Ohio Governor Ted
Strickland will be on hand Aug. 14 to break ground on North Baltimore’s CSX
Intermodal rail yard, local media report. The company’s CEO, Michael Ward, will
join Strickland to break ground on the terminal which will serve the Midwest.
Railroad and economic
development officials are laying tracks to school leaders in hopes of
addressing concerns at McAdory Elementary School that threaten to derail a $112
million Norfolk Southern intermodal hub, the Birmingham News reports.
Residents unanimously
called for officials and Pan Am Southern Railroad to explore creative
alternatives to avoid the imminent paving of 25 acres on top of a Zone 3
aquifer for Littleton at a July 29 meeting, according to the Littleton Mass.,
Independent.
When it begins service on
August 17, SkyTrain’s newest line will bring rapid rail service to Metro
Vancouver’s busiest north-south corridor, linking Downtown to Richmond and Vancouver
International Airport. The Line will connect people to dozens of local
destinations—and a whole world of travel possibilities beyond.
”I would like to clarify
and correct some information contained in a Washington Post article entitled “Metro
Safety System Failed in Near Miss Before June Crash.” However before doing so,
I want to assure the public that our Metrorail system is safe and to let you
know that I personally continue to use it regularly,” said Alexa Dupigny-Samuels,
chief safety officer for the Washington, D.C., Metro.
More than roads are
buckling under the extreme heat. Iowa’s railroad tracks also are susceptible to
the high temperatures, and this is keeping railroad crews and Iowa Department
of Transportation track inspectors busy, the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier
reports.
Years of planning a second
major rail facility in Franklin County will go public next week when Norfolk
Southern unveils plans for building near Exit 3 of Interstate 81 in Antrim
Township, a company spokesman said Friday, according to local newspapers
Jim Coston is betting
that the billions of federal dollars aimed at a high-speed rail system could
reassert Chicago’s place as the nation’s rail center — and jump-start his
attempt to resurrect a business that flourished here a century ago: building
passenger rail cars Crain’s Chicago Business reports.
ARINC is helping
Washington Metro officials design a new system to avoid rail collisions just
weeks after a deadly train crash near the Maryland state line, according to The
Capitol in Annapolis, Md. Officials from the Parole-based company said they are
providing expertise as its workers develop technologies to position the company
as a frontrunner in helping trains everywhere run more safely. That’s in
response to a federal mandate requiring rail operators to upgrade their systems
to help prevent collisions and deaths of railway workers by 2015.
At the downtown Minneapolis
LRT Connection for the Northstar commuter railroad, crews finished glass
installation at the LRT platforms. Communications system testing and programming
finished at both the LRT and Northstar stations. Crews began installation of
the handrail on the LRT platform. The overhead catenary system wires are now
live.
Knoxville, Tenn., mayor
defends NS confidentiality agreement
It has caused him no end of
political heat, but Jefferson County Mayor Alan Palmieri says that signing a
confidentiality agreement with Norfolk Southern was the right thing to do,
according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel. He doesn’t regret it and says he
would do it again. While some residents who have concerns about Norfolk
Southern’s plans for an intermodal facility fear that the agreement cloaks
behind-doors dealings, Palmieri denies this is the case.
The historic train depot at
West Fifth and Orange streets in Chico, Calif., will see a pair of improvements
due to federal and local projects, the Chico Enterprise Record reports.
Amtrak will use $509,000 in
federal stimulus dollars to build a 550-foot concrete platform along the
railroad tracks. The city of Chico is planning to use up to $150,000 in city
transportation funds to rebuild the wooden deck that runs around the northern
part of the depot building.
Track maintenance on the
Red and Orange Line this weekend will cause inbound and outbound trains to take
turns sharing one track on the Washington, D.C., Metro. Customers should add 30
minutes of time to their trips.
Red Line
Metrorail customers traveling
between the Medical Center and Friendship Heights Metrorail stations should add
at least 30 minutes of travel time for their trips because Metro will make
tunnel repairs, and replace rail and rail fasteners that stabilize the tracks.
Trains will share one track between these locations from August 7-9.
BNSF will conduct work along the tracks from Naperville, Ill., into downtown Chicago the week of August 10 and in September, the Clarendon Hills Doings reports. The work will cause minimal pedestrian and traffic delays in Clarendon Hills from Aug. 11-13 and Sept. 6-10. The crews will be in Hinsdale Aug. 12-13 and Sept. 7-10, in Western Springs Sept. 9-10 and 13, and La Grange Sept. 9-10 and 13-14.
The Louisiana Department
of Transportation and Development wants to give the town a raised median and
safety gates at the Hwy. 22 railroad crossing, but some town officials don’t
want it, the Gonzales, La., Weekly Citizen reports. DOTD engineer Bill
Shrewsberry said construction would probably start late this year or early
next, in an effort to improve safety.
RailComm has been selected
to expand its wireless remote control yard system at Union Pacific’s Davidson
Yard in Fort Worth, Texas. The U.S. Department of Transportation requested the
redirection of the hump yard lead tracks in order to keep traffic flowing while
a new highway overpass is being constructed.
Stimulus funding that the
Tomah, Wis., Amtrak Station is slated to receive will be used to construct a
handicap boarding ramp, the Tomah Journal reports.
One appeal of a
controversial railway sale was denied this week, clearing the way for another
— this one in federal court, according to the Fox Valley Villages Sun. On
August 5, the federal Surface Transportation Board rejected an appeal by the
Illinois Commerce Commission. The ICC objected to Canadian National Railway
Company’s $300-million purchase of the suburban Elgin, Joliet and Eastern rail
line, which the STB approved in December.
Federal
regulators are underestimating the health threat posed by a railroad freight
center proposed for southwest Johnson County, environmentalists charge,
according to The Kansas City Star. They say that the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers didn’t fully assess the cancer risk tied to the BNSF project and that
the corps’ predictions of diesel emissions are much less than what’s generated
at rail projects elsewhere.
The Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey released its latest quarterly milestone report announcing
that it has met 19 of 20 second-quarter 2009 rebuilding milestones. Milestones
for the second quarter included: the installation of more than 2,400 tons of
steel for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the equivalent of 20
Statues of Liberty; the installation of 1,250 cubic yards of concrete – the
equivalent of six miles of New York City sidewalk – bringing the plaza and main
entrance of One World Trade Center to street level; and, competitively bid one
of the largest and most critical work packages for the World Trade Center
Transportation Hub.
