MTA Metro-North Railroad
will hold a third Open House in Orange County to present the latest information
on the West of Hudson Regional Transit Access Study. The purpose of the study
has been to evaluate options to improve transit services between central Orange
County and New York City and to enhance regional transit access to Stewart
International Airport.
It’s never been easier to
bike it, park it and BART it in Berkeley, Calif., thanks to the newly opened
bike station at street level above the Downtown Berkeley Station. The new bike
station at 2208 Shattuck Avenue provides safe and secure parking for up to 268
cyclists. It replaces the cramped, outmoded bike parking area on the concourse
level and dramatically increases the bike storage capacity.
Anyone who has ever
rifled through pockets or purse looking for a lost item will connect
immediately with a public-art sculpture dedicated by Metro Arts in Transit
(AIT) at the MetroLink Station and MetroBus Transfer Center on St. Charles Rock
Road in Pagedale. The sculpture – titled Honey, Where’s My Metro Pass –
portrays that experience in a whimsical presentation of oversized coins, keys,
a crumpled receipt and a lip balm that could have been spilled along the
MetroLink platform by a frazzled passenger.
Iowa Department of
Transportation officials believe they will be successful in their second
attempt to obtain a passenger railway from Iowa City to Chicago, the Daily
Iowan reports. After taking in feedback from last year’s denied application,
the department is adding a new project to gain funding from the Federal
Railroad Administration. The application is due Aug. 6.
This month, Denver’s
Regional Transportation District is marking the 10 years since the Southwest
Light Rail Line opened. Banners will be on display this month at a half-a-dozen
key light rail stations and transit centers, and information will be on the RTD
and FasTracks websites.
Construction of a new
platform, lights and retaining wall will begin at the Round Lake, Ill., Metra
station July 15, 2010 and continue until October 1. Work will begin on the east
end of the platform. During the first phase of construction, commuters must
board trains from the western portion of the platform.
Union Pacific has been
named a 2010 Best Diversity Company by Diversity Careers in Engineering and
Information Technology. The magazine honored Union Pacific for its support of
minorities and women, attention to work/life balance and supplier diversity
commitment based on feedback from its readers and website visitors.
Norfolk Southern is
reinforcing a retaining wall along W.Va. 100 with steel I-beams and concrete, the
Morgantown, W. Va., Dominion Post reports.
On July 12, Superior Judge
William Morse extended until July 16 an order preventing the Alaska Railroad
from spraying weed killers on a section of track until the state’s high court
can review the state-issued permit, local media report. Previously, state
regulators had given the railroad permission to spray herbicide for 30 miles
along a 90-mile stretch of track from Indian to Seward, south of Anchorage.
A newly created and first-of-its-kind graduate-level track of
study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Engineering will
educate engineers and safety, health and environmental professionals across
industries in the best practices to prevent expansive disasters like the recent
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and Upper Big Branch Mine explosion in West
Virginia.
Gladstone, Mich., City
Commission approved plans by the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) to
submit the pre-application paperwork for a Tiger II Grant, the Escanaba Daily
Press reports. A public hearing was held Monday, which brought forth various
comments and suggestions about CN’s Gladstone rail yard and its plans for the
grant, if received.
The Redevelopment
Commission voted to chip in $10,000 to look into alternative routes for the
South Shore Line if the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District can
get federal grant money for the study, the News-Dispatch reports. The money
will help fund a proposed $1 million study of potential realignments of the
South Shore Line. NICTD has said the agency and Michigan City would split the
$200,000 local portion of the study funding, with the federal government
providing the rest.
In January, President
Obama announced that North Carolina was awarded $545 million in American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to continue its development of high-speed
intercity rail. On July12, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that
the U.S. Department of Transportation and the State of North Carolina have
finalized a grant agreement for $20.3 million, the first installment of the
$545 million awarded to the state.
U.S. Senator Jeff
Bingaman, D-N.M., said that the City of Albuquerque has been awarded a $6.72-million
grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The city will use the funding
to construct a Rail Runner station on Montaño between 2nd Street and Edith
Blvd.
As part of BART’s
system-wide Earthquake Safety Program, the agency will begin strengthening structures
at the Concord and Daley City stations to withstand future earthquakes.
Job creation has become a
key argument for rail advocates, including Ohio Secretary of Transportation
Jolene Molitoris, who got their chance July 12 at the Dayton Rotary Club to
rebut an earlier presentation by state Sen. Jon Husted, the Dayton Daily News
reported.
(Rep. Mike Michaud,
D-Maine, wrote the following opinion for the Brunswick, Maine, Times Record.) A
report recently released by the American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials analyzed our nation’s freight system. The report found
that if we do not maintain, much less improve, our nation’s system of moving
freight, millions of jobs and our nation’s long-term economic health would be
put at risk. Unfortunately, we have a potential economic crisis brewing right
here in Maine on this very topic.
Though it was difficult,
James Cowhey did manage to contain his emotions Monday, the Intelligencer
Journal reports.
From Saturday, July 10, to
Friday, July 16, crews will continue a project that will improve the rail
crossings at Mary and Sunnyvale avenues in Sunnyvale, Calif. Crews will grade
and trench the site and make wiring modifications in the signal houses. The
work is part of a VTA project to improve safety at eight crossings in
Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto.
Kansas City Southern issueda service advisory July 11 reporting hat while Kansas City Southern de Mexicoresumed most operations over the weekend, its main line between Laredo andMonterrey remained closed due to "high waters and floating debris"left by Hurricane Alex, which made landfall June 30.
