The California High-Speed
Rail Authority on released its much-anticipated "alternatives
analysis," the most detailed view yet of how the massive transportation
project might forever transform the region from San Francisco to San Jose, the
Mercury News reports.
Top BART, State of
California, regional transit and local officials broke ground on the subway
portion of the Warm Springs Extension, a 5.4-mile project that will bring BART
closer to San Jose.
On October 7, 2009, The
Kansas City Southern Railway Company will close the Booth Street crossing in
Monroe, La. This crossing closure is part of a five-year, multi-million dollar
corridor project agreement between KCS and the Louisiana Department of
Transportation and Development to improve public safety at grade crossings
across Louisiana and in Monroe.
Metra officials joined
with Winnetka President Jessica Tucker and other local officials to break
ground on the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Winnetka, Ill., train
station on the Union Pacific North line.
Good towers make good
neighbors, the Palm Beach, Fla., Post reports. Neighborhood opposition was
sparked when Florida East Coast Railway said it planned a 200-foot-tall
communications tower – twice as high as the Jupiter Lighthouse – just west of
the tracks off the Loxahatchee River.
Consider it a
housewarming party of sorts. The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad
showed off a newly rebuilt, 30-mile stretch of line to Rochester-area
government officials , according to the Rochester, Minn., Post-Bulletin. And
what better way to see the new tracks than from the upholstered comfort of one
of DM&E’s Pullman passenger cars?
HJ Skelton (Canada) Ltd. was
award a contact from Stacey & Witbeck for the supply of all the special
trackwork and associated switch machines for the Portland Streetcar Loop
Extension. Encompassing a total of 3.3 miles and serving the Eastern half of
Portland Central City, this extension will utilize a combination of Ri59/59R1
and the low profile R152/51R1, rail sections.
Beginning October
4, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will reach
another milestone as it begins the pre-revenue testing phase before the opening
of the six-mile extension of the Metro Gold Line to East Los Angeles, which is
expected this fall.
Residents, commuters and
businesses in Chicago’s West Loop, which has undergone a transformation from
primarily a manufacturing district 15 years ago to a vibrant neighborhood with
condos, town homes, arty shops and hip bars, are looking forward to a new
elevated train station, the Chicago Tribune reports. Allyson Holleb, owner of a
handbag shop near the proposed Chicago Transit Authority station at Lake and
Morgan Streets, hopes it will bring even more people to the neighborhood.
Construction could be a nightmare, she said, but it would be worth it to get a
station.
A $659-million railway-tunneling
contract has been won by a joint venture comprised of Granite Construction
Northeast, Traylor Bros. and Frontier-Kemper Constructors, according to International
Construction.
The contract was awarded
by New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Capital Construction
company and involves building the Queens bored tunnels and structures for Long
Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project in New York.
An inaugural train set to
usher in new intercity rail service in Virginia will stop Sept. 30 in Manassas,
local media report. The train, billed as taking a whistle stop tour, will leave
Washington’s Union Station at 8:30 a.m. bound for Lynchburg. It is scheduled to
arrive in Old Town Manassas at 11:40 a.m.
In just 96 hours recently,
the BNSF engineering team completed several projects on the Lafayette
Subdivision in Louisiana, according to the company newsletter. Considered an
engineering "blitz," the team aimed to maximize track work and minimize
disruption for community members, all while making sure safety was a top
priority. The work window was granted from 6 a.m. Monday, Sept. 21, through 6
a.m. Friday, Sept. 25.
L.B. Foster Company of Pittsburgh
has been awarded a contract to supply direct fixation fasteners and bonded
insulated joints for the first phase of the new Dallas Area Rapid Transit
(DART) Orange Line from the city center of Dallas to Irving, Texas. L.B. Foster
is coordinating product shipments to the Northwest Corridor Expansion project
to meet the scheduling requirements of the general contractor joint venture,
Kiewit/Stacy and Witbeck/Reyes/Parsons Corporation.
Iowa Governor Chet Culver joined
Congressman Bruce Braley in Waterloo to reopen the Iowa Northern Railway
bridge, a freight line that was damaged when the Cedar River flooded in 2008.
The reconstruction project is funded through $1 million in Culver/Judge I-JOBS
funds, and $2.1 million in federal railroad funds, secured by Congressman
Braley. The bridge is completely repaired except for the laying of the tracks.
The OneRail Coalition
last week sent a letter (see below) to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman
Patty Murray urging increased support for railroad investment in H.R. 3288, the
FY2010 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill.
Doug Smith’s article ("Metrolink
system’s toll: 244," 9/25) regarding the history of incidents and fatalities on
the Metrolink rail network was long on damning rhetoric and data but short on
reporting progress on a critical national matter – improving the safety of a
rail system that is shared by freight trains, Amtrak and commuter trains.
Railroad safety is a shared responsibility of regulatory agencies, railroad
owners and operators and the local jurisdictions with streets that cross
tracks.
Norfolk Southern has
launched a new Website focusing on the benefits of its corridor and
public-private partnership projects. The Web site, TheFutureNeedsUs.com <http://www.thefutureneedsus.com/>, describes projects to increase rail freight transportation
capacity and improve mobility and the environment. Information is provided for
projects in Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West
Virginia, where governors Riley, Barbour, Rendell, Bredesen, Kaine and Manchin
are leaders in supporting transportation solutions.
The National Gateway
coalition has been honored as "Competitiveness Project of the Year"
by the North American Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum, a leading infrastructure
identification and development group. The award recognizes the National Gateway
as the "project that contributes most to the [North American] region’s
capacity for global competitiveness."
At
the public’s first opportunity to weigh in on the immediate future of Maine
railroads, the message was clear: Make them work for Maine businesses, the
Bangor Daily News reports. About 25 people from railroads, economic development
groups and government agencies gathered in Bangor to discuss the development of
the Maine Rail Plan. The state has hired consulting firm HNTB Corp. to formulate
a blueprint for improving rail access in Maine, for both freight and
passengers.
Work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program, which will enhance safety at 25 grade crossings
in San Mateo County, continues at Broadway and Oak Grove Avenue in Burlingame.
The work will take place from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, between the hours of 8 p.m.
and 4 a.m. Throughout the project area, at least one lane of the impacted
street will remain open.
