The updated Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) released by the Port of Los Angeles affirms that BNSF’s proposed Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) facility will result in an overall improvement in air quality, health risk and traffic in both the immediate neighborhoods around the site and throughout the region.
Seattle’s Sound Transit Board approved a contract with PCL Civil Constructors, Inc., to design and build the elevated station and guideway for the light-rail extension from Sea-Tac Airport to South 200th Street.
The Village of Greenfield, Ohio, received a $2.2-million grant from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) for improvements to a rail line in Highland County. The project is expected to create 72 jobs and save more than 800 at local companies.
Colo Railroad Builders’ Texas Division has worked 1,000 days injury free.
Charlotte, N.C., has received $18 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to expand the LYNX Blue Line.
On September 28, Chicago Transit Authority will reopen the doors of a cleaner, brighter and renewed Thorndale Red Line station to customers and the Edgewater community.
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board of Directors approved a $1.07 billion budget for fiscal year 2013 that supports expanded Orange and Blue Lines, as well as the continued construction towards a direct rail connection to DFW Airport in 2014.
Union Pacific made operating department changes, which will be effective October 1.
New projections show that in Texas, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority’s TEX Rail will reach an average daily ridership of 18,100 by 2035, up 1,500 since the T’s commuter rail project was approved to enter preliminary engineering by the Federal Transit Administration in March, 2012.
Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) track repair crews have made better-than-expected progress in repairing a major washout that has left 500 feet of the mainline track dangling just south of Gold Creek (ARRC Milepost 261, about 35 miles north of Talkeetna).
Beginning September 24 and continuing into next week, Amtrak plans to operate high-speed test trains at 165 mph in four areas covering more than 100 miles of the Northeast Corridor.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation Board of Directors appointed Beverly Scott as general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and MassDOT Rail and Transit Division Administrator. A 30-year transportation veteran, Scott will be the first female general manager of the MBTA.
Transportation Technology Center, Inc., Board of Directors elected Carmen Bianco, senior vice president, Department of Subways, New York City Transit, as a new board member.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, joined by Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider and other state and local officials, broke ground September 21 on a new multimodal transportation center in downtown Joliet, Ill.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners approved long-awaited plans to consider extending the World Trade Center-Newark PATH rail line to Newark Liberty International Airport.
Transportation Commissioner and NJ Transit Board Chairman James Simpson joined NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein September 21 at Plauderville Station in Garfield to unveil a new “Another Train Coming” rail safety device designed to enhance pedestrian safety around the tracks. The installation is part of an ongoing effort to ramp up rail safety across the state through recommendations from the NJ Safety at Railroad Crossings Leadership Oversight Committee.
“Ensuring the safety of NJ Transit customers and residents in the communities we serve requires a multifaceted approach, which is what the committee aims to achieve through its ‘E-cubed’ tactics-engineering, enforcement and education,” said Commissioner Simpson. “While Plauderville Station’s new technological warning system represents the engineering component, it will be supported by an array of other initiatives, including crossing enforcement by the NJ Transit Police Department and NJ Transit’s continuous efforts to educate our school children through our successful rail safety program.”
The New Jersey Department of Transportation and NJ Transit recently installed the “Another Train Coming” warning system at the Outwater Lane grade crossing, adjacent to the Plauderville rail station. The warning system consists of active signs in all four quadrants of the rail crossing, with an LED text message that reads, “DANGER, Another Train Coming,” as well as an audio component that repeatedly sounds the same message.
Canadian Pacific appointed Michael Redeker to vice president and chief information officer, effective October 15, 2012. Redeker was most recently chief information officer at ATB Financial.
Sandhogs working on the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s East Side Access megaproject broke through the final piece of reinforced concrete separating newly built tunnels in Queens from newly built tunnels in Manhattan.
The U.S. Department of Transportation kicked off the first meeting of the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS) since President Obama signed the “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act” (MAP-21), which granted the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) authority to implement and enforce transit safety oversight standards on heavy rail, light rail, buses, ferries and streetcars.
Metrolinx recently decided to engage in a process known as Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP), where a private company will design, build, finance, maintain and operate its new light-rail lines.