Search Results for: track construction

Maryland has plans for bigger BWI rail 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.

 

South Shore schedules work Sept. 12-14






The South Shore is alerting
passengers to a series of planned temporary weekend construction outages. The
second of five weekend outages is scheduled for September 12-14, 2009. South
Shore trains will not operate trains in either direction between South Bend,
Ind., and Gary, Ind., Metro Center on the following weekends from 2:30 a.m.
Saturday thru 3:00 a.m. Monday: September 12-14 and 26-28, October 10-12 and October
31-November 2. The South Shore will
operate regular weekend train service between Gary Metro Center and Chicago.

UP, officials “break ground” on Joliet, Ill., IM facility











Union Pacific’s new Joliet, Ill., Intermodal Terminal will
support customer growth by increasing the railroad’s international and domestic
container capacity and improving rail traffic efficiencies in Chicago, the
nation’s largest rail center. Once on line, customers from across Union
Pacific’s network will benefit from Joliet’s annual capacity of 500,000
ocean-going containers. Officials and customers gathered Sept. 3 to celebrate
the construction commencement of Union Pacific’s nearly $370 million, 785-acre
Joliet Intermodal Terminal and CenterPoint Intermodal Center – Joliet, a
3,900-acre state-of-the-art integrated logistics center.

PB providing CM services for CTA Blue Line






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.

Outremont Rail Yard redevelopment to proceed

The governments of Canada and Quebec gave the green light to the rehabilitation and development of the Outremont rail yards in Montreal. The total estimate of the project is C$120 million (US$117,016,080). The Government of Canada has earmarked up to C$30 million (US$29,254,020) for the project from the major Infrastructure component of the Building Canada Fund. The province will provide a further C$30 million (US$29,254,020), while Montreal will contribute C$60 million (US$58,508,040). Federal funding will be granted on condition that the project satisfies all federal eligibility requirements for the Building Canada Fund and that the Government of Quebec signs a contribution agreement.

FEC’s proposed 200-foot tower stirs opposition in Jupiter, Fla.

The Florida East Coast
Railway wants to build a radio tower twice as tall as the Jupiter Lighthouse
about a football field from Bob Culpepper’s front door on Park Street, the Palm
Beach Post reports. And the former Jupiter mayor and nearby residents on the
north side of the Loxahatchee River are none too happy about it.

Oregon ports eye different rail routes






Picture Lewis and Clark
splitting up at some point between present-day Umatilla and Boardman and racing
to the Pacific Ocean, the East Oregonian reports. Two contemporary economic
explorers, the general managers of the ports of Umatilla and Morrow, are doing
just that. Their goal, however, is developing a better shipping route from the
mid-Columbia River to Puget Sound.

MAX Yellow Line moves to Portland Mall






Beginning August 30, MAX
Yellow Line trains in downtown Portland, Ore., will move to the new tracks on
5th and 6th avenues along the Portland Transit Mall. Also on August 30, MAX
Green Line trains will begin two weeks of test runs on the Mall and along I-205
before opening for service on Saturday, September 12.

Railroad connector should lessen traffic jams






Traffic back-ups on
Arlington Boulevard and on Howell and 14th streets in Greenville, N.C., should
decrease when it becomes easier for trains to pass through those areas later
this year, the Greenville Daily Reflector reports. Construction on a new
connector railroad track near the intersection of 14th and Beatty streets
should begin at the end of September, according to Greenville Public Works
Director Wes Anderson.

Virginia submits first high speed rail project application

Virginia has submitted
its first high speed rail application for the Arkendale to Powell’s Creek
project along the I-95 High Speed Rail Corridor, local media report. The project,
with a construction cost of $74.8 million, would build 11.4 miles of third
track in Stafford and Prince William Counties.

Temporary Suspension of White Plains Line Express

MTA NYC Transit said that
beginning August 24 and continuing until November 13, 2009, there is no express
subway service on the 5 line between the 3rd Avenue/East 149th Street station
and the East 180th Street station. In addition, during the afternoon rush hour,
four of the northbound 5 trains that normally operate to the Nereid Avenue
station will terminate at East 180th Street. Customers traveling on these 5
trains will have to transfer to northbound 2 trains at East 180th Street or
other Nereid Avenue-bound 5 trains for stations on the White Plains Road line.


FRA chief: passenger grants to benefit freight

The first state
applications for "shovel-ready" passenger rail projects are due into the
Federal Railroad Administration on Aug. 24, and FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo
thinks some of the federal grants to follow will need to help freight lines get
ready for more and faster passenger trains, reports The Journal of Commerce.

Crews continue Northstar Fridley Station pedestrian tunnel

Construction in downtown
Minneapolis continues as crews work on the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit extension
and the Northstar Commuter Rail station. Punchlist work continues at the
commuter stations in Big Lake, Elk River, Anoka and Coon Rapids. System testing
also continues as crews are testing both the Northstar train system and the LRT
extension.

 

New Hampshire competes for $1.5 million grant

Peter Burling, chairman of
the Rail Transit Authority in New Hampshire, envisions a rail line running
between Boston and Concord, N.H., at speeds of up to 90 mph, the Concord
Monitor reports. The rail would carry Massachusetts shoppers to Nashua and
travelers to Manchester Airport. It would take sports fans to Celtics games and
workers to their jobs in Boston.

 

Progress made on two Burlington, Iowa, projects

The city of Burlington,
Iowa, has a lot of irons in the fire, according to The Hawkeye. With that in
mind, City Manager Doug Worden updated city council members on the status of
two projects nearing completion during a recent meeting.

 

Construction of a 1
million gallon underground wastewater equalization tank on Gunnison Avenue and
a similar tank near the BNSF tracks on Lucas Avenue is complete.

T-REX closes out light rail portion $3.7 million under budget

Denver’s Transportation
Expansion (T-REX) project, which opened to the public in November 2006, has
completed the final close-out on the project. The transit portion of the T-REX
project is being completed $3.7 million under budget. The Regional
Transportation District’s Southeast Light Rail line was built as a part of
T-REX, which was a combined highway/light rail expansion project and successful
partnership between RTD and the Colorado Department of Transportation. The
project was also completed 22 months ahead of the original schedule and
included several additional enhancements along the corridor that weren’t part
of the original project.

MTA NYC Transit 181st-Dyckman repair update

Repair work to remove
debris and any remaining loose brick from the architectural façade of the
ceiling at the 181st Street station is proceeding around the clock, but more
work needs to be completed before 1 train service can resume between the 168th
Street and Dyckman Street stations.

Norfolk, Va., installing power poles for light rail

Hundreds of poles that
will carry electricity for Norfolk’s light rail trains are going up along the
7.4-mile alignment, marking a construction milestone for The Tide, Virginia’s
first light rail system. A small group of poles were bolted into place last
month along a section of track near Norfolk State University, and a larger
group of them will be secured in place in the coming weeks.

UP marks silver anniversary of SPRB coal trains

Mid-day 25 years ago August
16, the first Union Pacific and former Chicago & North Western coal train
moved out of Wyoming’s Southern Powder River Basin (SPRB) coal field over a new
107-mile rail line connecting Union Pacific to the region. The C&NW merged
with Union Pacific in 1995. Since the line was opened
between Joyce, Neb., and Shawnee Junction, Wyo., in 1984, several milestones
have been met including the operation of the 100,000th train March 17, 2001 and
the movement of the 200,000th loaded coal train May 10, 2009 out of the SPRB.