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Could lawsuit jeopardize stimulus money for proposed KC-area rail hub?






The lawsuit probably couldn’t
have come at a worse time for BNSF Railway, the Kansas City Star reports. The
federal government is getting close to announcing whether BNSF will get $50
million in federal stimulus money to start building a massive rail hub in
Johnson County. The project has to be "shovel ready" to get the money, but its
environmental permit is the target of a lawsuit, which could delay one of the
area’s biggest development projects.

CATS seeks $25-million grant for streetcar






Charlotte, N.C., is going
to ask the federal government for $25 million to help build a streetcar line
uptown, The Charlotte Observer reports. The City Council voted 7-4 Jan. 25 to
apply for a grant that would pay for much of a 1.5-mile line from the Charlotte
Transportation Center to Presbyterian Hospital on Hawthorne Drive in the
Elizabeth neighborhood. If successful, the city would need to spend at least
$12 million of its own money to finish construction.

Fresno, Calif., rail consolidation plan halted






A new report on moving BNSF
tracks out of central Fresno to relieve traffic congestion says it would cost
at least $803 million, by far the highest such estimate yet, the Bee reports. As
a result, an organization formed 10 years ago to advocate shifting the BNSF
tracks to the Union Pacific corridor is giving up, its president said.

Don’t judge rail report by its partisan cover






When it comes to
attention-grabbing covers, the title "Great Rail Disasters" with an
illustration of a train wreck is tough to beat for creating a sense of danger
and drama, Ted Jackovics wrote in the Tampa, Fla., Tribune website. Inside, the
44-page American Dream Coalition report focuses on "foolish
investments" and "pork barrel spending" in a critique of rail as
a passenger transportation alternative.

Work continues on West Virginia rail tunnels






When the workers laboring
to raise the roof of the old Cooper Tunnel on the Norfolk Southern main line in
Mercer County, W.Va., see daylight, it’s about time to call it a day, the
Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports. NS is on the home stretch of the Heartland
Corridor project that started in the fall of 2007 and is on track to be
finished later this summer. When it’s done, the Heartland Corridor will enable
NS to move double-stacked freight cars from Lambert’s Point (near Hampton Roads,
Va.) on the Atlantic coast all the way to Chicago on the Lake Michigan shore.

Bridge projects get back on track






Two bridge projects that
were put on hold about two months ago are back on track, The Medina County,
Ohio, Gazette reports. Bob Sullivan, spokesman for CSX Transportation, said the
company is working to secure funding to proceed with work on the bridges over
the tracks at Rivers Corners Road in Homer Township and at Pawnee Road on the border
of Homer and Harrisville townships. The project includes rebuilding the bridge
at Rivers Corners to allow for taller, double-stack trains to pass underneath,
and demolishing the bridge at Pawnee and vacating the road with a detour at
Simcox Road.

Village of Frankfort, Ill., works to quiet trains






Frankfort, Ill., trustees
this week hired an engineering firm to design safety devices at the village’s
Canadian National Railway crossings, the Chicago Tribune reports. The $14,000
contract was awarded to Hamilton Consulting Engineers to plan and supervise
construction of safety features, such as lights and crossing gates, at the
street-level railroad crossings in Frankfort, Trustee Dick Trevarthan said. Six
of the crossings are public and one is privately owned.

Work begins on new NS yard in Virginia






Norfolk Southern is
clearing land for a planned intermodal train terminal even as attorneys for
Montgomery County try to block the project’s state funding, the Roanoke Times
reports. A demolition contractor leveled a house Jan. 18 and a barn Jan. 19.
One more house, vacant like the first to go down, is scheduled to be razed, as
well. A silo visible from U.S. 460/11 will come down later this month,
according to heavy equipment operator Randy Dickenson.

BNSF West Coast employees battle mudslides as El Nino lashes out






BNSF employees in the
greater Seattle area have cleared at least five mudslides the week of Jan. 18
after El Niño showered heavy rains on the area, the railroad’s employee
newsletter reports. At one area, between Seattle and Everett, Wash., on the Scenic
Subdivision, crews were working to clear tracks after three separate mudslides
in the same area brought commuter traffic to a halt.

Big plans for Manitoba rail line






A group of farmers from Rathwell,
Man., Canada, and the surrounding area are hoping to purchase a shortline
railway to keep their grain shipments on track, the Central Plains Herald
Leader reports. Harold Purkess, a retired farmer from Holland, who is interim
president of River Hills Railroad Inc., said the organization is made up of a
group of farmers and interested individuals who are investing in the project
and preserving their rail line.

HRT welcomes public audit of light rail






Hampton Roads, Va.,
Transit welcomed the call for a public audit of the light rail project as a
significant step toward ensuring accountability of The Tide’s management and
oversight, the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports.

SMART commuter train plan delayed by economy






It’s unlikely the SMART
rail line linking Sonoma and Marin, Calif., counties will be finished by 2014
as promised to voters because the agency running the train project is wrestling
with a $155-million shortfall brought on by a stumbling economy, the Contra
Costa Times reports.

Good news for Whitefish, Mont., Railroad District






Property owners in
Whitefish’s Railroad District and east of the middle school received good news
last week – lab results from 25 soil-borings revealed little or no
contamination from underground diesel fuel plumes originating in the BNSF Superfund
site, the Whitefish Pilot reports.

Measure R on right track for rail deal






Measure R money isn’t
just for road projects’ it can now be used to purchase railroad tracks, the
Foothills Sun-Gazette reports. The Tulare County, Calif., Board of Supervisors
approved an amendment to the Measure R expenditure plan that will allow the
county to purchase railroad fixtures including ties, ballast, tracks and
signals to ensure that the property is maintained for rail use.

STB to keep closer eye on effects of CN/EJ&E merger






The Surface
Transportation Board is requesting feedback from Chicago-area communities
affected by the merger of Canadian National Railway with the Elgin, Joliet
& Eastern Railway Co. The Board will also audit CN’s informational reports
that the railroad is required to file with the STB as a condition of the
merger.

Crystal Lake, Ill., annexation deal paves way for Metra stop






Crystal Lake, Ill.,
officials have approved a pre-annexation agreement for a 17-acre site, where
Metra plans to build a commuter train stop, the Chicago Tribune reports. The
station, between the Woodstock and Crystal Lake stations, would cost an
estimated $5 million and take four years to open, Metra officials say. It is
part of a planned expansion to the Union Pacific Northwest line.

Washington mudslide halts Amtrak, BNSF, Sounder






Sound Transit commuter rail
service between Everett, Wash., and Seattle is shut down at least until the
evening of Jan. 21 because of a mudslide across the tracks, the Everett Herald
reports. The slide hit around 7:30 a.m. Jan. 19 in north Seattle, blocking the
tracks and forcing passengers on two of the four Sounder commuter trains to
disembark at Edmonds Station and ride buses the rest of the way to Seattle,
according to Sound Transit.

Some in Fairbanks want Alaska railroad moved






Alaska Assemblyman Hank
Bartos wants to move the railroad out of downtown Fairbanks and expand Pioneer
Park into a "winter wonderland" involving Ice Alaska, the railroad’s unhappy
tenant, the Daily News Miner reports.

Rail grants seen bypassing Texas






The federal government is
about to hand out a river of cash to states willing to build a network of
bullet trains, as the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress seek to
slowly ease the country’s dependence on automobiles and airplanes to make short
trips between its biggest cities, the Dallas Morning News reports. It’s the nation’s
first major investment in true high-speed rail, and among its most significant
pushes to locate trains of any kind far from the East Coast.