As part of the Santa Clara,
Calif., Station improvement project, work will continue on the new pedestrian
underpass. The underpass will connect the north- and southbound platforms,
allowing two trains to pass through the station at the same time and improving
safety for pedestrians in the station.
It’s been nearly two
years of legal battles over Canadian National Railway Company’s purchase of the
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern rail line, and it all comes down to this, the Aurora
Beacon-News reports. Sometime in the next four months, the U.S. Court of
Appeals is expected to rule on whether Canadian National will have to pay more
to separate grade crossings in Aurora and Lynwood, and whether the federal
Surface Transportation Board conducted a thorough study of the impacts of the
$300-million sale before approving it in 2008.
Changes to the light-rail
line pushed by Norfolk State University officials and agreed to by city leaders
will cost city taxpayers $10 million, The Virginian-Pilot reports. These costs
are not new. They are included in the $338-million light-rail price tag, but
after three years of negotiations, NSU, HRT and the city are nearing an
agreement for the changes. They include moving a
passenger station farther from campus and redesigning the storage and
maintenance building.
A divided City Council
approved spending an additional $934,000 in taxpayer money to purchase a small
office building on York Street in Norfolk, Va., that officials say would cause
a safety issue when light rail opens in May, The Virginian-Pilot
reports. However,
some council members say Hampton Roads Transit, not the city, should be
responsible for purchasing the building. The transportation agency is
constructing the city’s light-rail line.
Some Cary, N.C., residents
are unhappy with a bit of gardening that CSX Transportation did near its
railroad last month, the Cary News reports. Workers came through with a large
machine and tore apart trees along several stretches of rail in Cary, residents
say.
Responding to a Chicago Tribune story that raised questions
about the level of diesel emissions on downtown platforms and onboard trains,
Metra on Tuesday said it has hired an independent firm to conduct tests and is
forming a task force to investigate the problem and propose new ways to improve
the air quality.
The Honorable Rob
Merrifield, Minister of State (Transport) and David Hoff, a member of VIA Rail’s
Board of Directors announced an investment of C$5.1 million in VIA Rail’s
Heritage train station in Vancouver. They were joined at the city’s Pacific
Central Station by Gregor Robertson, the Mayor of Vancouver.
All Metrorail stations
opened on time Nov. 8 after successful track projects that took place during
the weekend.
This past weekend, Metro made preliminary repairs to the
stabilize the ground, the abutment and aerial structure outside the Cheverly
Metrorail station because a developer performed work on land adjacent to Metro
property that shifted the ground and caused movement of Metro’s aerial
structure.
Miners excavating the tunnels that will carry Dulles Corridor Metrorail tracks from the Tysons Central 123 Station under the highest natural point in Fairfax County, Va., soon will complete the mining portion of the construction endeavors.
Dulles Transit Partners, the design-build contractor for the Rail Project, is mining the tunnels. In late October, crews ‘holed through’ the west end of the outbound tunnel near the busy intersection of Routes 7 and 123 just more than a year after beginning excavations.
Mining of the inbound tunnel is scheduled for completion in mid-December. Then crews will remove the temporary road inside the tunnels, rearrange temporary utilities, back fill and install a smoothing layer of special sprayable concrete used to reinforce the tunnel. Then comes waterproofing, more reinforcement and concrete installation, and construction of the safety walkway. Tunnel construction is expected to be finished at the end of 2011.
Connecting Dulles Rail tracks to Metro’s Orange Line
Construction is more than 22 percent complete along Phase 1 of the 11.5-mile Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project from Falls Church to Reston.
One of the most complicated areas of construction is where the Dulles Connector Road (Route 267) breaks away from I-66 near West Falls Church. This is where the rail extension will merge with Metro’s existing Orange Line.
Last Memorial Day weekend, Metro shut down rail service between the East and West Falls Church stations so that pier construction and testing could take place close to existing tracks in this area. Now piers have been completed and bridges to carry the aerial tracks across I-66 are visible.
A third truss coming to cross beltway
A third huge truss that will be used to build more bridges for the rail line in Tysons Corner is being assembled in a cloverleaf of Route 123 and I-495.
This truss will function a bit differently from the other two that have been building bridges above the Dulles Connector Road across Route 123 and along Route 123 near Scotts Crossing Road. The latest addition to the big yellow fleet of horizontal cranes will be used to build the bridges that will carry tracks across the Capital Beltway in the coming year.
Meanwhile, the skyline at Tysons continues to be filled with these trusses, working day and night to build bridges for rail.
Work will continue this
week on the new pedestrian underpass at the Santa Clara station. The underpass
will connect the north- and southbound platforms, allowing two trains to pass
through the station at the same time and improving safety for pedestrians in
the station.
Improvements supporting
future high-speed rail on the Chicago-St. Louis corridor north of Springfield,
Ill., will cause the daily Amtrak Lincoln Service trains to originate and
terminate in Bloomington/Normal from Nov. 15 through Nov. 23 and from Nov. 30
through Dec. 10. This work on the Chicago-St. Louis route will also cause the
Chicago-San Antonio Amtrak Texas Eagle to detour without other scheduled stops
between Chicago and St. Louis. Alternate transportation will be provided in
most cases.
The Washington, D.C., Metro
Board Finance and Administration Committee on Nov. 4 reviewed Metro’s preliminary FY2012-FY2017 Capital Improvement Program (CIP), which commits at least $1.18-billion to address
National Transportation Safety Board recommendations over the next seven years
and prioritizes safety and state of good repair projects.
BNSF promoted Greg Fox to
executive vice president, Operations, reporting to Carl Ice, president and
chief operating officer. Operations functions reporting to Fox include
Engineering; Mechanical; Transportation; Safety, Training and Operations
Support; and Resource Protection. Fox will also serve as a member of BNSF’s
Executive Team.
Bentley Systems,
Incorporated, is collaborating with ARC Advisory Group (ARC), a research and
advisory firm for industry and infrastructure, in the production and presentation
of a complimentary four-part series of live eSeminars. Each one-hour eSeminar
will discuss innovative IT strategies, industry best practices and Bentley
software for leveraging information modeling, both for integrated projects and
the operations of high-performing, intelligent infrastructure assets.
CN has reached a voluntary mitigation agreement (VMA) with
the Village of Ford Heights, Ill., located approximately 26 miles south of
downtown Chicago, regarding its acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern
Railway Company. With this agreement, CN has VMAs with 25 of the 33 communities
along the EJ&E in Illinois and Indiana.
November 5-7, Washington,
D.C., Metro will undertake a major project on the Blue and Orange lines that
will impact rail service east of the Stadium-Armory Metrorail station and
conduct additional maintenance on the Blue and Yellow lines in Northern
Virginia. Rail riders traveling on these lines are advised to add an additional
40 minutes to their travel plans because some stations will be closed and
single-tracking operations will be in place elsewhere.
Los Angeles County
this week began a nearly half-million-dollar project aimed at preventing
earthquake damage to a railway bridge in Glendora, Calif., officials said, according
to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Work will continue on the
new pedestrian underpass at the Santa Clara station. The underpass will connect
the north- and southbound platforms, allowing two trains to pass through the
station at the same time and improving safety for pedestrians in the station. Passengers
at the station are boarding the train from a temporary platform. Passengers are
asked to observe all posted signs and follow direction from identified
ambassadors in the station. The temporary platform will be in use for
approximately six months.
The Gary/Chicago
International Airport on reached a pivotal deal for its runway extension
project, the Gary Post-Tribune reports. The agreement with Canadian National
Railway allows the Gary airport to proceed with the removal of CN’s embankment
at the end of the runway — one of the biggest undertakings of the project. The
Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority approved the deal Oct. 28, with CN
expected to sign on within 10 days.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn
said $32 million from the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program will go to
construct a multi-modal transportation station in downtown Joliet. The new
transportation center is expected to create 650 jobs, laying the groundwork for
future transit-oriented development in downtown Joliet.
