Work on railroad crossings
and rail lines near downtown Fort Worth, Texas, could begin as soon as spring
if the Tower 55 project is awarded federal funding, officials told the
Star-Telegram. Officials from Fort Worth-based BNSF and Omaha, Neb.-based Union
Pacific appeared cautiously optimistic that the project will make the cut for
federal transit grants. A decision is expected in Washington in the fall.
(The Teamster Rail
Conference sent the following letter to its membership): The Teamsters Rail
Conference takes great interest in efforts by our nation’s railroads to
maintain and improve the industry’s workplace security and safety – as well as
workforce training and awareness – especially in light of heightened security
threats and increased use of technology. As your representatives, we care
deeply about your job, your employers’ long-term security and viability, and
employer accountability across the rail industry.
Local elected officials
were at a bustling Port of Albany June 14 to announce that they had secured $5
million in federal stimulus funding to pay for the next phase of a wharf
replacement project, the Albany Times Union reports.
Union
Pacific will improve part of Iowa’s transportation infrastructure with a $5.5-million
investment to its rail line that runs from Missouri Valley to Onawa, Iowa. The
project includes removing and installing nearly 48,000 ties. Crews also will
spread more than 16,500 tons of rock ballast to ensure a stable roadbed and
renew the roadway surfaces at 42 crossings. The tie replacement part of the
project began April 1 and is scheduled to be completed May 1. The crossing
surface renewal projects will be completed in mid-June.
The recession is being blamed for pausing several Union
Pacific construction projects across southern Arizona and New Mexico. The
projects were meant to increase UP’s freight-moving capacity on its main line.
UP gave no definitive time table for when a new yard in
Pinal County, Ariz., a new rail facility in Santa Teresa, N.M., and
installation of a second set of tracks across Arizona would restart, but
expects all projects to proceed when the economy turns around. UP reported a
15-percent down turn in its rail traffic during the third quarter compared to
the same time period in 2008.
Jim Coston is betting
that the billions of federal dollars aimed at a high-speed rail system could
reassert Chicago’s place as the nation’s rail center — and jump-start his
attempt to resurrect a business that flourished here a century ago: building
passenger rail cars Crain’s Chicago Business reports.
