SEPTA awards L.B. Foster $3.9-million track renewal contract






L.B. Foster Company has
been awarded a $3.9-million transit rail products stimulus-funded contract for
the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Fern Rock Yard Track
Renewal Project. New York City-based contractor Railworks Track Systems, Inc.
is replacing track and contact rail installations dating from 1928 in
Philadelphia’s Fern Rock Yard with a wide range of transit products sourced
from L.B. Foster.

Major Work Begins on Airport TRAX Line in Utah






Utah Transit Authority will
begin major earthwork activities in the I-80 corridor in preparation for laying
new rail on the Airport TRAX line. The new line will extend TRAX service from
downtown Salt Lake City to Salt Lake International Airport.


WMATA Labor Day weekend track work to close three stations






Weekend track work will
close three Blue and Yellow Line Metrorail stations in Northern Virginia
throughout the Labor Day weekend. 

The Pentagon City, Crystal City, and Ronald
Reagan Washington National Airport Metrorail stations will be closed from 9:30
p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, to closing, (midnight) Monday, Sept. 7. These stations
will reopen at 5 a.m., on Tuesday, Sept. 8. 

Metrorail riders in Virginia who
are planning to ride the Blue or Yellow lines will need to transfer to a free
shuttle bus if they want to pass through Pentagon City, Crystal City or the
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Metrorail stations because Metro
officials will be conducting track work between the Pentagon and Braddock Road
Metrorail stations throughout the holiday weekend. Regular service will resume
when the Metrorail system opens on Tuesday morning, Sept. 8. 



 

FEC’s proposed 200-foot tower stirs opposition in Jupiter, Fla.

The Florida East Coast
Railway wants to build a radio tower twice as tall as the Jupiter Lighthouse
about a football field from Bob Culpepper’s front door on Park Street, the Palm
Beach Post reports. And the former Jupiter mayor and nearby residents on the
north side of the Loxahatchee River are none too happy about it.

Longmont, Colo., to spend $150,000 for quiet zone consultant






City officials hear a lot
of complaints from residents who hear too much noise from train horns, the Longmont
Times-Call reports.  In fact,
Longmont City Councilwoman Sarah Levison calls it "Sleepless in Ward 2." But
the only way the city could put a hush on train horns through Longmont is by
developing "quiet zones" at the 17 BNSF crossings in the city – a project that
city officials have never fully studied.

DART Green Line to debut September 14






The next phase of DART Rail
will be the return of rail service to Deep Ellum, Baylor, Fair Park and South
Dallas after an absence of more than 50 years and will bring new opportunities
for development and offer new destinations to thousands of new passengers when
the first four stations of the 20-station, 28-mile Dallas Area Rapid Transit
(DART) Green Line open on September 14.

FTA milestone: $6.7 billion to nearly 600 transit providers






U.S. Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood said that the Federal Transit Administration achieved a crucial
milestone: it beat the September 1 deadline to provide all states and local
communities 50 percent of their Recovery Act transit formula dollars. In fact,
FTA provided nearly 90 percent of its $7.5-billion transit stimulus money to
states and local communities. FTA is managing an additional $900 million in
discretionary funds for New Starts projects, the Greenhouse Gas and Energy
Reduction and Tribal Transit programs and oversight for a total of $8.4
billion.

Iowa railroad bridge Repairs on track






The collapse of the Union
Pacific railroad bridge in downtown Waterloo, Iowa, during last year’s historic
flood has cost the Iowa Northern Railway, the primary user of the span,
millions of dollars. Farmers, grain cooperatives and ag manufacturers have also
suffered economic and efficiency losses due to costly detours, according to the
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.

Houston seeks to unclog rail traffic






Before highways, there were
railroads – Houston’s first circulatory system. Civic boosters bragged in the
1920s that Houston was the place "where 17 railroads meet the sea." The trains
hauled cotton and grain. Downtown had three passenger stations, the Houston Chronicle
reports.

Minnesota’s Northstar commuter rail to begin service Nov. 16






Northstar, the state’s
first commuter rail service, will offer five morning trips from Big Lake,
Minn., to downtown Minneapolis and five return trips in the afternoon along a
40-mile corridor, with stops at Fridley, Coon Rapids, Anoka, Elk River and Big
Lake. One reverse commute roundtrip also will be offered on weekdays, and three
weekend roundtrips are planned on Saturdays and Sundays.

DesertXpress train aiming for March construction






The leader of the effort to
build the proposed DesertXpress high-speed train between Las Vegas and Southern
California said his company has launched a worldwide search for vendors and
suppliers so that construction on the $4 billion project could begin by the end
of March, the Las Vegas Sun reports.

ICC To host discussion on proposed high-speed rail line






The
Illinois Commerce Commission’s Transportation Policy Committee will host a
policy briefing on a proposed high-speed rail corridor from Chicago to St.
Louis at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 9, in hearing room A of the ICC’s
Springfield office. The ICC is located at 527 E. Capitol Avenue.


Government of Canada, VIA Rail plan new station for Belleville






At a ceremony in
Belleville, Ontario, Prince Edward-Hastings MP Daryl Kramp, Mayor Neil Ellis
and Pierre Santoni, VIA Rail Canada’s Senior Director, National Sales,
announced VIA’s plans for 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$2.5 million of the project’s cost will come from the
government’s Economic Action Plan.



V&T seeks grant to complete tracks






The V&T Railway
Commission was told Monday that the latest section of tracks begins going down
within the week, according to the Nevada Appeal. Project Engineer Ken Dorr said
this extension takes the tracks into the canyon above the Carson River which,
when completed, will be the most scenic part of the 17-mile ride between
Virginia City and Carson City, Nev.

Montgomery, Ill., Metra, downtown plan in place






The Village of Montgomery
now has a plan in place in the event Metra commuter rail service is one day
extended from downtown Aurora along the BNSF tracks into the village, according
to the Oswego Ledge Sentinel. In a split, 5-1 ballot Monday evening, the village
board adopted an ordinance to amend the village’s comprehensive plan to include
the new Transit Oriented Development Plan and Park-n-Ride Location Study.

Vero Beach, Fla., eyes Amtrak-station sites






The historic railroad
station north of 23rd Street could be back in service for customers under
proposed passenger rail service in the region, the South Florida Sun Sentinel
reports. Other possible station locations being considered for Vero Beach
include the area of downtown near Pocahontas Park and at the old Diesel Power
Plant south of eastbound State Road 60. Possible start date for the service is
October 2012.

CSXT says contamination poses no risk






CSX Transportation says
there is no danger to residents, but it is letting one Jacksonville, Fla.,
Westside neighborhood know that it has found some contaminants in ground water
near an old rail yard site, the Florida Times-Union reports. The rail yard
south of Beaver Street between McDuff Avenue and Edgewood Avenue ceased
operations in 1985. But Jacksonville-based CSXT still owns the property and has
a dispatch center and other operations adjacent to the site.

Port Authority releases transit development proposal






Port Authority of Allegheny
County in the Pittsburgh area released a proposal to improve bus and light rail
service starting next year and keep its base fare at $2. The final draft
proposal of the Transit Development Plan would bring sweeping improvements for
the majority of Port Authority’s 220,000 daily riders. Changes would begin in
March 2010 and be phased in over the next few years.