcester, Westboro, East Brookfield and West
Springfield, Mass., about plans to shift more freight operations out of Boston
to freight yards in those communities, the Worcester Times reports. The changes
come as part of a plan to expand commuter rail service on the Boston to
Worcester line and to raise bridges between Route 128 and New York to make room
for double-stacked freight trains.