Seattle Sound Transit construction update






Before the excavation
of the Capitol Hill Station of the University Link light rail project can
begin, there is a great deal of work needed to prepare the site. To
prevent the sides of the excavation from collapsing once excavation begins, the
contractor will use walls made of soldier piles and lagging. Steel beams are
dug into the ground, and wooden or steel planks are placed between the beams to
hold the earth in place.

 

Despite $40million kick, South Dakota rail yard unmoved






The plan to relocate a rail
switching yard in downtown Sioux Falls, S.D., got a $40-million boost five
years ago, but the project hasn’t even begun, the Argus Leader reports. Though
the project was scheduled to be completed 2009, the city still is working its
way through an environmental review that could take the rest of this year.

Amtrak reorganizing to advance high-speed rail in America






Amtrak said it is
reorganizing and establishing a new department to pursue opportunities to
develop new intercity high-speed rail service in select corridors around the
country and to plan for major improvements on the Northeast Corridor, including
determining the feasibility of increasing top speeds up to 220 mph.

MTA Metro-North, LIRR change schedules for infrastructure work






MTA Metro-North
Railroad’s new April 11 timetable will make temporary, minor schedule changes
on all three lines to allow for track maintenance projects. On the Upper Hudson
Line, schedule adjustments will allow for installation of concrete ties until
June 2010. Poughkeepsie, New Hamburg and Beacon customers in all time periods
will be affected by schedule changes requiring trains to depart earlier or
later, and in some cases, to travel up to seven minutes slower or 10 minutes
faster.

D.C. Metrorail speed restrictions in place on Red Line






Washington, D.C.’s Metro
has a 15 mph speed restriction in place on the Red Line between the Friendship
Heights and Bethesda Metrorail stations due to track work that is taking place
during the overnight hours to change out rail and rail fasteners. 

The speed
restrictions were installed late the week of March 15 after an assessment
identified the immediate need to replace running rail and fasteners on both
tracks between the Friendship Heights and Bethesda Metrorail stations.

L.B. Foster, Portec Rail Products receive second request from DOJ






L.B. Foster Company and
Portec Rail Products, Inc., said that they have each received a formal second
request for additional information and documentary material from the Antitrust
Division of the Department of Justice regarding the Agreement and Plan of
Merger dated February 16, 2010 pursuant to which L.B. Foster proposed to
acquire Portec through a tender offer and subsequent merger.

KCS, NS see progress on Meridian Speedway line






Senior executives from
Kansas City Southern and Norfolk Southern recently made their annual inspection trip across the Meridian
Speedway to see the capital improvements that have been made to increase
capacity and improve transit over the line from Shreveport, La. to Meridian,
Miss., KCS News, the company newsletter, reports.

RTD’s $143.8-million deal with BNSF locks down FasTracks property






Denver’s RTD has reached a
total $143.8-million agreement with BNSF that will move progress forward on two
FasTracks corridors to Arvada/Wheat Ridge and Westminster, Colo.,
according to a column by Kevin Flynn in InDenver Times. The
comprehensive agreement includes $102.7 million for the outright purchase of
railroad right-of-way for the Gold Line and several miles of the Northwest Rail
FasTracks corridors; a lump sum of $36.9 million in relocation funding for BNSF
to move and replace its facilities that are in the way of RTD’s projects; up to
$4 million in direct reimbursements of BNSF’s other costs for additional
construction or relocation that may occur incidental to the projects and
$200,000 for title insurance, closing costs and escrow fees.

Fredericksburg, Va., train station repairs coming






Repairs to the
Fredericksburg, Va., train station could be under way this summer, The Free
Lance-Star reports. Virginia Railway Express received permission from its
Operations Board to issue an invitation for construction bids to repair the
drainage system in the station’s railroad bridge.

Richmond-Hampton Roads rail plan gains speed






Momentum is building for
running conventional passenger trains between Norfolk and Richmond, Va., as an
interim step to getting high-speed rail, The Virginian-Pilot reports. The budget
approved by the Virginia General Assembly last week waives a 30 percent match
on state Rail Enhancement Funds, clearing a financial hurdle that will allow
construction to begin later this year and for trains to run within three years.

Elburn, Ill, officials resume consideration of pedestrian crossing for Metra






Elburn,
Ill., Planning Commissioners revisited a past proposal to construct a
pedestrian crossing over the railroad tracks between the Metra station and the
north side of the village, local newspapers report. They hope the village can
pursue the project in the future to reduce risks for people walking across the
railway to and from the station and their homes or downtown Elburn.

Design contract signed for Moynihan Station






February 14, 2001

The architecture firm
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has signed a contract with the Moynihan Station
Development Corporation to start design work on the first phase of the new
Moynihan Station in New York City, the New York Times reports. The project, which was proposed
by and later named for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, calls for converting
the Beaux-Arts James A. Farley Post Office – across Eighth Avenue from
Pennsylvania Station – into a train station.

 

Train coming right on time to Brunswick, Maine







February 14, 2001

The air smelled of fresh
paint, not beer and food, March 18 inside Byrnes Irish Pub, Maine Today reports.
Good reason. The business had hustled to have a grand opening March 17, just in
time to be mobbed on St. Patrick’s Day. Maine Street Station is a
new mixed-use development in Brunswick that will include retail space, offices,
a train station and perhaps a Concord bus operation. Patrick Byrnes is hopeful
that the turnout is a sign of things to come. His family chose to expand here,
from Bath, to take advantage of the planned arrival of Amtrak’s Downeaster
train service in 2012.