Trains are nothing new in
central Ohio, but they are poised to play am increasing role in the economy, the
Columbus Dispatch reports. Beginning Sept. 9, Norfolk Southern will use the
revamped Heartland Corridor line, taking advantage of what the company calls
the "single biggest railroad engineering project in modern history."
It included enlarging tunnels through mountains and raising bridges in other places.
On September 8, 1910, the
first Long Island Rail Road trains departed from a grand structure dedicated to
transportation-Pennsylvania Station-and traveled under the East River using
four tunnels. Long Island celebrated. LIRR is celebrating that century-old
achievement with the opening of a special photo display in the 34th Street
Entrance Corridor, one of the LIRR’s newest Penn Station areas.
The final round of public
meetings for the Metra SouthEast Service Alternatives Analysis study in northeastern
Illinois are set for Sept. 22 and Sept. 28. The meetings are an opportunity for
the public to provide feedback on the proposed Locally Preferred Alternative identified
in the SouthEast Service Alternatives Analysis Study. The proposed 33-mile
SouthEast Service is a new transportation line that would link close to 20
communities in the south Suburban Cook and Will counties. Meetings are open to
the general public and are ADA accessible.
Washington, D.C., Metro
will close two Blue and Orange Line stations and there will be no Blue and
Orange Line service at the Metro Center Metrorail station during the three-day
Columbus Day Holiday Weekend from 10 p.m., Friday, Oct. 8, to closing on
Monday, Oct. 11, as the agency undertakes a major rehabilitation and rebuilding
project to improve safety, to comply with a recommendation made by the National
Transportation Safety Board and maintain service reliability and a state of
good repair.
A summit bringing together
parties from all sides of the North Charleston commercial rail debate was
always likely to be somewhat contentious, the Charleston Regional Business
Journal reports. But an economic impact study released by a public-private
partnership could ratchet up tensions ahead of the Sept. 9 meeting of the
Review and Oversight Commission on the State Ports Authority.
The Metropolitan
Transportation Commission voted 6-2 to allocate all $20 million of this year’s
state transportation improvement funding to the Oakland, Calif., Airport
Connector (OAC) project.
Virginia Beach, Va.,
city officials said that they’ve struck
a last-minute compromise with the state to complete a $40-million deal to buy
an old rail line for a possible light rail project, The Virginian-Pilot
reports. The city expects to close on the 10.6-mile corridor owned by Norfolk
Southern later this month.
The historic Rock Island
Lines’ depot in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, should be restored as the city’s train
station – if Chicago-to-Des Moines passenger railroad service is re-established
– a new report recommends, according to the Des Moines Register.
The Sacramento, Calif.,
Regional Transit District re-opened the 12th and I light rail station on
schedule on September 7, 2010. RT temporarily closed the 12th and I light rail
station in downtown Sacramento on August 2 to perform station improvements as
part of the Alkali Flat/La Valentina and 12th & I Light Rail Station
Improvement Project.
Colmar USA, Inc., said that its first Hi-Rail machine T7000 has been sold to the Toronto Transit Commission, their first North American customer. The introduction of Hi-Rail machinery in North America complements the scrap metal equipment line that has been Colmar USA’s primary product since it was established in 2002.
In one of the largest
railroad engineering project in the past century, Norfolk Southern raised the
height of 28 tunnels in the Appalachian Mountains to open the Heartland
Corridor, the fastest, most-direct route for double-stacked freight from the
Port of Virginia to Chicago.
Steel on steel plus speed
equals noise. No doubt about it – sometimes a ride on BART can be noisy. If you’ve
ever tried to hold a conversation going through the Transbay Tube, you know it
can be difficult to hear.
The track overhaul on the
Red Line that closed the Takoma, Silver Spring, Forest Glen, Wheaton and Glenmont
Metrorail stations in the Washington, D.C., area during the three-day Labor Day
weekend was completed successfully and all five stations reopened on time at 5
a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7.
Results are in for the
Helena, Mont., Citizens Council survey on a quiet zone in the city. More than
half of the respondents described noise from trains as a "quality of life issue,"
the Independent Record reports. The majority of people who responded to a Helena
Citizens Council survey this summer supported the idea of using taxpayer money
to implement a quiet zone in the city, saying the sounds of train horns pose
quality of life issues for area residents, especially at night.
Nordco Inc. has
greatly expanded online parts information and resources with the addition of
its popular "All-Inclusive Machine DVD" to the company’s Website at www.nordco.com. The online database includes searchable mechanical, electrical and
hydraulic data on all current Nordco Maintenance-of-Way equipment, along with
many of the company’s older machines.
The Washington State
Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and BNSF signed an agreement that
ultimately will result in more frequent and more reliable Amtrak Cascades
service between Seattle and Portland.
NJ Transit has applied for
$885 million in new federal funding to pay for renewal and replacement of aging
components of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor between Trenton, N.J., and
Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, the Times Herald-Record reports.
Norfolk’s transportation
system is growing up, with light rail starting next May and passenger rail two
years later, the Virginian-Pilot reports. So its connections to each other need
to mature, too. Toward that end, officials envision a $16-million "multi-modal"
transportation center at Harbor Park downtown, where commuters can move between
light rail, passenger rail, bus, ferry, bike and taxi.
President Barack Obama
announced a robust and reformed transportation infrastructure plan on Labor Day
that will focus on fixing America’s roads, railways and runways, investing more
wisely, and establishing a National Infrastructure Bank. In response, Building
America’s Future released the following statement:
A former Federal Railroad
Administration deputy administrator, Cliff Eby, has been named interim program
director for the California high-speed rail project. The California high-speed
rail project, with an estimated total price tag of $40 billion, envisions
220-mph passenger trains connecting San Francisco with Los Angeles.
