There will be no train
service along the Long Beach Branch Jan. 30-31 due to the installation of two
new MTA Long Island Rail Road bridges over Powell Creek and Hog Island Channel.
The $24.5 million project, funded through the MTA Capital Program and Federal
Transit Administration grants, will also require the shutdown of train service
on four other weekends later this year – March 20-21, March 27-28, May 1-2 and
May 15-16.
As a part of its Great
American Stations Project, Amtrak is hosting its fifth Civic Conversation in
San Antonio, Texas, to discuss the redevelopment and restoration of passenger
rail stations with a focus on communities along the routes of the Texas Eagle, Sunset
Limited and Heartland Flyer. The two-day workshop, January 27-28, includes
information on design and planning guidelines and a how-to session on getting
started on a station renewal project and the types of state and federal grants
available for station improvements.
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.
There will be no train
service along the Long Beach Branch January 23-24 and January 30-31 due to the
installation of two new MTA Long Island Rail Road bridges over Powell Creek and
Hog Island Channel. Buses will serve LIRR customers between Long Beach and Valley
Stream on both weekends. Regular weekday train service will not be affected by
the project.
Continuing talks on
making the area more environmentally friendly focused Tuesday night on
expanding the use of trains, buses and bicycles countywide, according to the Elgin Courier News, The Elgin, Ill., Community Network hosted a discussion at
Gail Borden Public Library that looked at the future of transportation in the
area. Among those attending were representatives from Metra, Kane County
Division of Transportation and Schaumburg-based engineering firm TranSystems,
the company contracted to draft the city’s Bikeway Master Plan.
Amtrak President and CEO
Joseph Boardman said that the state of America’s passenger railroad is strong
and it had set a first quarter ridership record carrying nearly 7.2 million
passengers during the first three months of fiscal year 2010.
Amtrak
says it is ready for an exciting 2010 with major projects and new initiatives
that will benefit passengers, increase service, rebuild infrastructure, and put
America’s railroad at the center of intercity and high-speed passenger rail
development and expansion.
The City Council of Riverside, Calif., pledged $4.45 million of federal grants toward buying land for the $32 million Iowa Avenue railroad grade separation project.
Iowa Avenue is one of more than two dozen crossings within the city without overpasses or underpasses leading to severe traffic congestion. Grade separations have become a priority in recent years and the city is either designing, constructing or just completed five grade separation projects.
Design and land purchases for the Iowa Avenue project are expected to be completed late this year with construction to begin in early 2011.
Amtrak has been working
hard to lure more business travelers to its trains, with advertisements highlighting
its advantages over air travel – roomier seats, power outlets on its Acela trains
and fewer annoyances, the New York Times reports. And its efforts have borne
some fruit: the number of riders on its Northeast corridor trains has been
rising.
Whether
you might take the train for holiday travel in the future might well depend on
a $200-million request for federal funds. Missouri Transportation Director Pete
Rahn says people are being drawn to rail travel for reasons other than saving
money on fuel, local media report.
The railroad tracks from
Boston to Washington – the busiest rail artery in the nation, and one that also
carries America’s only high-speed train, the Acela – have been virtually shut
out of $8 billion worth of federal stimulus money set aside for high-speed rail
projects because of a strict environmental review required by the Obama
administration, according to the Boston Globe. Because such a review would take
years, states along the Northeast rail corridor are not able to pursue stimulus
money for a variety of crucial upgrades.
Levelland,
Texas, City and Economic Development officials recently broke ground on an $8.6-million
industrial rail park to be built in the 12,866-population town.
An improvement in mid-Missouri has greatly improved Amtrak service across the state. Now, the Department of Transportation wants to go farther and faster with passenger rail service, local media report. A new 9,000-foot rail siding at California, Mo., allows Union Pacific freight trains to get out of the way of Amtrak traveling between Kansas City and Jefferson City.
Thirty-nine freight rail companies and users can make upgrades and expand capacity with a $24.5-million state investment from PennDOT’s Rail Freight Capital Budget/Transportation Assistance and Rail Freight Assistance Programs, Governor Edward G. Rendell said.
(This editorial appeared Dec. 11 in the Miami Herald)
Leadership won the day in Tallahassee with the Dec. 8 passage of the rail-funding bill. That leadership will keep Florida in the running for $2.5 billion in federal stimulus money for a high-speed rail project and create new jobs.
Union Pacific and San
Antonio River Authority officials adopted new practices for removing drift from
the river, the Victoria, Texas, Advocate reports. The agreement came a month
after a 500-yard logjam built up at the railroad company’s bridge on the San
Antonio River, over which the river authority has jurisdiction. The bridge is
near the Victoria-Refugio county line.
CSX Transportation has
put on hold two bridge projects in Medina County, Ohio, while details are
worked out between the railroad company and county officials, according to the Medina County Gazette. A third project – replacing the 103-year-old bridge at
Mud Lake Road in Westfield Township – is scheduled to begin early next year.
The rebuilt bridge will allow double-stacked containers on rail cars to pass
under it.
Patrick Donovan started
talking about Prichard, W.Va., a long time ago, he said, according to The
Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, W. Va. He foresaw a center of activity for
transporting goods, a place where trains carrying double-stacked containers
could drop off goods and where barges along the Big Sandy River, planes from
Tri-State Airport and trucks along the Tolsia Highway could pick them up.
He wanted it to be a stop
along the planned Heartland Corridor — a project that involves improvements in
Norfolk-Southern railways between the Virginia coast and Columbus, Ohio, so
trains can carry more goods in a more direct route. When finished, 28 tunnels will
be raised so that trains can carry double-stacked containers. The
public-private partnership also will include construction of three intermodal
facilities for easier transfer of containers between rail, roadways, rivers and
airways — at Prichard, as well as Roanoke, Va., and Columbus.
While efforts to raise
tunnels along the Heartland Corridor Project are moving right along, it’s been
a slow process to get preliminary work done on an intermodal facility in
Prichard. The West Virginia Public Port Authority went through a lengthy
process to hire an engineering firm to do an environmental study on the land
along the Big Sandy River, where it will sit. The study determines if the
project is compliant with the National Environmental Protection Act. It looks at
archaeological and flood concerns, stream restorations and wetland issues.
Baker Engineering of
Cross Lanes was hired in February for that project, and while the results of
the study are promising, Donovan said, the Port Authority still awaits approval
from the West Virginia Historic Preservation Office. When it finally becomes a
reality, it is expected to be an economic boon for the entire region, as
companies set up warehouses and other related businesses along the route, said
Donovan and Don Perdue, executive director of Wayne County Economic Development
Authority.
While the Port Authority,
as well as local government and Norfolk Southern await that approval for the
environmental study, they’re also waiting for news about a new grant for which
they’ve applied. They teamed up to apply for $50 million in federal stimulus
funding. Nationally, $1.5 billion is up for grabs through the Transportation
Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grants Program.
If approved, $30 million in TIGER funds would go toward the Prichard intermodal
facility, and $20 million would go toward the tunnel work.
Donovan said he’s
encouraged by what’s in the outline describing projects that would qualify for
the grant money.
Receiving those funds
would free up more upfront money for the project. As of now, Senate Bill 569,
approved by the General Assembly in 2007, provides $4.3 million per fiscal year
through 2016 for the Heartland Corridor. The first fiscal year, $2.15 million
was allotted, but the following years, the full $4.3 million will be provided.
Norfolk Southern has already put $49.5 million of its own money into the tunnel
clearance project, with a $90 million match in federal funds. The tunnel
clearance project is estimated at $151 million, Norfolk Southern says.
Norfolk Southern has
donated 78 acres to the West Virginia Public Port Authority for the intermodal
facility at Prichard, and the authority already has 20-plus acres. The railroad
company would take care of hiring a company to design the facility, and it’s
undetermined right now who would operate it. Norfolk-Southern might contract
out an operator, but would be involved in selection of the operator either way,
Donovan said.
"Ideally, by late
spring or early summer, I want to have some dirt moving. I really do," he
said.
Meanwhile, all kinds of
earth is moving as workers continue to heighten tunnels along the railway.
"We’re currently
working on the last five tunnels," said Robin Chapman, spokesman for
Norfolk-Southern. "One of them is called the Cooper Tunnel, not far from
Bluefield. The other four are from Williamson and west of there on the Big
Sandy River. We anticipate finishing in mid 2010."
Workers increase the
clearance for double-stacked trains by either lowering the track, when
possible, or carving away rock in the tunnel.
In preparation for the
work, crews test drill into the rock to determine the density they’re dealing
with, and make sure there are no voids behind it. Then they install rock bolts
to stabilize the roof. Meanwhile, trains need passage, so crews usually begin
work in the wee hours of the morning so they can remove rock and spray a layer
of concrete over the work area as a sealant before trains come through in the
afternoon.
As Prichard and
southwestern West Virginia get ready for Norfolk Southern Corp.’s
double-stacked trains to move through, the eastern part of the state is looking
forward to a project by CSX Transportation. The rail company also is planning
to embark on a project to raise tunnels to accommodate double-stack trains
through the Mid-Atlantic region.
The $842-million National
Gateway project would affect Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West
Virginia, and is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from trucks on the
highway, as well as saving $3.5 billion in shipper and logistics costs,
significantly increase freight capacity, reduce transit times between West
Coast ports and major population and triple the market access potential for
some ports on the East Coast.
There’s a prediction that
freight transportation is going to increase by 70 percent over the next 20
years, said CSXT spokesman Bob Sullivan. Moving it to rail rather than trucks
will reduce greenhouse emissions, he said.
The path of the double-stacked
trains would stretch from Wilmington, N.C., up the East Coast and northeastward
through the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Along the National Gateway,
the nearest intermodal distribution facility to West Virginia will be in
Pittsburgh.
CSXT is committing $395
million to the National Gateway project, and it’s asking for $258 million in
federal stimulus grants through the TIGER Discretionary Grants Program. States
are being asked for $250 million.
About $60 million will be
spent in West Virginia, to clear six tunnels in the state. But West Virginia is
being asked to contribute $5 million to the project, Sullivan said.
The Gold Line, a six-mile
light-rail extension, which cost $898 million, will open Nov. 15 with free
rides and entertainment. Here are some details from the Los Angeles Times.
As
steps proceed to finalize acquisition of the spur by Rusk County Rural Rail
Transportation District from Union Pacific, District 11 state Rep. Chuck Hopson
said he is behind the project, according to the Tyler, Texas, Morning Telegraph.
And Sue Henderson, general manager of Henderson Economic Development Corp.,
declared the spur would aid future growth in the city.
