Capital Metro, embroiled
in a contract and insurance dispute with rail contractor Veolia Transportation,
on Dec. 9 cancelled its five-year contract with the company to operate freight
and passenger rail, the Austin, Texas, American-Statesman reports.
The Finger Lakes Railway
may be able to help settle the issue of trucks hauling trash from the New York
metropolitan area through the Finger Lakes to the private Seneca Meadows
landfill in the town of Seneca Falls, N.Y., The Syracuse Post-Standard reports.
Railway President Mike Smith said his Geneva-based company has already been
talking with the landfill and Seneca County officials about building a rail
line to the landfill to deliver trash to Seneca Meadows. "It’s a good business
opportunity," Smith said.
Denver’s
Regional Transportation District Board of Directors has named three finalists
in its search for the district’s new General Manager and CEO. The three
finalists are Sean Donohue, Douglas Kelsey and Phillip Washington.
CN has reached a voluntary
mitigation agreement with the Village of Plainfield, Ill., located 35 miles
southwest of Chicago, addressing the municipality’s environmental issues with CN’s
acquisition of the principal lines of the former Elgin, Joliet and Eastern
Railway Company. With this agreement, CN has VMAs with 21 municipalities of the
33 communities situated on the EJ&E in Illinois and Indiana.
Three Santa Clara, Calif.,
Valley Transportation Authority light rail stations-Hamilton, Campbell and
Winchester-will be closed the weekend of Dec. 12-13 due to construction
activities. During the weekend
track work, VTA will provide free substitute bus service to or from the three
closed stations and the Bascom Station, where light rail service will be
available.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called on Congress to pass the Obama Administration’s Public Transportation Safety Program Act of 2009, a new transit safety bill to ensure a high and standard level of safety across all rail transit systems. The measure would effectively eliminate the statutory prohibition against imposing such broad safety standards that has been in place since 1965.
Cleveland RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese will be on Capitol Hill Dec. 10 to report to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on the status of projects funded by from the American Resource and Recovery Act of 2009, and to urge additional funding for public transportation authorities across the country.
For most of its existence, the Amtrak service through the Missouri River Valley has operated on schedule no better than 79 percent of the time, and as low as 55 percent, local media report. Over the past month, Amtrak has been on time on 94 out of a hundred runs, Web site www.connectmidmissouri.com reported.
Dozens of Washington Grove and Gaithersburg, Md., residents told officials from CSX Corporation that it should lower its railroad under the East Deer Park Bridge rather than raise the historic span to make room for double-decker trains, according to the Gaithersburg Gazette.
It was standing room only as residents gathered at the selectmen’s meeting in Westminster, Mass., to learn more about the plan to build a commuter railway station at Routes 2 and 31, locla newspapers report. The plan also includes building a layover station farther west at the Westminster business park, along which the rail line runs, that would hold up to six commuter trains. That part of the plan also includes a parking area for 286 vehicles, handicap parking and a waiting area.
The state of Mississippi is holding a hearing to outline CSX Transportation’s plans to cap deposits of creosote in the West Pascagoula River and Bayou Pierre near the site of a former creosote plant, the Biloxi Sun Herald reports. The company is proposing to do the environmental work and needs a state permit to proceed.
The Maryland Transit Administration said that the rehabilitation of 17.5 miles of the State-owned freight rail line from Massey to Worton in Kent County is under way. The $1.5-million project, awarded to Bullock Construction of Easton, Md., began in mid-September and is scheduled for completion in early May, 2010. As of the end of November 40 percent of the work is complete. The project includes the replacement of some rail, more than 6,000 railroad ties and the installment of new ballast. The improvements will improve safety along the line and will reduce the level of maintenance needed.
The Florida State Senate passed
a rail bill 27-10, local newspapers report. It now heads to Gov. Charlie Crist
for his signature. Crist has said he supports the bill. The bill clears away
obstacles for construction of SunRail, a $1.2-billion commuter rail project in
central Florida, and shores up South Florida’s Tri-Rail with an extra $15
million in annual funding. The bill could also help the state win a $2.5-billion
federal grant to link Tampa and Orlando with a high-speed rail line.
Norfolk Southern has joined
the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit, membership-based organization
committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for the nation through
cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.
Koppers Inc., a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Koppers Holdings Inc., has signed a letter of intent
to acquire 100 percent of the outstanding shares of privately-owned Cindu Chemicals
B.V. from joint owners Cindu B.V. and Corus Staal B.V. for an undisclosed
purchase price. The proposed transaction is subject to the negotiation and
execution of a definitive purchase and sale agreement, the completion of due
diligence, certain regulatory approvals, consultation with Cindu’s Works
Council, and other customary closing conditions. Upon completion, Koppers
expects to fund the acquisition primarily with cash.
Florida’s House of Representatives passed rail legislation
that would fund Tri-Rail, create SunRail, create the first leg of a high-speed
corridor and reduces tax-payer liability should a freight accident occur on
tracks that also operate passenger service.
A partial summary of the legislation as reported in the
Miami Herald includes:
The bill has cleared the Senate Transportation Committee,
Judiciary Committee and Transportation Spending Committee, it will be taken up
on the Senate floor this afternoon.
The recession is being blamed for pausing several Union
Pacific construction projects across southern Arizona and New Mexico. The
projects were meant to increase UP’s freight-moving capacity on its main line.
UP gave no definitive time table for when a new yard in
Pinal County, Ariz., a new rail facility in Santa Teresa, N.M., and
installation of a second set of tracks across Arizona would restart, but
expects all projects to proceed when the economy turns around. UP reported a
15-percent down turn in its rail traffic during the third quarter compared to
the same time period in 2008.
BNSF assumed switching and classification responsibilities
at the Dayton, Texas, Yard on Dec. 1.
Dayton Yard is about 40 miles east of Houston and functions
as part of the Houston Complex and consolidated terminal. Construction at the
yard started in 1996 with two tracks; the yard currently has 78
fully-operational tracks.
The additional switching and classification responsibilities
are a "big deal" for BNSF for a number of reasons.
"This really lets us establish a footprint in the
Houston area, more so than we have been able to in the past," said Marc
Stephens, BNSF’s general director, transportation. "In the longer-term,
this opens the door for possibilities of other business."
Dayton Yard’s role is to support the Gulf Coast chemical
network, to which BNSF gained access as a result of the Union Pacific/Southern
Pacific merger. Dayton currently operates manifest trains to Memphis, Tenn.;
Galesburg, Ill.; and New Orleans, where trains connect to eastern gateways.
BNSF now has 67 additional positions, a significant increase
from the yardmaster and 10 yard positions prior to Dec. 1. "We’re using
furloughed employees to fill the yard-related positions," Stephens said.
BNSF employment at Dayton now includes 12 lead jobs, three
utility positions, four industry assignments, one air test crew, six transfers,
seven relief assignments and extra board support, giving Dayton a total of
about 100 trainmen and engineers.
About 15 chemical company customers use BNSF in this area.
The yard also supports industry releases on Port Terminal Railroad; Bayport,
Texas; Beaumont, Texas; Bay City, Texas; Seadrift, Texas; and Lake Charles, La.
The yard operation breaks down into three components: classification
of intermediate connections, industry yard operations for the Dayton Branch and
storage for major chemical customers. The yard has capacity to store 3,000
carloads of plastics along with 1,000 cars in working inventory for the
classification and branch yards.
BNSF received $2.5 million in grant money to rebuild three
switch engines as part of an ongoing effort to improve air quality in the Puget
Sound area of Washington.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson
presented emission reduction grants during ceremonies at Bell Harbor Pier 66 in
Seattle. The grants, provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009, will fund emission reduction projects that cover maritime, rail, trucking
and port activity across the Puget Sound region.
Officials speaking at the event discussed BNSF’s leading
efforts to protect the environment in Seattle. One example they cited is the
installation of electric cranes at the Seattle International Gateway.
Tracksure, a Bedfordshire, UK-based safety engineering
company, has secured a contract, awarded by ProRail, for its locking devices in
the brake system at a Rotterdam marshalling yard in Holland.
According to the company, Tracksure locking devices are a
unique and failsafe means of preventing nut loosening caused by vibration and
settlement; they offer infrastructure managers the dual benefit of dramatically
improving safety, as well as tangible cost benefits.
The marshalling yard is one of many such installations
across Europe and is operated in an environment where the demands on day-to-day
maintenance are critical. The yard features more than 60 separate brake
retarders and is amongst the biggest in Holland.
