Capital Metro in Austin,
Texas, didn’t know what it was getting itself into, the Austin American-Statesman
reports. That might sound like a shot from one of the transit agency’s critics.
Instead, it is in effect the agency’s explanation for why its MetroRail
commuter line from Leander to downtown Austin is now 15 to 18 months late in opening.
And still counting.
The Chicago Transit
Authority is inviting the public to meetings to provide input on the proposed Red,
Orange and Yellow Line Extensions.
Attendees will have an opportunity to provide comments on the proposed
alternatives, the purpose and need for the project, the potential effects and
mitigation measures to be considered in the Environmental Impact Study (EIS).
The Frankford elevated
line, which was completely rebuilt in the 1980s and 1990s to last for 75 years,
needs significant repairs because of a basic flaw in its reconstruction design,
the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. To prevent pieces of concrete from falling
onto cars or pedestrians, SEPTA crews have installed 8,000 metal mesh belts on
the underbelly of the El and plan to install 2,000 more, beginning Sept. 21.
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.
Train service on five MTA
Long Island Rail Road South Shore branches will be affected during the weekend
of October 24 and 25 as work is completed on a major signal and switch
modernization project in the Valley Stream area. The work will require a
48-hour suspension of train service through Valley Stream. Customers using the
Babylon, Montauk, Far Rockaway, Long Beach and West Hempstead Branches will
take buses for all or part of their trips and other trains will be diverted. To
avoid delays, customers are advised to use North Shore branches this weekend.
Unaffected lines include the Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson, Port
Washington and Ronkonkoma (west of Ronkonkoma) Branches.
Unit Rail, the rail fastening
division of Amsted Rail, named Thai Nguyen design engineer, responsible for the
design, test and manufacturability of fastening components for the company’s
end users in both the freight and transit railroad segments.
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.
The Polk Street entrance to
the Chicago Transit Authority Harrison Red Line station will close temporarily
from 11 p.m. Wednesday, September 16 until 4 p.m. Friday, September 18, while
crews relocate fare equipment. During this time, customers must use the
Harrison station entrance at 608 S. State Street to access the Red Line.
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.
TriMet’s MAX Green Line in
Portland, Ore., opened to the public on Saturday, September 12 and reached a
major milestone of connecting all three counties by light rail. TriMet’s fifth
MAX line extends from downtown Portland to Clackamas County. More than 40,000
trips were taken on the new Green Line on opening day.
New Orleans transit planners hope to expand
streetcar service to the North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue corridor,
Loyola Avenue and Convention Center Boulevard, The Times-Picayune reports. Armed with a $212-million financing plan for three
new streetcar lines that includes substantial local investment, Regional
Transit Authority officials are hopeful that federal officials will look kindly
on the ambitious project and agree to pick up more than half its cost.
If you’re waiting on a
train in Southwest Florida, you might have a long wait – and when it does
arrive, it’ll be murder, reports the Naples News. The most consistent rail
service south of Arcadia is on the Seminole Gulf Railway Murder Mystery Dinner
Train. Those trips run a loop north from a station near Colonial Boulevard and
Metro Parkway to about the Charlotte County line five nights a week.
The look of Norfolk’s
light-rail starter line, scheduled to open in about a year, is starting to take
shape, The Virginian-Pilot reports. Stations have been designed. Electrical
poles and wires are going up. The pavement around embedded rail has been dyed
red.
Standing trackside outside
Metra’s 80th Avenue Station in Tinley Park, Ill., recently, Tom Britt wasn’t
happy, the Chicago Tribune reports. "This station needs to
be improved," said the Frankfort, Ill., resident, "desperately."
SEPTA began a massive
overhaul Sept. 8 of the Route 102 Sharon Hill Line-the first phase of various
improvements of two trolley lines funded with $34 million in federal stimulus
grants, the Delaware County Daily Times reports.
MTA Metro-North Railroad
is streamlining its study of how best to provide direct train service from its
New Haven and Hudson lines into Penn Station in New York City via the east
Bronx and Manhattan’s West Side. An environmental review began a decade ago
with the intent of developing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a
"Preferred Alternative" pursuant to the National Environmental
Protection Act. Through two screening processes, an initial list of 22 service
alternatives was narrowed to four "Build" alternatives, two
alternatives for Hudson Line service to Penn Station and two alternatives for
New Haven Line service to Penn Station.
Every day, 1,800 passengers
head to the rail station next to BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, local media
report. Every day, they board more than 40 trains headed for Washington,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and destinations all along the Northeast Corridor.
It’s the 15th busiest station in the Amtrak network. Now, the Maryland
Department of Transportation wants to study the idea of doubling the station’s
size and recently applied for a $10-million federal grant for a detailed
engineering study.
The Washington Post’s
story, "Metro Scare Under Potomac," (September 6, 2009) revisited a 2005
incident that was covered at the time, Metro officials said.
Metro has issued
a line-by-line list of corrections, clarifications and comments to the article.
Railworks Track Systems and
subcontractors continue to work in sections to remove existing track and spurs
and rebuild the sections with new rail along the seven mile Sound Transit rail
corridor between South M Street in Tacoma, Wash., to Bridgeport Way SW in Lakewood. For
the next two weeks, track removal and replacement work is being performed
between S. 48th and S. 56th streets. This work is being coordinated with Tacoma
Rail to minimize or avoid any disruption to their customers for existing rail
service.
The
Chicago Transit Authority has awarded a construction management contract to
Parsons Brinckerhoff for a rail replacement and tunnel rehabilitation project
on the system’s Blue Line subway, which connects the downtown business district
with O’Hare International Airport.
