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.
Plainfield, Ill., and
some other towns have stopped fighting the Canadian National Railway, but other
municipalities aren’t ready to do that yet, the Aurora Beacon News reports. Will
County is among them.
Central Florida backers of
the SunRail commuter train may be relieved of more than $11 million in annual
debt payments that were headed their way, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The
state Department of Transportation had intended to borrow $173 million to help
pay for the $1.2 billion, 61.5-mile system linking DeLand in Volusia County
with downtown Orlando and Poinciana in Osceola County.
Kansas City Southern
Railway has Monroe, La., and northeastern Louisiana on its radar because of the
V-Vehicle Co. plant and the Franklin Farms Megasite in Richland Parish, The
News Star reports.
Work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program, which will enhance safety at 25 grade crossings
in San Mateo County, continues, with work at Main Street, Redwood City, Jan. 18
– 21; Watkins Avenue, Atherton, Jan. 18 – 19; and Oak Grove Avenue, Menlo Park,
Jan. 20 – 21. Throughout the project area, at least one lane of the impacted
street will remain open. Flagmen will direct traffic and pedestrians around the
construction.
Kansas City-based
TranSystems said that Michael J. Sweeney, P.E., has joined the company’s New
York City office as National Transit Market Sector Leader/Vice President in
support of the firm’s passenger rail and transit group. Sweeney has extensive
experience working on the largest and most complex rail/transportation projects
in the United States.
Wisconsin transportation
planners are on a lightning-fast track, feverishly preparing to build the
85-mile, high-speed rail corridor from Milwaukee to Madison when $817.7 million
in federal stimulus funding is secured, the Milwaukee Business Journal reports.
The weekend of Jan. 15-18,
Metro in Washington, D.C., will close the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail station on the Red Line
while maintenance crews conduct a track overhaul between the Medical Center and
Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail stations. Customers using the Red Line in this
area should add 40 minutes to their travel plans to transfer to a free shuttle
bus to get past the affected work area. Throughout the weekend, extra Metro
employees will be on hand to guide customers to connecting shuttle buses.
A federal lawsuit filed
against BNSF and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is hoping to force a more
detailed study of the impact on the air and water by the railroad planned
intermodal center in southwestern Johnson County, Kan., the Kansas City Tribune
reports. The proposed site lies near the city of Gardner and along BNSF‘s
Transcon mainline and Interstate 35, a major national north-south highway. BNSF
is seeking to build a $700-million, high-tech, energy-efficient and environmentally
friendly 1,200-acre intermodal site between Gardner and Edgerton. The site
would include an intermodal center where shipping containers would be unloaded
from trains and a logistics park made up of warehouses, distribution centers and
shipping points.
Residents who live next
to the Canadian National Railway tracks in Mokena, Ill., could
see trees planted as barriers between their homes and the tracks as early as
this spring, according to the Chicago Tribune. The Village Board approved a
landscape buffer plan for the area in the southwest corner of the village.
The Ohio Rail Development
Commission approved a $155,000 grant that will pay half the cost of
rehabilitating a railroad bridge in Toledo, local newspapers report.
In a dramatic change from
existing policy, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proposed that new
funding guidelines for major transit projects be based on livability issues
such as economic development opportunities and environmental benefits, in
addition to cost and time saved, which are currently the primary criteria.
Amtrak
has awarded a $104.7-million contract to Cianbro/Middlesex VII of Littleton,
Mass., for the replacement of the 102-year old movable bridge over the Niantic
River in East Lyme, Conn.
Gov. Haley Barbour wants
Mississippi to create a transportation hub in Palmer’s Crossing to handle
increased container traffic from the Port of Gulfport, the Hattiesburg American
reports. But area residents say they’ll need to hear more details before they
consider the proposal a good fit for their community.
The Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority in California is set to begin a rail grinding project Jan.
16 that will see heavy equipment working on light rail tracks in Mountain View,
Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Campbell and San Jose for the next 20 nights between
the hours of 11:30 p.m. and 4 a.m.
Metropolitan
Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder unveiled a new and
dramatically simplified Website that offers the MTA’s 8.5 million daily
customers access to better organized and far more detailed information about
their daily commute.
While Paul Dulmage has
never been on a train in his life, he still feels rail lines should be
protected, EMC News reports. And the mayor of Carleton Place, Ont., Canada,
will be doing his part to ensure that the Canadian Pacific former Ottawa Valley
line, which passes through the town, is not disposed of or torn up.
