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.
"The climate change and energy draft
legislation ‘The American Power Act’ proposed by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.)
and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) undermines investment in one of the most-effective
tools consumers use to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and combat climate
change – public transportation," says a statement by American Public
Transportation Association President William Millar. The current climate change
and energy proposal diverts the vast majority of new transportation revenue to
areas other than public transit and transportation investment.
(The following statement
s issued by Los Angeles Metro CEO Art Leahy, with quotes from Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa and MTA Board Chair Ara Najarian.) Today’s action by the
California Transportation Commission (CTC) approving funding for Positive Train
Control is a major victory for our region. PTC is a major safety enhancement
for passenger rail service throughout the region.
While Worcester, mass., City
Manager Michael V. O’Brien has committed to coming back to the City Council in
three weeks with a deal to address issues associated with CSX Transportation’s.
freight yard expansion plan, some doubts are being raised about whether the
biggest obstacle – finding a new roadway connection from Shrewsbury Street to
Franklin Street – can be achieved, the Telegram & Gazette reports.
Washington, D.C., Metro
General Manager Richard Sarles testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies of the U.S.
Senate Committee on Appropriations May 19 and reiterated the transit agency’s
request for $150 million in fiscal year 2011.
In doing so, Sarles provided a
description of his back-to-basics action plan to improve the safety and service
reliability of the Metro system.
Crews were working
through the night to finish two railroad bridges in Benton City, Wash., by 6
a.m. May 20, the Bellingham Herald reports. Construction of the BNSF ballast-deck
bridges with concrete girders started early May 19. Both are 121 feet long and
will allow traffic to pass under the railroad tracks.
