The South Shore in
northwest Indiana is alerting passengers to the last in a series of planned
temporary weekend construction outages. The fifth and final 2009 weekend outage
is scheduled for October 31 – November 2, 2009. South Shore trains will not operate in either direction between
South Bend and Gary Metro Center beginning 2:30 a.m. Saturday, October 31, thru
3:00 a.m. Monday, November 2.
Union Pacific
and Norfolk Southern introduced Gulf Coast Flyer, a rail service for
the safe transport of chemicals between the Union Pacific-served southern Texas
and Louisiana regions and Norfolk Southern destinations across the northeastern
and southeastern United States.
RailComm has been selected
to provide a wireless remote control yard system at CSX Transportation’s
Willard Yard in Ohio. The proposed control system will interface to the existing
control and communications network. Existing field devices and communications
will be utilized and interfaced to the new central control system.
The Mayors’ Council
on Regional Transportation in Vancouver, B.C., has approved a transportation
plan ‘supplement’ that will generate $130 million in new annual revenue,
allowing TransLink to maintain road and transit operations at current levels. The
decision will put further expansion of the transportation system on hold for
the time being.
Major signal and switch
modernization work being performed in Valley Stream by the MTA Long Island Rail
Road progressed on schedule, and the LIRR had a normal morning rush hour on October
26. On Oct. 25, the LIRR posted a video update on Facebook and YouTube that
illustrates the behind-the-scenes efforts undertaken by LIRR employees this
weekend to modernize the LIRR.
Passenger- and
freight-railroad operators are pressing the White House to scale back proposed
rules that would mandate billions in new safety hardware to prevent collisions,
warning that the financial burden could lead to cuts in passenger-train service
instead of the expansion President Barack Obama wants, reports the Wall Street
Journal.
Iowa Another $4 million has
been included in a federal appropriations bill to replace the BNSF bridge over
the Mississippi River at Fort Madison, The Hawk Eye Website reports. Rep. Dave
Loebsack, D-2nd District, said the money will come from the 2010 Homeland
Security Appropriations bill to repair and rebuild vital infrastructure in the
district.
In its ongoing effort to
enhance public safety, Metrolink Board Chair Keith Millhouse announced that the
agency has activated Automatic Train Stop technology at an additional 49
priority locations throughout its rail system. This ATS installation will
expand the number of locations of ATS inductors to 105 on Metrolink routes in
Orange County, San Gabriel Valley, Antelope Valley and Ventura County. The new
installations are also compatible with the Pacific Surfliner ATS-equipped
Intercity trains that operate on the Metrolink system. Metrolink received
expedited approval from the Federal Railroad Administration for the expanded
ATS program as another important safety measure while the commuter rail service
continues to accelerate the development and deployment of Positive Train
Control in Southern California.
The National Gateway
initiative will spur thousands of employment opportunities throughout the
Midwest and East Coast, creating growth and building the nation’s economic
competitiveness. The National Gateway is an $842-million, multi-state
public-private infrastructure initiative that will create a more efficient
freight rail route between Mid-Atlantic ports and Midwestern markets. Planned
improvements that will create job opportunities include raising bridges,
increasing tunnel clearances and building new terminals along existing rail
corridors to support the movement of double-stacked containers on rail cars.
The Sound
Transit Board on Thursday unanimously approved a contract to dig twin-bored
tunnels between the Capitol Hill Station and downtown Seattle for the
University Link light rail extension. The contract, with JCM U-Link Joint
Venture, is for $168.9 million, which includes a 10 percent contingency. The
firm’s bid was 12 percent below the engineer’s estimate.
Construction activities
at the Fridley, Minn., Northstar commuter rail station are slightly behind
schedule. However, crews remain optimistic that the station will be ready for
opening day.
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi
Rell said that she would push ahead with plans to borrow $100 million so that
the state can build a key part of the New Haven rail yard, the Hartford Courant
reports. One of Connecticut’s biggest contractors recently offered to build a
293,000-square-foot maintenance center for rail cars that was only about half
as expensive as transportation officials and a consultant had projected.
The Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors has approved the 2009
Long Range Transportation Plan that will guide transportation development in
the county through the year 2040, a period in which the county is expected to
experience unprecedented growth.
Fulfilling a commitment to
the PATH rail system’s long-term growth, the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey’s Board of Commissioners authorized more than $340 million worth of
contracts to help replace antiquated mechanical train controls on the
101-year-old system with state-of-the-art, computerized signals.
TriMet in the Portland,
Ore., area is beginning work on the first of several stimulus-funded projects
aimed at improving rider and pedestrian safety, security and convenience at
Eastside MAX stations. TriMet is using federal stimulus funds to repaint six
MAX stations, starting at the E 162nd Ave station in Gresham.
The North County Transit
District reached an agreement with AECOM (formerly DMJM+Harris) to settle all
claims arising from the design services performed by DMJM+Harris for the SPRINTER
light rail project in the San Diego area. The settlement allows each party to
avoid future litigation regarding disputed claims. With this agreement, NCTD
should complete the SPRINTER project well within its federally approved budget
of $484.2 million.
Hampton Roads Transit’s
board awarded a $3.96-million contract to build 11 light-rail stations,
slightly under the $4.09 million projected budget, according to The
Virginian-Pilot. The contract went to W.M. Schlosser Company Inc., which is
already building the light-rail vehicle storage and maintenance facility. The
company has done similar work for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit
Authority.
Although it has been a part
of our lives for more than 150 years, public transportation is one of the key
investments to create jobs as we address the new emerging green economy, according
to the American Public Transportation Association as it released a new report Oct.
23. With previous research showing public transit’s significant contribution to
reducing greenhouse gases, the report, "Economic Impact of Public
Transportation Investment," demonstrates how increased investment in public
transportation provides good green jobs, wages and business income in
industries that have been particularly hit hard by the economic downturn.
BMWED National Division
President Freddie Simpson convened a meeting Oct. 21 for the purpose of
reviewing membership surveys and finalizing bargaining demands that will be
served on the nation’s freight railroads in November. The national contract
with most freight railroads will expire January 1, 2010 and the next round of
bargaining will begin.
North County Transit
District leaders in the San Diego area floated the idea of refusing to pay for
an expensive and federally mandated rail safety program, then did a quick
about-face when they learned such a move could shut down the district’s coastal
railway, the North county Times reports. In the end, the district’s board voted
8-1 to pay for a $332,728 study of how to install positive train control. The
required safety technology could cost NCTD anywhere from $27 million to $90
million. To put that in perspective, as board member and Solana Beach City
Councilman Dave Roberts did, $90 million is about the size of NCTD’s entire
annual budget.
