MTA releases 2011 preliminary budget and four-year financial plan






The Metropolitan
Transportation Authority released its 2011 preliminary budget and proposed four-year
financial plan for 2011-2014. The proposed plan reflects unprecedented internal
cost cutting initiatives undertaken in response to a $900-million shortfall for
2010 resulting from cuts to state assistance and dramatic downturns in tax
revenue. These shortfalls amount to more than $2.5 billion over the plan
period.

Passenger rail vulnerable, GAO says






With intelligence
indicating that Al Qaeda and associated movements continue to express interest
in attacking U.S. mass transit systems, especially passenger rail and subway
systems, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a redacted version
of a classified report on "explosives detection technologies [that] are
available or in development that could help secure passenger rail systems,"
according to the Homeland Security Today Website.

Railroad, Maine DOT in talks on track deal






The
state could buy 233 miles of northern Maine freight rail tracks slated for
abandonment within several weeks if it and track owner Montreal, Maine &
Atlantic Railway agree on a price, officials said July 28, according to the
Bangor Daily News. The railway and Maine Department of Transportation are
working to find common ground between DOT’s argument that the tracks and other
equipment are worth $18.1 million and MMA’s contention that they should fetch
$26.2 million as a whole or $23.7 million if broken into smaller pieces or
parcels.

Railroad track being upgraded in Williamston, N.C.






The Greenville and
Western Railway Company has begun a track upgrade and maintenance project in
Williamston, N.C., local media report. The project is expected to be completed
by Aug. 15 and involves:

–Construction of two
retaining walls and roadbed stabilization near Gossett Drive;

–Replacement of bridge
timbers on the rail-highway overpass at Gossett Drive;

–Installation of new
ties south of Gossett Drive;

–Installation of 1/4-mile
of new and heavier-duty rail between the north end of the concrete bridge
behind Mineral Springs Park to just south of Prince Street; and

–The rebuilding of the
Prince Street rail-highway grade crossing.

Barrington, Ill., files briefs for appeal of CN purchase of EJ&E






Barrington, Ill., and other
communities and entities appealing aspects of Canadian National Railway’s
purchase of the Elgin, Eastern and Joliet Railway filed final briefs with the
U.S. Court of Appeals last week, the Barrington Courier Review reports. CN also
filed briefs, appealing certain aspects of the conditions for purchase set by
the federal government.

Countdown begins for Railway Interchange 2011






September 18-21, 2011,
marks the dates for Railway Interchange 2011, as Minneapolis hosts the first
North American event combining the technical conferences of AREMA (American
Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association) and CMA (Coordinated
Mechanical Associations), as well as the exhibits of RSI (Railway Supply
Institute), REMSA (Railway Engineering & Maintenance Suppliers
Association), and RSSI (Railway Systems Suppliers, Inc.).

Light Rail safety in Norfolk






Transportation officials
in Norfolk, Va., are working to make sure people are safe when the Light Rail
starts running, local media report. Preventing a crash between a Light Rail
train and a vehicle is what the city of Norfolk and HRT wants to work to
prevent before the trains roll across the tracks.

Invensys Rail awarded Thameslink resignaling contract






Network Rail has awarded
the Thameslink core area resignaling contract to Invensys Rail. On completion,
the project will provide a significant increase in route capacity, allowing 24
trains per hour to run from Loughborough Junction in the south, through central
London and on to Kentish Town in the north

LTK appoints South Central Region manager






LTK Engineering Services appointed
Michael A. Tagaras manager, South Central Region, based in Dallas. Tagaras has
served as manager for the firm’s South Texas area based in Houston and the New
England area based in Boston. He has also held project management positions
with several equipment suppliers and brings more than 21 years experience in
transportation systems including commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail,
streetcars, DMU, fare systems and BRT.


Wabtec completes purchase of G&B Specialties






Wabtec Corporation has
completed the acquisition of G&B Specialties, Inc., from Global Railway
Industries Ltd. for about $35 million. On July 14, Wabtec said that it had
signed an agreement to acquire G&B Specialties and Bach-Simpson Corporation
from Global Railway Industries for about $45 million. The Bach-Simpson
acquisition is expected to be completed by Oct. 31. Wabtec expects the
transactions to be accretive in the first year.


Metro interim GM statement on July 27 NTSB meeting






"On behalf of all Metro
employees, I want to first express my condolences to the families of those who
lost loved ones and those who were injured in the tragic accident on June 22,
2009," said Richard Sarles, Washington, D.C., Metro Interim General Manager. "I
believe that the greatest honor that we can pay them and also our customers who
rely on us every day is to work to prevent such an incident from ever happening
and to become the safest railroad possible. 



 

NTSB cites track circuit failure and WMATA’s lack of safety culture






The National Transportation
Safety Board determined that last year’s fatal collision of two Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority trains on the Red Line in
Washington, D.C., was a failure of the track circuit modules that caused the
automatic train control system to lose detection of one train, allowing a
second train to strike it from the rear. The NTSB also cited WMATA for its
failure to ensure that a verification test developed after a 2005 incident near
Rosslyn station was used system-wide. This test would have identified the
faulty track circuit before the accident.

UP employees achieve best-ever January-June safety performance






Union Pacific employees achieved the
best first-half-of-the-year safety performance in company history. For the
period January 1 through June 30, Union Pacific’s employee reportable injury
rate was 1.31, a nearly 10 percent improvement over the previous company best
1.45 reportable rate for the first six months of 2009. Union Pacific’s employee
injury rate improved 50 percent from 2001 to 2009.

Rail plan roils St. Louis Park, Minn.






Adding yet another voice
to the chorus objecting to a proposed increase in freight rail traffic in St. Louis
Park, Minn., the city’s school board weighed in last week with its concerns,
the Star Tribune reports. At a special meeting, the board passed a resolution
in full support of two resolutions passed recently by the City Council.

Niagara Falls mayor to propose transit center






The City Council in
Niagara Falls, N.Y., is expected to take the first concrete steps toward
transforming the historic old Customs House into a combination passenger
railroad station, bus station and trail head for bike riders and hikers, as
well as a tourist attraction of its own and a museum commemorating the slave
escape route called the Underground Railroad, The Buffalo News reports.

TKDA to complete Mobility First Improvements for Amtrak






Engineering, architecture
and planning firm TKDA was selected as part of a design-build team with Coleman
Industrial Construction to complete Mobility First Improvements at Amtrak’s
passenger stations in California and Oregon. This work is part of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for rebuilding and modernizing
infrastructure and equipment. TKDA is currently providing engineering services
to Amtrak in more than 10 states.