Service on the Red Line
near the Fort Totten Metrorail station has returned to normal after a fatal
train collision in June, which resulted in slower Metrorail service along the
Red Line in the Washington, D.C., area.
As part of developing his
budget recommendations for 2010, Chicago Transit Authority President Richard L.
Rodriguez has announced a series of internal cost cutting measures and
efficiencies aimed at reducing a projected $300-million revenue shortfall that
has resulted from lower than expected tax revenues.
The
more than 60 people who attended a meeting to discuss the development of the
Maine Rail Plan told state officials that the most pressing statewide and
regional rail issue facing them is the fear that Aroostook County may lose
vital railroad track in the near future, according to the Bangor Daily News. The
crowd gathered at the University of Maine at Presque Isle to take advantage of
the only opportunity for county residents to weigh in on the immediate future
of Maine railroads.
The U.S. Department of
Commerce has awarded a $6-million Economic Development Administration grant to
JAXPORT in Jacksonville, Fla., to help improve the Blount Island Marine
Terminal railroad system. The grant will be used to rebuild existing track and
rail ties, allowing JAXPORT to enhance its global competitiveness and continue
to create and retain private sector jobs.
The Seattle City Council approved
a deal with Sound Transit for a line to connect the downtown transit tunnel
from the International District to the light rail station at Capitol Hill,
which is now under construction.
A year after Congress told
federal regulators to issue $20 million in grants to help short line railroads
recover from storm damages, the Federal Railroad Administration is ready to
make the final $5 million of those funds available, the Journal of Commerce
reported.
The new Caltrain Mission
Bay crossing in San Francisco opened Oct. 7. The crossing will provide access
to Mission Bay residential neighborhoods and eventually, to the UCSF Mission
Bay campus from the west side of The City. The grade crossing is wider than
most because it crosses three tracks instead of the usual two tracks. There is
a pedestrian crossing on the south side of the grade crossing that includes
safety gates with emergency swing gates, tactile warning strips, sidewalks and
pavement markings. There is no pedestrian crossing on the north side of grade
crossing.
The Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority will hold five community meetings in
October and November to discuss potential subway stations for the Westside Subway
Extension project.
The National Gateway, an
unprecedented public-private partnership dedicated to improving the nation’s
freight capacity, has added nearly 50 new supporters since June 1, 2009,
bringing the total number of coalition supporters to more than 140.
This month, Denver’s
Regional Transportation District is marking the 15th anniversary of light rail
opening in the metro area. Since RTD opened the 5.3-mile Central Light Rail
Line October 7,1994, RTD’s 35-mile light rail system has carried nearly 150
million passenger trips. The light rail network carries an average of about
60,000 passenger trips every weekday, ahead of ridership projections. All four
of RTD’s light rail lines were built on time and on budget, and each exceeded
ridership projections.
IBM said the Long Island Rail Road will deploy IBM Maximo
software to manage and maintain approximately 1,180 rail cars, locomotives and
their associated components to improve operations and passenger safety. As part
of a project, expected to be completed in 2012, IBM will assist the LIRR in
expanding its asset management system to include facilities, bridges, tunnels
and linear assets such as rail.
Various construction crews
are working on the last 13 miles of railroad track in the New Mexico Rail
Runner Express corridor replacing the train’s current system of signals with a
new Centralized Traffic Control System. The CTC will assist train dispatchers
in moving trains more efficiently, thus enhancing the safety of the corridor
while also improving on-time performance for the New Mexico Rail Runner
Express.
A rail project set to start
construction In November will let the Port of Vancouver better handle long
trains and reduce delays as it loads and unloads cargo, port officials say. The
Terminal 5 project, currently out to bid, will add nearly seven miles of track
on recently acquired port property, the Daily Journal of Commerce reports.
Los Angeles Metro will hold five
community meetings in October to update the community on the findings of the
Alternative Analysis Study for the Harbor Subdivision Transit Corridor. The
study, launched in September 2008, is examining potential transit service along
the Metro-owned Harbor Subdivision.
WVCO
Railroad Division has recently earned praise in the UK. The company’s best
selling product, SpikeFast,
won first place in the "Change Challenge Cup," a competition put on by Platform magazine.
(The following editorial
appeared on the Charleston Daily Mail Website.)
Americans have read a lot
of negative news in the past few years about the economy of the nation they love.
It would be easy to become discouraged and pessimistic.
An independent panel of
rail transit safety experts has concluded that the new Metro Gold Line to East
Los Angeles has been designed and built to operate safely. The report comes as
Metro continues testing trains and training operators for service, which is
expected to begin this fall on an extension of the Metro Gold Line, which now
connects downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena.
The village and Robert E.
Hamilton Consulting Engineers recently hosted an open house for the public to
review information concerning the designation of a "quiet zone" along
the Canadian National Railway tracks in Frankfort, Ill., according to the Joliet
Herald News.
Citing a overwhelming number of applications, the Federal Railroad Administration has made a change to the ARRA (American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) high speed rail grant program,
announcing that it expects to award grants this winter, rather than in several rounds.
BNSF opened its Memphis
Intermodal Facility for an advance look by members of its customer advisory
board. The more than $200-million expansion is in its final phases of work.
When fully operational in 2010, the expanded facility will have double the
capacity, reduce emissions and improve air quality. The BNSF Memphis Intermodal
Facility spans 185 acres and will have the capacity to handle one million lifts
per year at full build out.
