The Orange County, Calif.,
Transportation Authority has received $357 million from the state for freeway
and rail projects, the Orange County Local News Network reported. The
California Transportation Commission sold bonds last month to free up the money
for OCTA.
A deal is imminent for a
$90-million rail and trucking facility at Charlotte/Douglas International
Airport that could bring the region $7 billion in business over the next two
decades, the Charlotte Business Journal reports.
The federal government
could be the last to invest in plans to save 241 miles of northern Maine rail
lines, but it won’t be the first, the Bangor Daily News reports. Joseph C.
Szabo, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, told representatives
of 22 northern Maine manufacturers during a meeting April 8 that they must form
a public-private partnership with the state and contribute money or other aid
to acquire federal funding to save the rail lines.
A new parking garage on
the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension at the Atlantic station will open to the
public Friday, April 16, with a total of 266 free parking spaces for Metro
patrons that use the light rail line to commute.
Faced with a $30-million
budget deficit in the coming fiscal year that is reflective of a long-term
unsustainable economic model, Caltrain is urging the California High-Speed Rail
Authority to retain the current route between the Central Valley and San
Francisco and preserve the opportunity for Caltrain to access funding for
improvements that will help secure the operating and financial future of the
Peninsula commuter rail service. The high-speed rail authority is soliciting
public comment on the Revised Draft Program Environmental Impact Report.
An 11th-hour
clarification in when federal officials need an approved agreement on the
Colton , Calif., Crossing railroad overpass has given local and train industry
officials four more weeks to work out the details, The Press-Enterprise
reports.
In January, President Obama
presented Florida with $1.25 billion in high-speed rail stimulus money for the
Orlando to Tampa bullet train. It was about half of the $2.5 billion needed to
get the project up and running, but that isn’t slowing down the state
Department of Transportation and its Florida Rail Enterprise, The Lakeland, Fla.,
Ledger reports.
Canadian National Railway
is trying to scale back its contribution to the most expensive of the 182
projects it’s required to do as part of the 2008 EJ&E takeover, the Daily
Herald reports. CN filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals saying it
should not have to pay 67 percent of a $40.4 million overpass or underpass at
the Ogden Avenue crossing in Aurora, Ill., or 78.5 percent of a $52.5-million
overpass or underpass on Lincoln Highway in Lynwood, Ill., as ordered by the
Surface Transportation Board.
With transportation funds
running short at every level, regional planners for the North Central Texas
Council of Governments are seeking permission to lead an unusual partnership
with private investors so they can fast-track a 62-mile rail line known as the
Cotton Belt corridor, The Dallas Morning News reports.
Miami-Dade Transit’s Website
has a new streamlined look, with a more user-friendly design to make it easier
for transit passengers to find the information they are looking for.
The newly
redesigned website at www.miamidade.gov/transit features large color-coded icons for easy
navigation to information about MDT’s four modes of transportation – Metrobus,
Metrorail, Metromover and STS (MDT’s paratransit service).
Kenosha, Wis.-based
Powerbrace Corporation has opted to extend its agreement for services in Mexico
with The Offshore Group until 2017. Powerbrace initiated operations at The
Offshore Group’s La Angostura Industrial Park in Saltillo, Coahuila at the
beginning of 2005. Today the company occupies a total of 101,195 in three
industrial buildings.
There will be limited
Pelham Bay Park-bound 6 service to and from Parkchester station beginning on
Saturday, April 10, through early July, 2010, because of ongoing station
rehabilitation, MTA New York City Transit officials said.
Although only two trains,
both freight, rumble through Thompson, Conn., each day, officials believe the
Providence and Worcester Railroad tracks in the northeast corner could be a
huge asset to the area, the Norwich Bulletin reports.
As construction season
begins, crews from the Vermont Rail System are looking to begin projects to
improve the safety of the New York & Ogdensburg Railroad, the Watertown
Daily Times reports. According to Vermont Rail Vice President Jerome M. Hebda,
crews should pick up where they left off last fall in replacing about a mile of
80-pound rail on New York and Ogdensburg Railway line with 100-pound rail
between Lisbon and Ogdensburg, N.Y. The project is expected to cost about
$125,000.
On Saturday, April 17,
the Inland Empire-Orange County Metrolink Line in Southern California will not
have train service to the Anaheim Canyon station due to track construction work
related to the Orange County Transportation Authority’s Metrolink Service
Expansion Project.
The Utah Transit Authority
board of trustees has appointed Michael Allegra as the agency’s new general
manager. Allegra succeeds John Inglish, who has served as general manager for
the past 13 years. Effective immediately, Allegra will assume all general
manager responsibilities, including operations, projects and programs and
management of staff. Allegra previously served as assistant general manager and
chief capital development officer.
State Representative Rick
Geist (R-Altoona), Republican Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, unveiled
a package of legislative proposals designed to address Pennsylvania’s
transportation infrastructure funding crisis.
Efforts to save a $202-million
railroad overpass in Colton, Calif., are on track, but an agreement between two
railroads and local officials faces a high bar when a state commission will
decide if the agreement shows the public will benefit enough, The
Press-Enterprise reports.
A borrowing package that
includes money to preserve a railroad that’s seen as a lifeline to industry in
struggling northern Maine was denied final approval by the state Senate late April
7, local newspapers report. As lawmakers worked toward the 2010 session’s end,
senators debated the $85-million bond package at length before voting 19-16
along party lines for it. But Democrats failed to muster the two-thirds
majority they needed to send the bonds to voters. The House earlier gave its
final approval by a 100-48 vote.
Leon Benoit, MP for
Vegreville-Wainright, announced that the Government of Canada is trying to make
access to markets easier and will be providing $59,500 in grant funding to the
Battle River Railway New Generation Co-op that is headed by Daysland, Alberta,
resident Ken Eshpeter, the Camrose Canadian reports. The federal contribution
will be used by the co-op to acquire a short line railroad.
