Just days before an
election that could decide the fate of a planned high-speed rail line, state
and federal administrators quietly signed a deal to commit the state to
spending all $810 million of the federal stimulus cash allocated to the
Milwaukee-to-Madison route, transportation officials confirmed Nov. 1, the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
With support from Escanaba
and Lake Superior Railroad, officials in Ontonagon, Mich., are moving forward
with the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region working to
preserve the railroad located in Ontonagon, the Daily Mining Gazette reports.
Work will continue on the
new pedestrian underpass at the Santa Clara station. The underpass will connect
the north- and southbound platforms, allowing two trains to pass through the
station at the same time and improving safety for pedestrians in the station. Passengers
at the station are boarding the train from a temporary platform. Passengers are
asked to observe all posted signs and follow direction from identified
ambassadors in the station. The temporary platform will be in use for
approximately six months.
CN and North America
Stevedoring Company, LLC (NASCO) will construct of a new multi-modal steel
transloading facility in Chicago, the North American hub for steel
transportation. NASCO is a division of Quebec Stevedoring Company Ltd. (QSL).
BART customers will soon
have rail service to East Contra Costa County thanks to the eBART extension
project, which officially broke ground in a ceremony October 29. eBART,
shorthand for east Contra Costa BART extension, is a 10-mile extension from
Pittsburg/Bay Point Station to the City of Antioch.
MBTA General Manager Rich
Davey joined Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino to celebrate the $61-million
modernization of Copley Station, located on the MBTA’s Green Line. Copley
Station is now fully accessible and in compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act.
MTA NYC Transit said that
Stephone Montgomery, a 27-year veteran of the MTA family, has been named to the
post of vice president and chief officer for Staten Island Railway by Senior
Vice President, Department of Subways, Carmen Bianco. Montgomery, who succeeds
John Gaul, has served at MTA Long Island Rail Road and MTA New York City
Transit, in several positions during his career in rail, most recently as the
Line General Manager for the No. 4 and 5 lines as well as the Grand Central
Shuttle at NYC Transit.
You have to hand it to
the Island Corridor Foundation, which owns the 289-kilometre rail corridor on
Vancouver Island, for its ambitious plans to resurrect the ailing rail service,
according to a column in The Daily News. Graham Bruce, the executive director of the ICF, a
coalition of 13 First Nations and local governments formed in 2005 to
revitalize the railway system, said that the foundation has made a formal
application to Via Rail, operator of the Dayliner service, to begin a new
morning southbound train to Victoria that would leave Nanaimo at 6 a.m.
Funding for the
Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail (PMLR) project will not affect money available
for bus service, TriMet points out. In Fiscal Year 2013, TriMet is slated to
sell bonds to generate roughly $40 million for its contribution to the
Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Line. Like a mortgage, these bonds will be paid
incrementally over 25 years or so. TriMet’s annual payment will be
approximately $3.2 million for debt service on the bonds. It is important to
stress that this borrowing won’t begin until FY13 and has no impact on current
service levels.
The Michigan Department
of Transportation’s looming purchase of privately-owned railroad tracks between
Dearborn and Kalamazoo as part of an improved high-speed rail corridor to
Chicago also will directly benefit a commuter rail project linking Detroit and
Ann Arbor, Crain’s Detroit Business reports.
The South Shore is alerting
passengers to the last in a series of planned temporary weekend construction
outages for 2010. The final weekend outage is planned for November 6-8. During
this construction related weekend outage the South Shore Line will not operate
trains or shuttle bus service in either direction between South Bend, Ind., and
Gary Metro Center beginning 2:30 a.m. Saturday, November 6 thru 3:00 a.m.
Monday, November 8.
With the aim of heightening
safety standards, Kootenai County, Idaho, is proposing several permit
amendments for the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway refueling station
in Hauser, the Coeur d’ Alene Press reports. Required by the county
commissioners after the station’s compliance hearing last December, the
amendments would specify when the facility shuts down for a major leak, plus
establish new well testing and groundwater monitoring.
Wisconsin & Southern
Railroad Co. continues with its welded rail installation on the Madison Sub. As
of October, 14 miles of rail have already been installed by crews, extending
from Vincent Street at Milton Jct. to just east of Stoughton, Wis. M/W forces
are currently focusing on dumping ballast on the track and raising and tamping
for final alignment before winter freeze-up.
The Gary/Chicago
International Airport on reached a pivotal deal for its runway extension
project, the Gary Post-Tribune reports. The agreement with Canadian National
Railway allows the Gary airport to proceed with the removal of CN’s embankment
at the end of the runway — one of the biggest undertakings of the project. The
Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority approved the deal Oct. 28, with CN
expected to sign on within 10 days.
The Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board of Directors approved the
Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report (EIS/R) for the Westside Subway
Extension and Regional Connector projects, clearing the way for both projects
to enter final environmental review and preliminary engineering.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn
said $32 million from the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program will go to
construct a multi-modal transportation station in downtown Joliet. The new
transportation center is expected to create 650 jobs, laying the groundwork for
future transit-oriented development in downtown Joliet.
The Washington State
Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the City of Vancouver Nov. 3 will
celebrate completion of the first of four projects to help make passenger rail
a more viable alternative for travelers up and down the I-5 corridor. The $11-million
Vancouver Rail – Rail Bypass and W. 39th Street Bridge project built a two-lane
vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian bridge that takes W. 39th Street up over seven
sets of railroad tracks in the Vancouver rail yard.
Brown, Orange and
southbound Green Line trains will be temporarily rerouted in the Loop from 4
a.m. Saturday, November 6, until approximately 8 p.m. Sunday, November 7, as Chicago
Transit Authority crews install a new signal control facility at Van Buren and
Wabash. The work is part of CTA’s continuing efforts to upgrade the signal and
train control systems in the Loop.
People who
support rail transportation, both freight and passenger, must feel like they’ve
been on a roll this month–finally. They’ve worked long and hard, and they
deserve some good news, according to and editorial in the Ft. Worth Star
Telegram.
The Dexter government of
Nova Scotia will provide C$3.5 million to keep Cape Breton’s railway running
until at least next September, the Chronicle-Herald reports. The subsidy is an
extension of a five-year, C$10-million deal the previous Tory government struck
with RailAmerica, owner-operator of Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia
Railway. That deal expired March 31. The new deal is retroactive to that date
and will keep the railroad operating until Sept. 30.
