Tri-Rail, SunRail in Florida House bill, now onto the Senate

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:

  • • SunRail: Allows state to spend $432 million to buy 61 miles of existing rail track,owned by CSX Corp., from DeLand in Volusia County to Poinciana in Osceola
    County for operation of a commuter rail system. Additional money comes from the
    federal government, four Central Florida counties (Orange, Osceola, Seminole
    and Volusia), the city of Orlando and passenger fares.

  • • High-speed rail: Earmarks $2.6 billion over 30 years, most
    of it federal money, for a high-speed rail system linking Tampa, Orlando and
    Miami. The first leg of the system will link Tampa and Orlando.

  • • Tri-Rail: Provides $13 million to $15 million annually to
    reduce operating deficits in Tri-Rail, which serves Miami-Dade, Broward and
    Palm Beach counties.

  • • Liability: Requires the state to buy a $200 million
    liability insurance policy for SunRail, with the annual premium expected to be
    about $2 million. The state agrees to hold CSX harmless in crashes, but the
    carrier must pay the state’s insurance deductible (about $10 million) in
    certain cases caused by the willful misconduct of the company or its employees
    or subsidiaries.

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.

UP Arizona, New Mexico projects on hold

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 gains switching, classification responsibilities at Dayton, Texas Yard

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 receives funds to rebuild switch engines

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 awarded contract for Dutch yard

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.

FTC advances Berkshire Hathaway acquisition of BNSF






Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation said they have been granted early
termination of the mandatory waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino
Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976, as amended, in connection with the
previously announced Berkshire acquisition of BNSF. This regulatory action is
an important step in satisfying the closing conditions as set forth in the
merger agreement. BNSF and Berkshire continue to expect the transaction to
close in the first quarter of 2010.


Sound Transit starts work to address light rail track noise






Starting Dec. 7, Sound
Transit contractors will begin smoothing the surface of the light rail tracks
between Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport. The work will impact evening light rail
service through the end of the month. The work is expected to reduce the
high-pitched noise some residents near the tracks have expressed concern about.

Portion of Vandeventer Avenue to close December 7






Construction to replace
the 80-year old Vandeventer Bridge in St Louis will result in the closure of
Vandeventer Avenue for approximately two months, beginning on December 7. Recognizing
that Vandeventer Avenue is a major thoroughfare for area commuters, Metro has
partnered with the City of St. Louis to plan a detour to keep traffic flowing
through that area while work to replace the bridge continues.





Future commuter-rail system is envisioned for the Phoenix






Enough people would board a
train in the Phoenix area’s suburbs that a future commuter-rail system would be
as popular as some of the busiest lines in the West, new studies have found, The
Arizona Republic reports. A trio of yearlong rail studies, in nearly final
form, indicates commuter rail could carry almost 18,000 passengers a day by
2030. Planners at the Maricopa Association of Governments say, based on the
findings, they favor a 105-mile, X-shaped system that could feature 33 stations
and cost roughly $1.5 billion. That’s a little more than the Valley’s 20-mile,
light-rail starter line. The commuter-rail network would use existing freight
track through downtown Phoenix, with lines from Queen Creek to Buckeye and from
Chandler to Wittmann. The northeast Valley, whose light-rail line lacks
funding, would remain without commuter rail.

Rolling toward a new Norfolk






(The editorial below appeared
in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
.) This much is sure: Light
rail will transform the city of Norfolk, Va. How, and to what extent, nobody
knows. But the ripped-up streets and chaotic traffic downtown will end, and
Norfolk will get back to the business of reinventing itself. This time, though,
the landscape will be fundamentally different, bisected and improved by a new
mass transit system. The experience of several U.S. cities offers some clue to
what the next few decades will hold in Hampton Roads.

By the end of next year,
the $288-million light rail line – more trolley than Amtrak – will connect the
eastern border of Norfolk with the western, linking Norfolk State University
with Harbor Park with City Hall with downtown businesses with the new library
with MacArthur Center with Eastern Virginia Medical School.

It will take time, but
those destinations will build significant gravity, attracting customers and new
businesses. Neighborhoods strung out along the Elizabeth River will become as
central to city life as anyplace. Stores will sprout around each station.

A few thousand cars will
be diverted off streets and highways by people taking the train. But until the
cost of commuting rises radically or traffic worsens massively, the primary
effect of The Tide will be on where people live and work.

Even as The Tide’s
opening gala starts to appear on municipal calendars, light rail’s opponents
still point to that impact as if it were some sort of secret, proof of depraved
intent on the part of city fathers. Changes to development and commuting
patterns were, of course, the goal all along.

"The way people use
downtown will change," Cathy Coleman, president of the Downtown Norfolk
Council, told The Virginian-Pilot’s Debbie Messina. "People will be in places
they’ve never been before.

Highways – which can cost
more to build, especially in an area like this – wouldn’t do that. And adding
capacity to highways is expensive, as every commuter in Hampton Roads knows all
too well. Once light rail’s tracks are laid, adding more capacity is both trivial
and cheap.

Think of light rail –
even a starter line like The Tide – as an amenity. Good schools, safe streets
and reasonable taxes will not individually attract many people or businesses.
But put them all together into a livable community, and over time, things will
change for the better.

It doesn’t have to stop
there, of course.

Add an extension to the
Navy’s facilities, to the Oceanfront or across the Elizabeth River, and the
transformation would reach well beyond Norfolk. Virginia Beach is looking for a
way to transform Virginia Beach Boulevard from a collection of outdated strip
malls into a place where people go because they want to. Chesapeake and
Portsmouth have taken painful note of Richmond’s failure to pay for roads and
see a commuting alternative.

Expect every step along the
way to be opposed by the same folks who rail against The Tide, who rail against
every penny spent on any amenity. Opposition to light rail isn’t a failure of
mass transit to make a difference in the lives of people who use it and live
nearby. Opposition is a failure of imagination, and Hampton Roads can dream
bigger than that.

Vicksburg, Miss., again seeks funds for Clark Street bridge






Mayor Paul Winfield
returned to Vicksburg, Miss., from a three-day trip to Washington, D.C., where
he visited local delegates in a continued effort to wrest from federal sources
nearly $4 million to get the stalled Washington Street bridge replacement under
way, according to the Vicksburg Post.

Railroad crossings in Lincoln, Neb., closer to closing






The city of Lincoln,
Neb., is moving closer to closing J Street railroad crossings in the South Salt
Creek Neighborhood at Second and Third streets, the Lincoln Journal Star
reports. Closing the crossings would please Burlington Northern Santa Fe, with
which the city is negotiating to buy a railyard near the Haymarket for a new arena, if voters approve building one in the spring.

Caltrain construction, maintenance update, 12/5-11






Work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program, which will enhance safety at 25 grade crossings
in San Mateo County, continues in Atherton and Menlo Park. Work will take place
Dec. 5 and Dec. 7 – 10 between the hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. at Fair Oaks Lane
and Watkins Avenue in Atherton and Ravenswood and Oak Grove avenues in Menlo
Park. Work also will be done from 10:00 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5 to 1:00 a.m.
Sunday, Dec. 6 at the Broadway crossing in Burlingame.


U.S. DOT grants $7 Million for Iowa Bridge Repair

The Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway Company (CRANDIC) will receive $6.965 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for repair of the CRANDIC railroad bridge in Cedar Rapids.

The bridge sustained substantial damage during flooding of the Cedar River in 2008, resulting in the disruption of freight shipments in the area.

CRANDIC’s infrastructure sustained $11 million in damage from the spring floods. Of that, the CRANDIC bridge suffered $9 million in damages. The grant is designed to cover 80 percent of the total cost of the project. The award will rebuild a portion of the bridge, repair or replace damaged signals and repair the main line infrastructure.

Funding comes from the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance and Continuing Appropriations Act 2009 for the Railroad Rehabilitation and Repair competitive grant program. The award requires a $1.741 million match by the Iowa DOT.

 

TRAX celebrates 10 years; BNSF’s Orin Line turns 30

Utah Transit Authority’s TRAX light rail system will
celebrate 10 years since its launch on Dec. 4, 1999.

The light rail system began with a single 15-mile
north-south line connecting Sandy City to downtown Salt Lake City with more
than 600,000 riders during its first month of operation. To date, TRAX has
provided more than 110 million rides and now averages between 40,000 and 50,000
riders every weekday.

A second light rail line from downtown Salt Lake City to the
University of Utah Rice-Eccles Stadium opened in December 2001, just prior to
the 2002 Winter Olympics. During the two weeks of the Olympics, UTA carried
more than four million Olympic riders. Additional light rail extensions opened
to the University of Utah Medical Center in 2003 and Salt Lake Central station
in 2008. UTA also introduced its first commuter rail line, FrontRunner, in
2008, which runs 44 miles from Salt Lake City north to Pleasant View.

As part of the FrontLines 2015 program, UTA will expand its
passenger rail network more than 70 miles by 2015. Three new TRAX lines are
currently under construction-to the Salt Lake International Airport, South
Jordan,and West Valley City-with a fourth project to extend the north-south
TRAX line further south into Draper, currently in the environmental study
phase. UTA is also extending FrontRunner commuter rail 45 miles south from Salt
Lake City to Provo.

In other milestone news, BNSF Powerder River Division
employees celebrated the Orin Line’s 30-year anniversary in honor of the first
unit-coal train that traveled the 116-mile rail line across the Wyoming prairie
on Nov. 6, 1979.

"For the last 30 years, we’ve seen incredible growth on
the Orin Line," said Tom Albanese, general manager, Powder River Division.
"Moving 40 trains per day in 1979 was considered a ‘busy day.’ Today, it’s
normal to handle more than 100 trains during a 24-hour period. Employees who
were there on Day One were at the celebration, sharing stories about the many
changes they have seen over the years and the impact the line will have for
years to come."

$1.5 million Kent County line rehab underway

The Maryland Transit Administration began rehabilitation of 17-1/2
miles of the state-owned freight rail line from Massey to Worton in Kent County.
The $1.5 million project, awarded to Bullock Construction of Easton, 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 replacing rail, more than 6,000
ties and installing new ballast. According to MTA, the improvements will
improve safety along the line and will reduce the level of maintenance needed.

The line is leased by the State of Maryland to the Maryland
& Delaware Railroad, which carries lumber, soy meal, corn, wheat and barley
and dry fertilizer supporting the poultry industry on the Eastern Shore.

Shaw Group wins FTA Contract for the fifth time

The Shaw Group Inc. has been awarded a contract from the
U.S. Department of Transportation to provide project management oversight
services to the Federal Transit Administration for the fifth consecutive time.
Under the five-year, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract, Shaw
will be issued task orders to evaluate and oversee the execution of selected
federal transit projects across the country.

Shaw has managed many infrastructure projects for the FTA,
including the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Port Authority of Allegheny County in
Pittsburgh, Pa., and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County,
Houston, Texas. With its current contract, Shaw’s scope of services will include
continuous review and evaluation of FTA processes for transit project grantees
to ensure compliance with statutory, administrative and regulatory
requirements, as well as monitoring of projects to ensure they are progressing
on time, within budget and in accord with approved grantee plans and
specifications.