All Sounder north commuter
rail trains between Seattle and Everett, Wash., will end at Mukilteo due to a
mudslide north of Mukilteo. The Sounder north line normally serves stations in
Edmonds, Mukilteo and Everett. Sounder will operate as normal from Seattle to
Edmonds and Mukilteo.
Passengers riding
Minnesota’s new Northstar Commuter Rail depend on well-maintained trains for a
fast, safe and reliable commute along the 40-mile run between downtown Minneapolis
and the northwest suburbs. The MTU Onsite Energy standby power system serves
the line’s only maintenance facility, where trains are serviced, repaired and
even washed.
Unless agreement can be
reached in two weeks, $131 million meant to separate railroad tracks in Colton
will go to other Southern California projects, and leave the region’s two
freight railroads without a project they say is critical to moving goods out of
the region, The Press-Enterprise reports.
Lemont, Ill., officials
would like to see more commuter train service for residents this year, and
believe it is a real possibility, according to the Lemont Reporter. But a
number of things must happen first before the hope comes to fruition, including
increased signalization and additional bi-passes along the railroad line to
improve safety and ease freight congestion. There also is the construction of a
train station in Romeoville and the approval from the railway that owns the
tracks.
The Alaska Railroad
Corporation Board of Directors has appointed ARRC Chief Finance Officer Bill O’Leary
to serve as acting Chief Executive Officer of the Alaska Railroad, effective
April 1, 2010. The decision came after the Board met March 25 to discuss the
way forward in terms of railroad leadership after current President and CEO Pat
Gamble asked for some transition time to prepare for his new job as University
of Alaska system president, effective June 1, 2010.
Metra, the commuter rail
service operator in northeastern Illinois, has unveiled a mobile website that
is streamlined to be compatible with iPhones, Blackberries and any other
portable web-enabled devices. The mobile site offers the most popular features
of our regular site in a format that is easy to view on a portable device.
Anyone using such a device to go to Metra’s website at www.metrarail.com will
automatically be routed to the alternative mobile site, although they will have
the option of going to the regular site if they so choose.
All MAX light rail service
across the Steel Bridge in Portland, Ore., will be interrupted Sunday night,
March 28, for crews to install a new switch on the overhead power system. Work
will begin at 7 p.m. until end of service. Service is expected to resume on
Monday morning.
Track maintenance on the
Red Line and an emergency drill at the Rosslyn Metrorail station on the Blue
and Orange Line March 26-28 will cause inbound and outbound trains to take
turns sharing one track. Customers should add 30 minutes to their trips.
The Illinois Commerce
Commission approved the FY 2011-2015 Crossing Safety Improvement Program 5-Year
Plan this month. The 5-Year Plan includes nearly $200 million in assistance
from the Grade Crossing Protection Fund for safety improvements at more than 2,200
highway-rail crossings of roads and streets across the state in the next five
years.
CSX Corporation said that
proxy materials for its 2010 Annual Shareholders Meeting are now available to
shareholders via the Internet under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s
Notice and Access rules. These materials, including the company’s proxy
statement and 2009 annual report, can be accessed on its website at
http://investors.csx.com.
As it waits for the economy
to improve, Union Pacific’s construction plans are heading in two directions,
The Arizona Republic reports. Although it has postponed plans to finish
doubling its tracks in Arizona, the company has begun a $42-million upgrade to
its existing rails.
In
Matt Rose’s 10 years at the helm of BNSF, he’d heard plenty of investors talk about quarterly performance. A few
would even talk about the railroad’s annual performance, Dan Reed writes in USA
TODAY. Then on Feb. 12, he answered a call from Warren Buffett, the legendary investor who looks for long-term return
and whose Berkshire Hathaway holding company had just closed on its $26-billion
purchase of the 77 percent of BNSF shares it didn’t already own.
Union Pacific will improve
part of Kansas’ transportation infrastructure with a $6-million investment to
its rail line that runs from Wichita to near Caldwell, Kan.
Caltrain will hold a
community meeting March 31 to present information about the San Bruno Grade
Separation Project. The $165-million project will elevate the Caltrain tracks
above San Bruno, San Mateo and Angus avenues. A new elevated train station
between San Bruno and San Mateo avenues will replace the existing station. The
project also includes three pedestrian underpasses, one near Sylvan Avenue, one
at the new station and another between Euclid Avenue and Walnut Street.
The Executive Boards of
the Unified System Division and the Pacific Federation, both divisions of the
Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, said a merger between the two federations will take
affect April 1, 2010. The newly created federation will retain the name,
Unified System Division.
As Metro seeks to gain a
much more complete and detailed "picture" of its track conditions,
Metro has selected ENSCO, Inc., to develop and construct a special rail car
known as a track geometry vehicle, which is used to inspect track conditions
and identify any possible flaws.
A track geometry vehicle is an automated
track inspection vehicle that can test several geometric parameters of the
track without obstructing normal passenger rail service. The parameters
generally measured include track position, curvature, distance between the
rails, alignment, smoothness, and the crosslevel of the two rails.
The Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) will conduct five station area
and maintenance facility-planning workshops in late March as part of the
environmental review process for the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor Project.
Lagging sales tax receipts
resulting in lower long-term revenue forecasts in the 13 member cities are
prompting Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) to review all expenses including
operations, administration and future capital projects, officials said.
Sparks have been flying
along Yuba-Sutter railroad tracks near Marysville, Calif., in the last few days,
the Appeal-Democrat reports. Loram Maintenance of Way Inc. wrapped up its
periodic grinding of area Union Pacific rails March 22 after smoothing nearly
100 miles of local tracks. The routine maintenance eliminates cracks caused by
typical train traffic.
Work to upgrade the
electrical system at the Mineola Intermodal Center will make it necessary to
close the four-level parking facility on the weekend of March 27 and 28. The
seven Long Island Bus routes will still operate as will Long Island Rail Road
train service at the Mineola station. However, shutting off the electricity so
the system upgrades can be done will affect the lights, LIRR ticket selling
machine in the Center’s pedestrian overpass, electronic signs and elevators
serving the Center’s overpass.
