Denver RTD to buy BNSF property for FasTracks segment

The Denver Regional Transportation District has agreed to buy BNSF Railway property that’s to become part of the FasTracks system, including an initial southern segment of the Northwest Rail Corridor, according to the Longmont Times-Call. RTD expects to pay $93.7 million to buy BNSF right-of-way and other properties the railroad company owns between Denver’s Union Station and a point near 72nd Street in Westminster, under an agreement the transit agency announced July 16.

The RTD plans to use that real estate for commuter rail service on FasTracks’ Gold Line between Denver and Wheat Ridge, as well as for the southern segment of the Northwest Rail Corridor between Denver and Longmont.

The RTD’s agreement with BNSF also commits the transit agency to spending an estimated $32 million to relocate or realign several BNSF facilities between Union Station and Pecos Street, including work at BNSF’s 23rd Street yard.

The RTD board is still wrestling with how to cover a projected $2-billion shortfall to complete the entire $7-billion FasTracks system by the original 2017 target date. But FasTracks spokeswoman Karen Morales said that the money to buy the BNSF properties and pay for relocating BNSF facilities will be available under the transit agency’s current system-improvements budget.

Formal purchase agreements are to be carried out by January, when the RTD expects to take over ownership of the BNSF property.

Morales said the RTD still is negotiating with BNSF over terms of an operating agreement under which the RTD would pay the railroad company for “time slots” to operate Northwest Rail Corridor passenger service on the tracks north of Westminster — tracks BNSF would continue to own and use for its freight trains. Morales said the RTD expects to complete the agreement about shared use of those tracks sometime in 2010.

KCS, WWL to establish Houston distribution center for Nissan

Kansas City Southern and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics have reached an agreement to establish a finished vehicle distribution center adjacent to the CenterPoint Intermodal Center-Houston Metro hub for regional automotive distribution services in Texas.

WWL, one of the world’s largest providers of logistics services for manufacturers of finished vehicles, has agreed to open a new vehicle distribution center at the KCS, CIC-HM hub located near Houston, Texas. This new facility will allow WWL to provide new vehicle distribution service to three states from a single site. Located on the new Victoria to Rosenberg KCS main line, CIC-HM provides direct access to the Nissan manufacturing facility at Aguascalientes, Mexico and the Port of Lazaro Cardenas.

"It is exciting to have a customer of WWL/Nissan’s caliber select CIC-HM to serve their customers in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma," said Brian Bowers, KCS senior vice president of intermodal and automotive. "The facility has the rail capacity, highway access and available land to serve Nissan as the demand for new vehicles returns."

CIC–HM is an 800-acre intermodal and automotive logistics park located 35 miles southwest of Houston. The facility is a joint development project of CenterPoint Properties and The Kansas City Southern Railway Company.

New Jersey breaks ground on nation’s largest transit project

Building upon the region’s rich legacy of major public transportation assets, Governor Jon S. Corzine, Senators Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff and a group of other federal, state and local officials broke ground on the Mass Transit Tunnel project, the largest transit public works project in America.

Baltimore subway maintenance will impact weekend schedule

The Maryland Transit Administration is advising Metro Subway customers of upcoming track maintenance that will affect the weekend service effective Saturday, June 13. Approximately one mile of the main line will be single-tracked throughout the four-month long maintenance project, scheduled for completion in October. As a result, the customer wait times for trains will be increased by an additional five minutes in each direction, to twenty minutes on Saturdays and Sundays only. Weekday operation is not expected to be impacted.

ACC defends railroad crossing stop order in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Getting the go-ahead from the state utility regulators for a railroad safety project is a fairly straightforward process: Submit plans and then wait for their approval before starting work, according to the Arizona Daily Sun. But that is not what the city of Flagstaff, Ariz., did as it began construction work in Flagstaff related to the silencing of passing train horns, says Arizona Corporation Commission Chairwoman Kris Mayes.

Fund diversion could doom Texas rail line

Plans to build a commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport would likely be mothballed if Fort Worth stops contributing $7.5 million a year to the project and instead uses the money on street repairs, officials told the Ft. Worth Star Telegram.

Visiting motor cars mark Fairmont’s 100th anniversary

More than 40 railroad motor cars from all over the United States will be stopping in Albert Lea, Minn., during part of a 100th anniversary celebration of Fairmont Railway Motors Inc., now Harsco Track Technologies, the Albert Lea Tribune reports.

The celebration will include a display of about 45 North American Rail Car Operators Association motorcars during an open house at the Harsco facility in Fairmont. The 45 restored cars were originally built at the Fairmont plant and shipped to railroads around the United States and Canada.

Hanzelijn infrastructure contract is signed

THE Hanza Rail Team consortium of Alstom and Dutch partners
Volker Rail, Strukton Rail, and Arcadis, has signed a Euros 170 million
contract to install track, catenary, and signalling on the 50km Hanzelijn
between Lelystad and Zwolle, Netherlands.

Russian Railways to set up Second Freight Company

THE Board of Russian Railways (RZD) has approved the creation of the so-called Second Freight Company, which will take over the bulk of RZD’s remaining freight wagon fleet. "The RZD Board unanimously approved the establishment of a second freight company," says Mr Vladimir Yakunin, president of RZD. "We have a tight timetable: all the documents should be ready by the end of 2009 or early 2010 at the very latest." RZD wants the Second Freight Company to being trading in the first quarter of 2010.

CSR to bid for British emu contract

CSR Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock, China, has confirmed that it intends to bid for a contract to supply 40-120 emu vehicles for British operator London Midland. According to a notice issued in the Official Journal of the European Union last month, London Midland requires a fleet of 160km/h commuter emus formed into three or four-car trains, or a combination of both.

Californians remain upbeat on fed aid for HSR

California’s federal elected officials celebrating voter approval of Proposition 1A in November said they would pursue federal funding to advance the state’s high speed rail plan. Despite economic turmoil, those vows appear to be intact.