The governing bodies of
the Consolidated Rail System Federation and the Nickel Plate – Wheeling &
Lake Erie Federation, of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division
finalized a merger between the two federations. The newly merged federation will
retain the name, Consolidated Rail System Federation.
BNSF is replacing sections
of old track between Pasco and Yakima, Wash., local newspapers report. The $3-million
project, which started earlier this week, will help rehabilitate about 10 miles
of track, said BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas.
By now, those of us who
usually drive between Sauk Trail and Indianwood Boulevard on Orchard Drive in
Park Forest have found new ways to get from here to there, according to a
column by Jerry Schnay in the Southtown Star. The village is replacing sewer
pipes in the area, the start of a three-year project that will eventually
result in the complete renovation of Orchard Drive, including a center turn
lane north of Lakewood Boulevard and two left-turn lanes at the intersection of
U.S. 30 at the north end of town.
New Orleans transit planners hope to expand
streetcar service to the North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue corridor,
Loyola Avenue and Convention Center Boulevard, The Times-Picayune reports. Armed with a $212-million financing plan for three
new streetcar lines that includes substantial local investment, Regional
Transit Authority officials are hopeful that federal officials will look kindly
on the ambitious project and agree to pick up more than half its cost.
If you’re waiting on a
train in Southwest Florida, you might have a long wait – and when it does
arrive, it’ll be murder, reports the Naples News. The most consistent rail
service south of Arcadia is on the Seminole Gulf Railway Murder Mystery Dinner
Train. Those trips run a loop north from a station near Colonial Boulevard and
Metro Parkway to about the Charlotte County line five nights a week.
The Illinois Commerce Commission has granted
approval for the installation of automatic
flashing light signals and gates at the Triumph Road grade crossing of Dakota
Minnesota & Eastern track near Leaf River, Ogle County. The total estimated cost to install the
new automatic warning devices is $162,363.
The Grade Crossing Protection Fund will be used to pay 95 percent of the warning device installation costs, not to exceed
$154,245. DM&E will pay all
remaining installation costs, as well as all future operating and maintenance
costs.
Navistar
International Corporation and Caterpillar Inc. closed a joint venture
transaction resulting in a new company, NC2 Global LLC, to serve the global
commercial truck market. Navistar
and Caterpillar first announced plans to form a joint venture in June 2008 and
have identified the leadership team of the new entity that will establish its
headquarters in the Chicago area.
Although construction work
continues, on Saturday afternoon, September 12, CTA customers entering and
exiting the Fullerton station served by the Red, Brown and Purple lines will
begin using the new station entrance located approximately 75 feet west of the
existing temporary entrance. The temporary entrance was opened in October 2006
to allow crews to relocate the historic stationhouse to the north side of
Fullerton Parkway and build the new station in its place.
CN celebrated the official
opening of its new C$14-million Toronto Automotive Compound at MacMillan Yard
north of Toronto. The new facility’s track layout will accommodate the
unloading of 60 auto-carrying rail cars at once, compared with 27 unloading
spots at the former compound at Mac Yard, and will have room to park up to
4,500 vehicles. A planned phase two expansion of the compound will provide
parking for 6,000 cars and/or trucks.
The Connecticut Department
of Environmental Protection has tentatively approved Amtrak’s application to
replace the Niantic River Bridge, bringing the railroad one step closer to
getting all the permits it needs, according to The Day.
The look of Norfolk’s
light-rail starter line, scheduled to open in about a year, is starting to take
shape, The Virginian-Pilot reports. Stations have been designed. Electrical
poles and wires are going up. The pavement around embedded rail has been dyed
red.
The New Mexico Rail Runner
Express is ready to open its Lobo Special Events Platform. More than a year
ago, the University of New Mexico and the Mid-Region Council of Governments
collaborated on an idea to create a special events platform for Lobo Athletics.
The MRCOG then worked with the governor and legislators to procure an
additional half-million dollars in funding, and UNM matched that funding with
another half-million dollars.
Beginning the week of
Sept. 14, NJ TRANSIT will adjust weekday midday service on the Pascack Valley
Line to accommodate necessary track work. NJ TRANSIT crews will make priority
repairs to the Essex Street grade crossing in Hackensack to address damage to
the crossing caused by a motor vehicle. While the track is out of service, NJ
TRANSIT will also perform regular track maintenance on the line.
Standing trackside outside
Metra’s 80th Avenue Station in Tinley Park, Ill., recently, Tom Britt wasn’t
happy, the Chicago Tribune reports. "This station needs to
be improved," said the Frankfort, Ill., resident, "desperately."
(The following editorial appeared
in the Springfield, Ill., State Journal-Register.)
We are profoundly hopeful
that today’s Illinois high-speed rail summit in Chicago can bring about a plan
in which this state can have a good shot at federal funds for a Chicago-St.
Louis route without severely damaging this community’s quality of life and
future economic growth. But based on recent correspondence between Union
Pacific and local officials, Union Pacific is going to need a fairly drastic
attitude adjustment if that is to happen. So far, the railroad’s attitude has
been that Springfield needs to quit complaining about its plans because our
objections might jeopardize the state’s shot at $2 billion-plus in federal
stimulus money for high-speed rail. It has been abetted in this attitude by the
Illinois Department of Transportation.
At a ceremony in Cobourg,
Ontario, Northumberland-Quinte West MP Rick Norlock, Mayor Peter Delanty and
John Marginson, VIA Rail Canada’s Chief Operating Officer, said VIA plans a new
station with improved and expanded facilities. VIA estimates that it will
invest as much as C$7 million for the new station and related improvements from
recent capital funding for VIA announced by the Government of Canada. C$1
million of the project’s cost will come from the government’s Economic Action
Plan.
PATCO is set to
embark on a three-month project to both repave the roadway and repair concrete
curbs for the access roads at six PATCO Stations in New Jersey. Work is
scheduled to begin on September 14 at the Lindenwold Station, with work then proceeding
west to Ashland, Haddonfield, Westmont, Collingswood and Ferry Avenue. At times
the roadwork will require some traffic pattern changes at the Stations.
The Union Pacific sidetrack
is under construction west of California, Mo., in the vicinity of Elkhorn
Crossing, the California Democrat reports. When completed in December 2009, the
9,000-foot rail side track will allow two trains to pass, adding capacity and
reducing delays for both rail freight shipments and the Amtrak Missouri River
Runner trains between Kansas City and St. Louis.
Design changes being
mandated by a railroad company will increase the cost of building an underpass
at the Robinson Street crossing in Norman, Okla., by about $1.4 million, city
officials say, according to The Oklahoman. Public Works Director Shawn O’Leary
said the city hopes to use stimulus money to cover most of the increased cost
of the now $26 million project.
For two hours Sept. 10,
city and railroad officials made themselves available to answer questions
regarding a nine-month train track realignment between Mitchell and North
Independence streets as they host an open house in downtown Kinston, N.C.,
local newspapers report.
