SFRTA opening new parking lot at Tri-Rail’s West Palm Beach Station

Palm Beach County, Fla.,
has completed a new parking lot adjacent to the west platform at Tri-Rail’s
West Palm Beach Station. The new parking lot provides 118 additional spaces for
passengers and 45 designated spaces for South Florida Regional Transportation
Authority/Tri-Rail and Palm Tran employees. The parking lot also provides
special spaces for scooters and motorcycles, along with bicycle lockers that
will be used as part of a new passenger program/amenity to be launched in the
near future. The new lot, accessible from Clearwater Avenue, opened to the
public on August 18.

 

Montreal Charlevoix Station reopens August 17

The Société de transport
de Montréal informed clients that, after 11 weeks of renovations aimed at
extending the service life of its systems and installations, Charlevoix métro
station once again opened its doors on August 17, as planned.

 

 

TriMet using stimulus to maintain reliable light rail service

TriMet and the city of
Portland, Ore., are using $1.6 million of federal stimulus funds to repair
bricks in 20 intersections on Morrison and Yamhill streets in downtown
Portland. As the backbone of Portland’s light rail system, the Morrison and
Yamhill corridors have experienced significant wear and tear and have not had
major repairs in the 25 years since the tracks went in.

 

Huron Central bosses ratify one-year deal to save local line

Directors of Genesee and
Wyoming Inc., parent company of Huron Central Railway, have agreed to a
tentative deal that will keep the local railroad operating until August 14,
2010, SooToday.com reports. Sault Ste. Marie Mayor John Rowswell tells
SooToday.com that he has received confirmation of the ratification.

 

MBTA dealing with faulty ties on commuter line

Concrete ties on the Old
Colony commuter rail lines are wearing out far faster than they’re supposed to,
a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority acknowledged
according to the West Bridgewater Times. The lines — Middleboro/Lakeville and
Kingston/Plymouth — have been found to have 4,000 ties that need to be
replaced, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

 

Port Authority board authorizes contract for subway box

The Port Authority Board of
Commissioners authorized a major contract to permanently brace the box that
encloses the MTA’s No. 1 subway line. It will form the foundation of the future
extension of Greenwich Street, which will bisect the World Trade Center site.
The contract will ensure public access to the 9/11 Memorial Plaza on the 10th
anniversary of 9/11, and represents one of the Port Authority’s critical
third-quarter milestones.

 

Vancouver, Wash., terminal stirs hope for jobs

Southwest Washington’s
three-member congressional delegation gathered at the Port of Vancouver to
celebrate the opening of a new marine terminal on the former Alcoa-Evergreen
aluminum site, The Columbian reported. Alcoa this spring finished environmental
cleanup of the 218-acre site, making way for the port to complete its purchase
of the two properties in March for a total of $48.25 million. The port is now
ready to develop the site, zoned for heavy industrial use.

 

Railway hoping to sell tracks

The Montreal, Maine &
Atlantic Railway said that it is taking steps to sell or abandon its tracks
between Millinocket and Madawaska, Maine, because they are no longer profitable
to maintain, according to the Bangor Daily News. The company is asking the
state to consider buying the tracks and maintaining them. If that were to
happen, the Maine Department of Transportation and the railway could work out a
deal so the company’s trains would use the rail lines without an interruption
in service.

 

Grant eyed to aid Pennsylvania’s Crescent Corridor

Pennsylvania Governor Ed
Rendell is trying to land $47 million in federal aid to upgrade Harrisburg rail
freight facilities, the Harrisburg Patriot News reports. The money would help
Norfolk Southern add a third unloading track and install additional parking
spaces for trailers at the terminal along Industrial Road.

 

D.C. Metro schedules weekend track and signal work

Track circuit repairs on
the Red Line and track maintenance on the Orange Line the weekend of August
14-16 will cause inbound and outbound trains to take turns sharing one track.
Customers should add at least 30 minutes of time to their trips. 



 




CN: Train fears not a reality

Where are all the trains? When
Canadian National Railway won federal approval to buy the EJ&E line for
$300 million in December, suburbs worried about the effects of heavy freight
traffic, the Plainfield, Ill., Sun reports.

 

NS provides Grant for railroad engineering degree program

The Norfolk Southern
Foundation has given $100,000 to Penn State Altoona to assist in the
development of a four-year Rail and Transit Engineering (RTE) degree program.
This innovative Bachelor of Science program will include existing Penn State
civil engineering courses, coupled with new customized courses in rail
business, mechanical systems, track, operations, communications, and
regulation. The program is designed to produce graduates who will quickly
acclimate to the rail industry and its suppliers.

 

AAR urges FRA to stick to Congressional scope of PTC mandate

 
The Association of
American Railroads urged the Federal Railroad Administration to faithfully
follow the Congressional statutory mandate requiring railroads to implement
positive train control technologies across certain portions of the national
freight rail network. In 2008, Congress passed a law requiring the nation’s
freight railroads by Dec. 31, 2015 to implement PTC on certain main line tracks
used for transporting passengers or toxic chemicals. However, AAR notes that
FRA’s proposed rule would impose a financial burden above and beyond what Congress
intended, potentially adding hundreds of millions of dollars in additional cost
to the railroads as they face using private capital to pay for the federal PTC
mandate.

 

NJ TRANSIT approves work on Plauderville Station

Construction of a new and
improved Plauderville Station in the City of Garfield, N.J., will begin this
fall, under a contract approved by the NJ TRANST Board of Directors that will
make the station fully accessible to customers with disabilities and will
provide more convenient access to the station from the parking area.

 

Canada Line Pedestrian Bicycle Bridge to open

Vancouver’s TransLink will
officially open the Canada Line Pedestrian-Bicycle Bridge linking South
Vancouver with Richmond via a bridge connected to the Canada Line rail guideway
on Aug. 14. 

The linking of the communities will start at 12:30pm. Cyclists
and police bike patrols will accompany TransLink CEO Tom Prendergast and
Vancouver Deputy Mayor Geoff Meggs from the north side of the bridge, with
Richmond Deputy Mayor Ken Johnston, approaching from the south side. They will
meet at the centre and then carry on to the south side of the span for the
ribbon-cutting ceremony.



 


Spending on rail seen stuck at the station

Major U.S. freight
railroads and their advocates have argued for years that government investment
is needed in the country’s rail system to take freight off congested highways
and keep the economy moving, Reuters reports. But supporters say rail
investments have been largely ignored by Congress, suggesting political support
is lacking, despite warnings action must be taken sooner rather than later.

 

Sullivan City holds hope for U.S.-Mexico rail bridge

Sullivan City, Texas, Mayor
Rosendo Benavides traces his finger along a line on the map leading from Monterrey
to South Texas, The Monitor of McAllen, Texas, reports Abruptly, right before
it crosses the Rio Grande near his small town of 4,000, it jags straight east –
running near the river before heading into the United States near Brownsville. That
line – a Kansas City Southern railroad track that stops just across the river
from Sullivan City – offers the best chance his city has to secure an
international bridge, he said.

 

Rail workers blend old technology with new


Allen Jones has found out
that no matter how sophisticated the world is, working for the railroad still
requires the use of a sledgehammer and a switch broom, the Morning Sun of Blue
Springs, Mo., reports. These two hand tools are still the most frequently used
implements when doing track work. The sledgehammer, of course, is for driving
steel, pushing rails wider and setting flags. The switch broom has a hoe-like
end for removing rocks from between the rails at railroad switches. The broom
end of this tool is used to sweep dirt, leaves and snow from between the rails.