Search Results for: employment

BNSF to add 49 jobs in Galesburg, Ill., by year’s end






BNSF has created 21 new
jobs in Galesburg, Ill., this summer and will add another 49 before the end of
the year, according to one of the railroad company’s senior officials, The
Register-Mail reports. 

The jobs are signs of a recovery in the freight
business, which was hammered by the economic recession. At the height of the
recession, BNSF furloughed 187 employees in Galesburg but all of those workers
have since been recalled, said Paul Nowicki, BNSF’s vice president for
government affairs.



DRPA, PATCO receive high narks following FTA review






The Delaware River Port
Authority and PATCO have received a nearly perfect review following two days of
intense scrutiny by a Federal Transit Administration compliance reviewer. Twenty-two
areas of compliance were reviewed and the Authority received perfect scores in
21 of those areas.

Rail line repair in Wharton, N.J., Roxbury, N.J., may be done in 4 months






The rehabilitation of the
Chester Branch Railroad, a four-mile
rail line extending from Wharton, N.J., and ending in Roxbury, N.J., is under
way and should be completed within four to five months, county officials said,
according to the Daily Record. The county Board of Freeholders in April awarded
a $5.1-million contract to the firm Railroad Construction Co. Inc., of Paterson
to rehabilitate the rail line, with the money coming from the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act, part of the economic stimulus package.

Durbin upbeat on high-speed rail in Illinois






Sen. Dick Durbin said July
23 that giving the Union Pacific Railroad $98.3 million in federal money for
track improvements without an agreement in place to allow high-speed passenger
rail is still a good idea, The Springfield, Ill., State Journal-Register
reports.

TriMet selects new Executive Director of Capital Projects






Dan Blocher replaces Neil
McFarlane, who is TriMet’s new general manager, as executive director of capital
projects for TriMet in the Portland, Ore., area. Blocher, 49, will direct and
manage all aspects of planning, development, design and construction of TriMet’s
capital projects, including the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project now in
the design phase. He has been with TriMet for 13 years over two periods of
employment.

$9.7M released for South Toledo rail yard expansion






Regional Transportation District

A state agency has given a
green signal to a $12.3-million expansion of a Norfolk Southern rail yard in
South Toledo, Ohio, a project intended to boost the region’s capacity for
handling intermodal freight and generate hundreds of transportation-sector jobs,
the Toledo Blade reports.

BART Silicon Valley achieves environmental milestone






The Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority (VTA) received notification that the Federal Transit
Administration issued a Record of Decision for the first 10-mile phase of BART
Silicon Valley. This milestone signifies that VTA satisfied the requirements of
the National Environmental Policy Act, thereby issuing environmental impact
approval for the $2.1-billion Berryessa Extension.

Study shows Illinois poised to benefit from U.S. public transit investment






Visioning Sessions

The U.S. rail manufacturing
industry stands to undergo considerable growth in the coming years as Amtrak
upgrades its railcars and adds high-speed trains and as lawmakers consider a
transportation bill that calls for significantly greater investments in public
transit, including rail, according to a new study by Duke University prepared
for the Apollo Alliance. Illinois, which is home to 23 rail-manufacturing
facilities and is planning its own high-speed rail network, would reap major
benefits from such a bill.

Study begins on James Bay railroad






The first tentative steps
toward building an ore haul railway to the James Bay Lowlands began this past
winter, Northern Ontario Business reports. Helicopters moved drills into place
as geologists tested frozen riverbanks north of Nakina, taking core samples to
determine where bridges can be built to haul ore from a chromite open pit in
the Far North’s ‘Ring of Fire’ exploration camp.

Report: HSR’s significant economic impact

The U.S. Conference of Mayors today released a new report positively assessing the economic impact of high-speed passenger rail along proposed HSR corridors in the United States. The report, prepared by the Economic Development Research Group and sponsored by Siemens, analyzed the potential economic impact of HSR in the four cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando and Albany.

MBTA upgrading accessibility at Science Park/West End Station






Continuing the
Patrick-Murray Administration’s commitment to providing accessible
transportation service to all residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
MBTA General Manager Rich Davey joined local officials and members of the West
End community at the Science Park/West End Station to announce a $22-million
investment for accessibility improvements to the station. The project includes
the construction of two elevators that will provide access from a new street
level lobby to the train platforms at the top of the viaduct.

St. Louis Metro approves FY 2011 budget






The Metro
Board of Commissioners for the St. Louis area approved an operating budget of
$232.4 million for Fiscal Year 2011 that includes funds to restore transit
services that were cut in 2009. The budget also includes freezes on salaries and
hiring and reductions to expenditures across the board.