Metro in the Los Angeles
area will hold two public meetings September 1 and 2 to update the public on
the environmental study that is evaluating two possible alternatives, which
would connect the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension to cities further east of
Los Angeles by light transit rail.
A top-ranking U.S. transportation
official visited Rantoul, Ill., recently to see what the University of Illinois
has been cooking up in pavement and high-speed rail research, the Champaign-Urbana
News-Gazette reports. Peter Appel, the U.S.
administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, toured
the 60,000-square-foot facility known as UI’s Advanced Transportation Research
and Engineering Laboratory located on the former Chanute Air Force Base.
The Wheeling and Lake
Erie Railway Company will replace five railroad-crossing surfaces within the
city of Medina this month, the Sun News reports. Crossings at S. Elmwood Ave.,
S. Huntington St., W. Smith Rd., S. Prospect St., and Medina St. will each be
upgraded. During construction stretches, roads will be closed near the railroad
tracks.
State regulators approved
funds to improve the safety of 165 railroad crossings throughout Washington State.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) approved $35,250
from the Grade Crossing Protection Fund (GCPF) for BNSF to replace or install
yield or stop signs, wood posts with retro-reflective tape, retro-reflective
cross buck signs and emergency notification signs statewide. The UTC also
approved $6,000 from the GCPF for Pend Oreille Valley Railroad to make the same
improvements to 24 crossings in Pend Oreille County.
The completion of ADM’s
new $540-million dry mill ethanol plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has created a
need for more railroad track, KCRG-TV reports. The CRANDIC Railway began
construction this month of a new 9,000-foot track that will go from Old Bridge
Road to just east of Fairfax, CRANDIC Marketing Manager Jeff Woods said.
John Gates Jr., a
successful businessman named August 19 as the new chairman of the Regional
Transportation Authority in the Chicago area, acknowledges he has a steep
learning curve ahead of him about buses and trains, but he intends to use his
financial expertise to bring more private-sector involvement into mass transit,
the Chicago Tribune reports.
When the idea of an
Atlanta-Chattanooga-Nashville high-speed train route was talked about publicly
two years ago, proponents contended it should be given serious consideration, according
to an editorial in the Nashville Tennessean. A $1-million feasibility study
that had recently been conducted on the Nashville-to-Chattanooga leg showed the
project to be doable, but that it would cost an estimated $5.4 billion in
public and private dollars.
The northbound platform at
the Santa Clara, Calif., Station will be demolished this week. All passengers
will board 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.
EWI launched a
first-of-its-kind Passenger Rail Manufacturing Center from its headquarters in
Columbus, Ohio. The mission of the Center is to develop and strengthen manufacturing
supply chains for the rail and rolling stock industries, improve railroad
product affordability and develop technical innovations that will allow
railroad manufacturers to collaborate effectively with original equipment
manufacturers and deliver a new wave of manufacturing job opportunities at the
state and national level.
HJ Skelton has been awarded
the special trackwork contract for both the Calgary West LRT Project and the
Calgary NE and NW extensions. The contracts include the supply of concrete
ties. The special trackwork, on both ballast and slab tracks, consists of a
variety of Diamond Crossings and switches.
A critical choke point on Norfolk Southern’s Crescent Corridor has been eliminated with a reconfigured rail junction near Front Royal, Va. This was the final and most complex of six capacity improvement projects in Northern Virginia to handle more trains at higher speeds.
The Alaska Railroad
Corporation (ARRC) and Kiewit Pacific Co. signed a contract that awards Kiewit
construction management and general contracting (CMGC) work for Phase One of
the Northern Rail Extension. The first phase includes the Tanana River bridge
and levee near Salcha, Alaska.
The Wickford Junction/North Kingstown Station in Rhode Island, which received $4.4 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars will receive an additional $13.6 million New Starts grant to extend existing commuter rail service an additional 20 miles from Providence to Boston starting in 2012.
Plans for an MBTA commuter rail station at the South Bay Shopping Center in Roxbury, Mass., moved a step closer to reality as the state issued a request for proposals for the $12-million project, the Boston Herald reports.
Oklahoma could soon have a commuter rail transportation system to get people to and from work and ease travel, the Tulsa Beacon reports. State Rep. Charlie Joyner has been working to make that a possibility. Joyner met with representatives from Trinity Railroad Express, BNSF, Amtrak and Dallas Area Rapid Transit this week in Fort Worth to discuss the possibility of getting a commuter rail system in Oklahoma. He discussed the projected costs and pros and cons.
August 20-22, Washington,
D.C., Metro will upgrade its track, platforms and bridges on the Red, Blue and
Yellow lines to improve reliability and service. As a result of this crucial
work, which is critical to maintain the railroad in a state of good repair,
riders can expect delays of up to 30 minutes.
Sound Transit celebrated
breaking ground on the first phase of construction of a new Sounder commuter
train station in Edmonds, Wash. The transit hub, scheduled to open next spring,
will replace a temporary structure south of the Amtrak station with a new east
platform, passenger shelter, re-paved parking area, upgraded lighting and
secured storage for bicycles.
Chicago Mayor Richard M.
Daley announced the formation of a new O’Hare Express Blue Ribbon Committee to
undertake a comprehensive study for express train service between O’Hare
International Airport and downtown Chicago.
The Metropolitan
Transportation Authority in New York City said underpinning for the Corbin
Building and the foundation for the Fulton Street Transit Center are complete.
This marks a major milestone in the $1.4-billion project that will connect five
subway stations and 10 subway lines, improving access for over 300,000 daily
customers that pass through this major transit hub in lower Manhattan. The
overall project, funded primarily with federal funds, remains on schedule and
will be completed in 2014.
Commuters in Boston’s MBTA
subway system will notice scientific equipment and researchers with electronic
monitoring devices throughout the system August 20 -27, while the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues a scientific study of airflow
throughout the underground portion of the subway system. The first portion of
the study was conducted in December.
