Search Results for: safety

NTSB identifies signal failure in fatal D.C. Metrorail collision






The National Transportation
Safety Board issued nine safety recommendations, six of which are urgent, to address
concerns about the safety of train control systems that use audio frequency
track circuits. The recommendations are the result of NTSB’s ongoing investigation
into the collision between two Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority trains
on the Red Line near the Fort Totten station in Washington, D.C., on June 22,
2009.

Billings, Mont., businesses, residents hail new quiet zone






Lynda Frost, a
spokeswoman for Montana Rail Link, said trains traveling through downtown
Billings, Mont., were supposed to stop sounding their horns Sept. 18, one
minute after midnight, according to The Gazette. And those are some big horns,
emitting blasts of 96 to 110 decibels, as per federal regulations. A subway
train, at a distance of 200 feet, registers at about 95 decibels, while 110
decibels is comparable to a power saw three feet away.

NJ TRANSIT to improve Newark Penn Station Plaza






The NJ TRANSIT Board of
Directors authorized a major pedestrian and traffic circulation improvement
project at Newark Penn Station that will enhance safety, reduce vehicular
congestion, strengthen the historic facility’s connection to an increasingly
vibrant downtown business and entertainment district and create an estimated
125 jobs.

SEPTA ‘Elebrates’ end of project






SEPTA is celebrating the
end of an historic project – the reconstruction of the Market-Frankford
Subway-Elevated Line. A fixture of mass transit in the region, SEPTA’s busiest
and oldest heavy rail line has been fully modernized through a series of
initiatives.

Opening of P&N Railroad delayed to December






 

A portion of a local
railroad track in North Carolina that has been out of service since the 1980s
will likely reopen at least two months later than first expected, according to
the Gaston Gazette. Officials initially hoped to see a four-mile stretch of the
abandoned Piedmont and Northern Railroad come back into service by Oct. 1. But
Gaston County Commissioner Joe Carpenter said that it won’t happen until Dec. 1
at the earliest. Carpenter gave his update
during the regular board meeting of the Gaston County, N.C., Economic
Development Commission. The four-mile span to be reopened first runs between
Gastonia and Ranlo, and will initially accommodate freight service.

Orland Park, Ill., on track to become quiet zone






 

Orland Park, Ill., is
moving forward with efforts to become a railway quiet zone, local newspapers
report. At a public works and engineering committee meeting, Robinson
Engineering recommended channeling poles be installed at railroad crossings at
159th Street and at Wolf Road. The poles are installed
at the center line near the railroad crossing to prevent cars from going around
the gates, Robinson Engineering representative Jeff Pintar explained.

CREATE program seeks $300-million TIGER Grant






The Illinois Department of
Transportation said it is seeking $300 million in federal stimulus funds for a
package of 16 projects that are part of the Chicago Region Environmental and
Transportation Efficiency Program. CREATE is a first-of-its-kind partnership
bringing together Illinois DOT, the Chicago Department of Transportation and
the Association of American Railroads. Illinois DOT is eligible for the funding
under the federal Transportation Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant
program established in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In addition
to the $300 million being sought via the federal TIGER grant, CREATE partners
also have committed to an additional 39 percent match in funding – $117.4
million in state and private monies – for the program of projects outlined in
the application.

Caltrain Construction, Maintenance update, Sept. 12-18






Work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program continues in Burlingame, San Mateo and Menlo Park
between the hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m.: Broadway and Oak Grove Avenue,
Burlingame, Sept. 13-17; First and Ninth avenues, San Mateo, Sept. 14-17; and Encinal,
Glenwood and Ravenswood avenues, Menlo Park, Sept. 17-18. Throughout the
project area, at least one lane of the impacted street will remain open.
Flagmen will direct traffic and pedestrians around the construction.

New VIA Rail station for Cobourg, Ontario






At a ceremony in Cobourg,
Ontario, Northumberland-Quinte West MP Rick Norlock, Mayor Peter Delanty and
John Marginson, VIA Rail Canada’s Chief Operating Officer, said VIA plans a new
station with improved and expanded facilities. VIA estimates that it will
invest as much as C$7 million for the new station and related improvements from
recent capital funding for VIA announced by the Government of Canada. C$1
million of the project’s cost will come from the government’s Economic Action
Plan.







PATCO road work to begin at 6 New Jersey stations






PATCO is set to
embark on a three-month project to both repave the roadway and repair concrete
curbs for the access roads at six PATCO Stations in New Jersey. Work is
scheduled to begin on September 14 at the Lindenwold Station, with work then proceeding
west to Ashland, Haddonfield, Westmont, Collingswood and Ferry Avenue. At times
the roadwork will require some traffic pattern changes at the Stations.

Railroad relents on Illinois platform, tower project







Union Pacific railroad
officials responded to Braeside neighborhood residents’ concerns and agreed to
move the massive platform and communications tower being built next to the
railroad tracks on the south east side of Highland Park, Ill., Pioneer Press
reports. City leaders requested a meeting with the railroad company after a
group of residents attended the Aug. 24 City Council meeting and spoke against
the construction that created an unsightly streetscape along the once heavily
tree-lined railway.

Los Angeles Metrolink struggles with reforms






As the anniversary of the
Sept. 12 Chatsworth train disaster approaches, officials with Southern
California’s sprawling commuter rail service are facing a vexing array of
technical, financial and potential legal challenges as they struggle to deliver
on pledges of trailblazing safety reforms, The Los Angeles Times reports.

D.C. Metrorail schedules Columbus Day Weekend track work






On the Washington, D.C.,
Metro, the Waterfront-SEU and Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Metrorail
stations will be closed and the Green and Yellow Lines also will be closed at
the L’Enfant Plaza Metrorail station from 9:30 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 9, through
Monday, Oct. 12, with no Green or Yellow Line service at these three stations
at that time. Service will resume at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13. There will be
no Yellow Line service in the District of Columbia or Maryland during the
Columbus Day holiday weekend, with service available only between the
Huntington and Pentagon Metrorail stations. 



BNSF, IDOT to pay for Burlington, Iowa, crossing closures

At a meeting September 8,
the Burlington, Iowa, City Council is expected to approve a financial agreement
with BNSF and the Iowa Department of Transportation for the closure of three
downtown grade crossings, according to the Burlington Hawkeye. Under terms of
the agreement, BNSF will pay the city $65,500, with IDOT providing $22,500
toward the closure of Third, Seventh and Eighth streetsCity officials had
intended to address those crossings in 2010 as part of a plan to silence noise
from train horns approved by the Federal Railroad Administration. The quiet
zone plan also includes safety upgrades and modifications at seven additional
downtown crossings.

Seeking silent nights






When Lisa Burley moved
into her new southeast Bend, Ore., home in July, she thought she’d found a
perfect, quiet spot to spend her retirement, local newspapers report. Then she
heard the blast of a train horn, warning drivers and passers-by that the train
was approaching a rail crossing. Then she heard another one, and another –
usually three or four every night.

Caltrain construction, maintenance update, Sept. 8-10






Work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program will continue at Encinal, Glenwood and Ravenswood
avenues in Menlo Park Sept. 8-10 between the hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. Throughout
the project area, at least one lane of the impacted street will remain open.
Flagmen will direct traffic and pedestrians around the construction. The work
is part of a larger program to enhance safety at railroad crossings in San
Mateo County.