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.

Hatch Mott MacDonald makes key hires in its U.S. business units






Hatch Mott MacDonald recently hired key, high-level
staff members at several of its U.S. office locations. Frank Facciolo joins
Hatch Mott MacDonald’s New York City office as a senior project manager for
rail/transit projects and has 21 years of experience in infrastructure,
transportation, and design-build projects in the N.Y. Metropolitan area and in
California. John Cross joins HMM’s Tallahassee, Fla., office as a senior project
manager with more than 30 years of professional engineering experience in both
the private and public sectors.

City of Keokuk, Iowa, starts bridge talks with railway






A Pioneer Railcorp
representative left no uncertainty about the railroad’s position regarding a
proposed toll increase for the use of Keokuk’s swing-span railroad bridge, the
Daily Gate City reports. Keokuk Junction Railway, which runs the trains on the
bridge, is a subsidiary of Pioneer Railcorp.

UP subsidiary PS Technology adds 3-D simulation training program






PS Technology
(PST), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Union Pacific Corporation, has added a 3-D simulation-training
program to its capabilities. The program produces realistic 3-D simulation
training solutions for a variety of industries including railroad,
construction, mining and shipping. For example, railroad-specific simulations
for conductors, locomotive engineers and remote-control locomotive operators
are used in certification training to enhance railroad safety and improve
operating efficiency. Implementing this program accelerates and expands
employee-training opportunities previously constrained by equipment
availability and travel.

Federal share for Portland-Milwaukie project set at 50 percent






The Federal Transit
Administration has committed to a 50-percent share for the Portland-Milwaukie
Light Rail Project in Oregon. TriMet had requested a 60 percent federal share,
since all previous light rail projects were funded by at least a 60 percent
federal share. The 50-percent federal share would be capped at a maximum of
$735.8 million.

MTA Metro-North to buy land to expand Fordham Station platform






Metro-North Railroad
plans to buy a strip of land from Fordham University in order to widen and
improve the outbound platform at the Fordham Station, where each morning almost
6,000 people board northbound trains to get to jobs in Westchester and
Connecticut. After Harlem-125th Street, Fordham is the busiest station for
reverse commutation, that is for people going north in the AM peak instead of
into Manhattan. Over all, Fordham is Metro-North’s third busiest outlying
station, after Stamford and White Plains.

Connecticut governor calls for $260 million in bonds for rail






Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi
Rell is set to call for one of the state’s biggest bond issues in recent memory
when she proposes selling $260 million in bonds to make improvements to the New
Haven-to-Springfield rail line, the Hartford Courant reports. The money is
intended to attract an additional $220 million in federal aid to begin building
a high-speed train line linking Springfield and Hartford to Amtrak’s busy
Boston-to-Washington route along the shoreline.

NTSB report on D.C. metro crash may impact transit systems nationwide






The announcement by the
National Transportation Safety Board on July 27 on the likely cause of the June
2009 Washington, D.C., Metro crash might have major safety and financial
implications for transit systems nationwide, the Washington Post reports. Federal
investigators have focused on the failure of Metro’s automatic train-control
system in the accident, in which one train slammed into the back of another
that was stopped north of the Fort Totten Metro station in Northeast
Washington. The accident killed a train operator and eight passengers, injured
scores of others and caused $25 million in damage.

Feds may fund study of Texas/New Mexico commuter rail route






It has to start with small
steps by city leaders in Las Cruces and El Paso, but the goal is to someday
provide commuter rail service between the cities, the Sun-News reports. Officials
met the week of July 19 with representatives of BNSF and Las Cruces Mayor Ken
Miyagishima came away with two definite opinions: The cost to start commuter
rail service won’t come cheap and he’s excited the service has the potential to
become a reality.

Wisconsin short line rehab hits snag






Funding has fallen through
on a $15-million project to rebuild an abandoned freight-rail line from
Plymouth to Sheboygan Falls, Wis., and Sheboygan County officials now are
working to secure federal dollars to get the stalled plan moving again, the
Sheboygan Press reports. The project, which proponents say will spur new
development along the approximately 15-mile rail corridor, looked like a done
deal last fall after the state agreed to pitch in $12 million toward the
effort.

Houston METRO thanks congressional delegation for federal funds






The Board and staff of
the NEW METRO in Houston expressed their appreciation to U.S.
Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn for their strong
support and significant efforts to secure another $150 million for the
North and Southeast Corridor light- rail lines, as the Senate
Appropriations Committee approved the FY2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban
Development Appropriations bill July 22.

New Lenox, Ill., moves toward rail quiet zone






New Lenox, Ill., took the
first step to establish quiet zones along the Canadian National tracks, the
Southtown Star reports. At the July 26 village board meeting, trustees approved
hiring Christopher Burke Engineering to study what improvements are necessary
to qualify for a quiet zone and the costs involved. The firm’s fee will not
exceed $11,000.

National Gateway shows public benefits at NCSL Legislative Summit






Representatives of the
National Gateway will discuss a broad range of environmental, business and
economic benefits with legislators, business representatives and government
officials this week at the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL)
Legislative Summit 2010. The NCSL Legislative Summit, a major public policy
conference featuring thousands of state lawmakers and legislative staff, is
being held from July 25-28 in Lexington, Ken.

Durbin upbeat on high-speed rail in Illinois






Sen. Dick Durbin said July
23 that giving the Union Pacific Railroad $98.3 million in federal money for
track improvements without an agreement in place to allow high-speed passenger
rail is still a good idea, The Springfield, Ill., State Journal-Register
reports.

U.S. DOT confirms $300 million for Denver Union Station redevelopment







U.S. Transportation Secretary
Ray LaHood said that the Denver Union Station project will receive just over
$300 million in federal loans through an unprecedented and historic innovative
financing arrangement using the Department of Transportation’s Railroad Rehabilitation
and Improvement Financing (RRIF) Program and the Transportation Infrastructure
Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) Program. The project is funded with a unique
financing structure and for the first time combines credit assistance from both
programs.