Property owners in
Whitefish’s Railroad District and east of the middle school received good news
last week – lab results from 25 soil-borings revealed little or no
contamination from underground diesel fuel plumes originating in the BNSF Superfund
site, the Whitefish Pilot reports.
As the years pass, it
becomes more vital to introduce and educate the next generation to the railroad
industry. To aid in this cause, AREMA has developed a Mentoring Program to
benefit the AREMA Student Members. The association is currently seeking mentors
to influence the next generation as part of this Mentoring Program.
Measure R money isn’t
just for road projects’ it can now be used to purchase railroad tracks, the
Foothills Sun-Gazette reports. The Tulare County, Calif., Board of Supervisors
approved an amendment to the Measure R expenditure plan that will allow the
county to purchase railroad fixtures including ties, ballast, tracks and
signals to ensure that the property is maintained for rail use.
The Surface
Transportation Board is requesting feedback from Chicago-area communities
affected by the merger of Canadian National Railway with the Elgin, Joliet
& Eastern Railway Co. The Board will also audit CN’s informational reports
that the railroad is required to file with the STB as a condition of the
merger.
MTA NYC Transit said that
effective Wednesday, January 20, 2010, MTA Staten Island Railway will begin
fare collection at the newly constructed Tompkinsville Stationhouse. The $6.9-million
Tompkinsville Fare Collection Project included the construction of a stationhouse
entrance, the installation of turnstiles, cameras, fare vending and
communications equipment.
Crystal Lake, Ill.,
officials have approved a pre-annexation agreement for a 17-acre site, where
Metra plans to build a commuter train stop, the Chicago Tribune reports. The
station, between the Woodstock and Crystal Lake stations, would cost an
estimated $5 million and take four years to open, Metra officials say. It is
part of a planned expansion to the Union Pacific Northwest line.
As part of the Obama
Administration’s efforts to highlight the local impact of economic stimulus
programs, U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios met with Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert at the
Omni Dallas Convention Center Hotel construction site to highlight the use of
Build America Bonds in North Texas infrastructure projects. The Build America
Bonds program has provided $64 billion in low-cost borrowing to date for state
and local governments across the country, including almost $3 billion in North
Texas.
Sound Transit commuter rail
service between Everett, Wash., and Seattle is shut down at least until the
evening of Jan. 21 because of a mudslide across the tracks, the Everett Herald
reports. The slide hit around 7:30 a.m. Jan. 19 in north Seattle, blocking the
tracks and forcing passengers on two of the four Sounder commuter trains to
disembark at Edmonds Station and ride buses the rest of the way to Seattle,
according to Sound Transit.
The City College of New
York (CCNY) said that a scholarship in honor of James L. Lammie, former Chief
Executive Officer and Chairman of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. has been endowed by
Richard Ravitch, the Lieutenant Governor of New York.
The UTU, BLET, the
Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, the Brotherhood of
Railroad Signalmen and the American Train Dispatchers Association have asked
the FRA to deny an Amtrak request to waive permanently the existing mandatory
and safety-critical functions governing passenger-platform snow removal outside
the Northeast Corridor.
Trains traversing
North Riverside, Riverside and Berwyn, Ill., along the Canadian National tracks
will be prevented from sounding their horns at nine grade crossings in those
towns starting Jan. 28, the Riverside Brookfield Landmark reports.
Port Authority Trans-Hudson
Corporation (PATH) has placed an order worth $321 million with a consortium led
by Siemens Mobility for the design, manufacture and installation of a new
Communication-based Train Control System. Upgrading the PATH system to CBTC
will increase the system’s throughput to meet future peak time demands, in
addition to increasing safety and reliability while reducing ongoing
maintenance costs. The project is due to be completed in 2017.
Alaska Assemblyman Hank
Bartos wants to move the railroad out of downtown Fairbanks and expand Pioneer
Park into a "winter wonderland" involving Ice Alaska, the railroad’s unhappy
tenant, the Daily News Miner reports.
The federal government is
about to hand out a river of cash to states willing to build a network of
bullet trains, as the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress seek to
slowly ease the country’s dependence on automobiles and airplanes to make short
trips between its biggest cities, the Dallas Morning News reports. It’s the nation’s
first major investment in true high-speed rail, and among its most significant
pushes to locate trains of any kind far from the East Coast.
Los Angeles Metro invites
people in the Century City, Calif., area to learn about plans to bring the
subway west and share views. This lunch time open house is intended to bring
Century City workers up to speed with progress on the proposed Westside Subway
Extension, discuss plans for a future Century City station, and solicit input.
MERMEC
Group appointed Russell Taylor president and CEO of its American subsidiary,
Imagemap, Inc., effective January 1, 2010. Taylor has more than 32 years of railroad
and mass transit experience, having started his career with the Canadian
Pacific Railway in 1977. He has worked in a variety of capacities including construction
and construction management, design and engineering, and sales and marketing.
On Jan. 15, Illinois Gov.
Pat Quinn joined Assistant U.S. Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to
speak at "Beyond Transportation: The Economic Impact of Rail in Illinois." The
summit was dedicated to bringing together stakeholders in government, economic
development and private industry to improve rail infrastructure and create jobs
in Illinois.
Coffman Specialties, Inc., of San Diego has been awarded a
$36.3-million contract to construct a rail spur and intermodal rail yard at the
Mesquite Regional Landfill, where municipal solid waste will be received for
disposal by way of California’s first waste-by-rail project. The Sanitation
Districts of Los Angeles County awarded the contract to Coffman Specialties,
the lowest of eight bids received for the project that will include a rail
spur, bridge and construction of the facilities where containerized trash will
arrive by train for disposal at the regional landfill. The Mesquite Regional
Landfill is located about five miles east of Glamis, Calif.
Getting to and from the Edmonds,
Wash., waterfront-long a bottleneck for travelers and pedestrians alike-could
get somewhat easier by early next year, the Everett Daily Herald reports. That’s
when Sound Transit expects to complete a $12.9-million renovation of the city’s
rail station, Edmonds Station, at 210 Railroad Ave.
Nearly one year after the
Canadian National Railway purchased a suburban rail line as a freight bypass
around Chicago, fears of a massive influx of two-mile-long trains rolling
through dozens of neighborhoods haven’t yet materialized, the Chicago Tribune reports.
But residents and
local officials have complained that train noise and vibrations from the CN’s
more powerful, multiple locomotives are wreaking havoc on home life.
