The Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) invites the public to a new
community meeting on Monday, June 7, to discuss alignment options for tunneling
between the Wilshire/Rodeo and Century City Stations now being examined as part
of the Westside Subway Extension Project environmental study now under review.
Chicago area Metra commuters at Hanover Park on the Milwaukee West Line and Fairview Avenue on BNSF will experience some delays and inconvenience due to station work.
The Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio recently offered to pay, using grant funds, a portion of
Medina’s share of an upcoming railroad upgrade project if the city agreed to
used any saved money to install new gates and signal lights at crossings on
Lafayette and Ryan roads, the Medina Sun reports.
The U.S. Department of
Transportation said that nearly $80 million in grants have been delivered to
states as part of President Obama’s historic high-speed and intercity passenger
rail program. These grants will go toward the development of a brand new
Recovery Act funded high-speed rail system in Florida as well as critical
upgrades to existing passenger rail service throughout the country.
VAE Nortrak North America
Inc. won a Metra Commuter Service master purchase agreement for rail. The
master purchase agreement is for new 115RE and 136RE AREMA rail for a period of
18 months. The first train with 64,000 lineal feet of welded rail will be
loaded on a rail train and headed for Chicago for this season’s
welded-rail-laying program.
The Metropolitan
Transportation Authority said it has entered into a contract with a joint
venture of Related Companies and new partner Oxford Properties Group for the
development of the MTA’s Hudson Yards into a mixed-use community that will
include 12 million square feet of commercial and residential development. The
deal calls for the MTA to lease the site to the joint venture for 99 years,
with purchase options, and will provide $1 billion for vital MTA capital
projects.
The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, in partnership with the Greater Cleveland Regional
Transit Authority, designated the transit stop at South Park and Shaker
boulevards as the Nature
Center at Shaker Lakes stop
Water may not be to blame
for the settling of light-rail tracks at the intersection of Brambleton Avenue
and Second Street, The Virginian-Pilot reports. Don Lint, Hampton Roads Transit
light-rail construction manager, said that once the tracks and the panels they
are bolted to are removed next week, the agency will have a better idea of what
went wrong.
The North Carolina
Department of Transportation’s Rail Division has applied for federal planning
funds that would allow for the expansion of intercity passenger rail service to
the western and southeastern parts of the state.
Target Field already is
the capital of Minnesota baseball. Now it may spawn Minneapolis’ answer to
Grand Central Station, the Star Tribune reports.
The Los Angeles Metro
Transit Authority is exploring ways to provide commuters with an alternative to
the 405 freeway by extending the South Bay Metro Green Line. One option is into
North Redondo Beach, to many residents’ dismay, the Beach Reporter reports.
Cindy Hammett plans to retire this summer and spend more time at
home taking care of her two young grandchildren. She hopes she doesn’t have to
spend that time listening to train horns sounding near her house. Hammett doesn’t
like the horns blowing day and night, NewsOK reports.
There will be no train
service between the East Falls Church, Va., and West Falls Church-VT/UVA
Metrorail stations during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, (May 29, 30 and
31), and the first two weekends in June (June 5-6 and 12-13) to allow the
Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project to undertake the first in a series of major
construction activities that eventually will connect the new rail line to the
existing Metrorail system.
On Sunday, May 30, crews
will replace crossties and resurface the tracks between the Bayshore and San
Mateo stations. From Tuesday, June 1, to Thursday, June 3, crews will resurface
the tracks between the Menlo Park and Mountain View stations
John Haussmann, P.E., has
joined HDR as a vice president and principal project manager based in the
company’s Walnut Creek, Calif. office. He will focus on major transit projects
in California and throughout the western United States. Prior to
joining HDR, Haussmann was the regional transit manager for PBS&J’s west
and central regions. From 1997 to 2008 he served first as chief operating
officer and then CEO/president of T.Y. Lin International.
Graham Construction
Services, Inc., is working on several transit projects that will transform
Minnesota’s commuter landscape. These include Graham’s activities on the
Central Corridor Light Rail Transit (CCLRT) Advanced Traffic Improvements
project and on the 4th Street Advanced Utility Construction project. In
addition, the company has completed the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line
extension to Target Field.
As part of an ongoing
agency-wide financial review, members of the DART Board of Directors will
consider modifications in levels of transit service beginning with fiscal year
2012. Potential changes will also be accompanied with a reduction in staffing
throughout the organization.
Noise from the operation of
Norfolk Southern’s railroad hub in McCalla, Ala., would have no impact on an
adjacent elementary school or many of the surrounding homes and only a minimal
impact on other homes, an expert said May 25, according to The Birmingham News.
On Tuesday, June 1, there
will be a planned service disruption that will affect morning and evening
service for both the Manassas and Fredericksburg Lines.
On May 26, the Nature Center at
Shaker Lakes, in
partnership with the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, will
officially designate the Green Line Rapid transit stop at South Park and Shaker
boulevards as the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes stop.
