Search Results for: transit

Work on final 3 miles of Twin Cities Central corridor to begin in September






Visioning Sessions

Contractor crews will
begin working this fall on elements of the western three miles of the 11-mile
Central Corridor LRT Project. In September, they will begin prep work to
retrofit the Washington Avenue bridge to accommodate light-rail trains by reconstructing
the bridge piers. In December, they will start work to tie in the Central
Corridor line from the Hiawatha LRT line just west of the Cedar-Riverside
Station to Pleasant Street on the East Bank. The bulk of the Civil West contract
work, though, will start in spring 2011.

Louisiana bill is first step to passenger rail service






A Louisiana House committee
took the first steps toward setting up a means to establish train or light rail
services in regions of the state, the New Orelans Times Picayune reports. The Committee on
Transportation, Highways and Public Works gave unanimous support to House Bill
1410 by Rep. Michael Jackson, I-Baton Rouge, a longtime proponent of rail and
mass transit. The bill now heads to the House floor for debate.

Rails seen as relief for North Carolina congested roads






Steady growth across the
Triangle near Raleigh, N.C., will make traffic worse over the next decade, and
thousands of students and workers will be eager to park the car and catch a
train, the News & Observer reports. That’s the forecast in a new report on
demand for commuter trains that would run every 40 minutes during the morning
and afternoon rush hours. Now the area will have to see whether taxpayers,
elected leaders and commuters buy into the idea.

Customers can text “CooCoo” for LIRR fare info






February 14, 2001

MTA Long Island Rail Road
customers can now obtain train fare information via cell phone text message
from CooCoo, the Long Island-based text engine company that has been providing
train schedules and service updates via cell phone at no extra cost beyond the
phone company’s standard texting fee.

Amberg system saves months of fieldwork on SMART Project






The Sonoma-Marin Area
Rail Transit (SMART) is an initiative in Northern California to provide a new
passenger rail service along 70 miles of an existing Northwestern Pacific
corridor. With the corridor having been out of service since 1994, the lead
designer, HDR Engineering, required a high precision, as-built track geometry
survey of the existing infrastructure.

Woodside locals irked as Amtrak takes the ax to more than 100 trees






The federal stimulus may
be pumping greenbacks into the economy but it’s also making a part of Woodside,
N.Y., distinctly less green, the New York Daily News reports. Locals are
steamed over Amtrak’s brush-clearing effort that recently chopped down more
than a hundred mature trees along rails running parallel to Northern Blvd.

CTA Brown Line trains unable to enter Loop early morning, May 9






Chicago Transit Authority Brown
Line trains will be unable to enter the Loop from approximately 7:15 a.m. until
1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 9, due to structural maintenance work on the Wells Street
Bridge. During this time, shuttle buses will replace rail service between the
Merchandise Mart and the Clark/Lake stations. Brown Line trains will operate
normally between the Kimball and Merchandise Mart stations.


Panel approves engineering for Milwaukee streetcars






A study committee voted to
start preliminary engineering on a $95.8-million downtown Milwaukee modern
streetcar line, the Journal Sentinel reports. The Milwaukee Connector study committee voted, 3-1, to seek Federal Transit
Administration approval for the engineering work on the streetcar, which would link downtown attractions to the lower
east side with trips every 10 or 15 minutes, from early morning to late at
night, seven days a week, for $1 a ride.

Sierra Northern railroad purchase advancing






Sierra Northern Railway
Engine No. 48 rumbles slowly down the tacks toward Watsonville, Calif. A
growling, 125-ton rolling box of steel and fuel, its form or one similar has
hauled people and goods along the 32 miles of the Santa Cruz Branch Line
railroad since 1881. Beneath it, the tracks and the land at least 20 feet on
either side are owned by Union Pacific, as old and imposing a company as you’ll
find in American business. And until the Cemex cement plant in Davenport closed
down in January, Cliff Walters and Wes Swift, the engineer and conductor inside
the train, had plenty of work driving loads both north and south of Santa Cruz,
their bosses at Sierra making a modest but steady profit while turning over
lease payments in cash and services to UP like clockwork.

At aging SEPTA station, a call for more rail funding






Standing
before a Depression-era railroad power station in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Gov. Edward Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter warned May 6 that
such aging relics could imperil the region’s commuter rail network and its
highways, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

LA Metro to hold public hearing on proposed FY11 budget






Los Angeles Metro will
hold a public hearing on a draft $3.75-billion budget for Fiscal Year 2010-11
on May 19 at Metro Headquarters next to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. The
public can view copies of the budget proposal at Metro.net or request a copy.
Metro directors will consider adopting the budget for the fiscal year beginning
July 1, 2010, at their May 27 meeting.

Seattle City Council approves streetcar line






A First Hill Streetcar
route on Broadway was unanimously approved May 3 by the Seattle City Council,
The Seattle Times reports. The $130-million line is to open in 2013, connecting
the International District/Chinatown light-rail station to the train station on
Capitol Hill scheduled to open in 2016. A short loop will pass King Street
Station and Pioneer Square.

Officials kick off $17.4-million MBTA Haverhill Rail ARRA project






February 14, 2001

As part of the Patrick-Murray
Administration’s Massachusetts Recovery Plan to support economic development by
strengthening public transit and rail service, Congresswoman Niki Tsongas
joined MassDOT Secretary and CEO Jeffrey Mullan to announce the groundbreaking
of the $17.4-million Haverhill Commuter Rail Project funded by the American
Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The project complements a $50-million
ARRA-funded double-tracking and rail improvement project on the Fitchburg
commuter rail line.

CN says its precision railroading model, innovations improve rail service






CN said today that
customer-focused innovation and balanced accountability among transportation
partners are the keys to improving the effectiveness of Canada’s logistics
supply chain. CN, in a submission to the Rail Freight Service Review panel
appointed by the Canadian government, said hard facts compiled for the panel
establish the quality of CN’s rail transportation product, most notably in
terms of hub-to-hub transit time performance.

TransLink’s Statutory Annual Report tracks accomplishments






British Columbia’s
TransLink delivered significant, promised expansion in road and transit
infrastructure and services in 2009 to Metro Vancouver, while also dealing with
softer revenues to successfully reduce the size of its forecast deficit. Metro
Vancouver’s transportation authority prioritized, ensuring that services and
efficiency worked together to produce value-for-money for customers and
taxpayers.

PATH SmartCard use grows as part of overall rail modernization program






February 14, 2001

Sales of SmartCards for
travel on PATH trains has hit a record, jumping to more than 50 percent of
market share on the rail line. SmartCard use, which has tripled in two years,
has eclipsed use of MetroCards, which total about 40 percent of payment methods
on PATH lines. PATH QuickCards make up most of the remainder of fare choices. PATH’s
Automated Fare Collection System was installed in 2003 to phase-out obsolete
payment methods of cash and magnetic-strip cards.