Businesses and residents
in Norfolk’s Freemason Historic District got some good news last week – major
light rail construction that caused confusion and detours is complete, local
media report.
MTA Long Island Rail Road
President Helena Williams and Babylon Mayor Ralph Scordino and other public officials
broke ground today on a new $25.5 million train wash facility located in the
Village of Babylon. The project, which promises to create between 20 and 30
construction jobs, is being financed with federal stimulus funds through the
Federal Transit Administration. The Babylon Train Wash Facility was selected by
Governor David Paterson and the MTA as a shovel-ready project that represented
the best use of federal stimulus funds.
The railroad responsible for
maintaining the rails in and near the Fox Cities in Wisconsin will fix or replace
11 crossings in and near the Fox Cities, including the two deemed worst of the
bunch by Post-Crescent readers in April, the Appleton Post-Crescent reports.
The Andersons, Inc., and
the Iowa Northern Railway Company said that The Andersons, Inc., recently made
a significant minority investment in the railway company and its subsidiaries.
The investment is expected to be accretive to earnings this year.
Seattle City Light will
be upgrading power lines in Capitol Hill during the next year to increase their
power capacity. The work is designed to meet local power needs, improve
reliability, and provide electricity to the Sound Transit light rail station
now under construction.
The Metro
Board of Commissioners for the St. Louis area approved an operating budget of
$232.4 million for Fiscal Year 2011 that includes funds to restore transit
services that were cut in 2009. The budget also includes freezes on salaries and
hiring and reductions to expenditures across the board.
County transportation
leaders may need to postpone $5 million in scheduled repairs for the 32-mile
local rail line that would occur soon after officials sign off on the pending
purchase because of financing problems that still shadow the acquisition, the
Santa Cruz Sentinel reports.
A bill regulating pesticide
spraying by railroads has been signed into law by the governor of Wisconsin,
local media report. The new law requires
railroads operating in Wisconsin to inform railroad employees of their use of
pesticides, and prohibits a railroad from requiring an employee to work in an
area to which a pesticide has been applied within 24 hours of the application of
the pesticide.
Ottawa and the provinces need
to do a better job of coordinating policy on issues ranging from the
environment to tax reform, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.’s top executive said, The
Canadian Press reports. Canadian Pacific representatives have spent a lot of
time in Ottawa — not to mention Washington — making the case for removing
"artificial barriers in the form of regulation or legislation," Fred
Green told shareholders at the firm’s annual general meeting.
Fees for transportation
impacts, business licenses and vehicle-license registrations all could be part
of a funding package the Kent, Wash., City Council may tap for funding city
street projects, according to the Kent Reporter. The Council conducted a second
workshop at City Hall to discuss how to fund an estimated $389 million worth of
projects over the next 25 years, including $137 million in grade-separation
projects for street and rail.
Between the hours of 8
p.m. Monday, May 24 and 4 a.m. Tuesday, May 25, crews will finish work on
the grade crossing at Fair Oaks Lane in Atherton, Calif. The work, which
includes installing a guardrail and pedestrian gates, is part of the San Mateo
County Grade Crossing Improvement Project.
Mayor Richard M. Daley
and Chicago Transit Authority officials said that by May 31, one or more safety
cameras will have been installed at every one of the CTA’s 144 rail stations.
Eleven Northeast states
from Maine to Maryland, with close support from Amtrak and the Coalition of
Northeastern Governors (CONEG), said they submitted a multi-state proposal
requesting that the Federal Railroad Administration lead a planning effort to
further define the role that intercity and high-speed passenger rail can play
in helping improve the region’s transportation network, expand capacity,
relieve highway and aviation congestion, and stimulate sustainable economic
growth along the Northeast Corridor.
The Board of Directors of
Canadian Pacific Railway Limited declared an increase in CP’s next quarterly
dividend to twenty seven cents ($0.27) Canadian per share on the outstanding
Common Shares, from twenty-four and three quarter cents (C$0.2475) per share.
The increased dividend is payable on July 26, 2010, to holders of record at the
close of business on June 25, 2010, and is an eligible dividend pursuant to
subsection 89(14) of the Income Tax Act.
On May 21 at 10:30 a.m.,
Long Island Rail Road President Helena Williams joined Babylon Village Mayor
Ralph Scordino, State Senator Owen Johnson, State Assemblyman Phil Boyle and
Suffolk County Legislator Wayne Horsley at a press conference and
groundbreaking ceremony for LIRR’s new Babylon Train Wash Facility.
Pennsylvania has applied
for a $1.6-million federal grant from the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail
Program to study possible expansion of rail service between Ohio and New York
State through Erie, Governor Edward G. Rendell said. If selected for the
federal grant, PennDOT will invest $400,000 in state funds to complete the
study.
Los Angeles-area Metrolink
maintenance crews will be performing work along Metrolink’s Ventura Line
railroad tracks Memorial Day weekend. The track maintenance activities will
include the removal and replacement of crossties, rail and concrete panels at the
railroad crossing at Lindley Avenue between Parthenia and Napa Streets.
National Coal Corp. said its
wholly-owned subsidiary NC Railroad Inc has sold a shortline railroad that runs
between Oneida and Devonia, Tenn., to R.J. Corman Railroad Property LLC for $3
million, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports.
The Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors adopted a $3.8-billion
budget for Fiscal Year 2010-11. The spending plan is $47 million less than the
current Metro budget but still advances a variety of transportation
improvements for the region including a spate of new highway and transit
building projects. These are funded largely with federal stimulus funds and the
new Measure R transit sales tax.
A Colton, Calif.,
railroad overpass meant to unclog a crowded Southern California freight
corridor has been approved by a key state panel, ending a two-month logjam that
jeopardized the $202-million project, The Press-Enterprise reports. The
California Transportation Commission on May 19 unanimously agreed to spend $91
million in state transportation bond money to build the Colton Crossing. The
decision also frees $33.8 million in federal stimulus money for the project.
