Union Pacific is enhancing Iowa’s transportation infrastructure by investing nearly $14 million in the rail line that runs between Grand Mound and Boone. The project is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by mid November.
The Chicago-area Metra Acting Chairman Larry Huggins and CEO Alex Clifford joined Alderman Ameya Pawar and Representative Greg Harris on September 5 to break ground on the construction of the new Ravenswood Station on the Union Pacific North Line.
On August 22, Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO) joined representatives from L.B. Foster and the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association for a tour of the L.B. Foster facility in Pueblo, Colo.
Phillip Allen has accepted the position of chief engineer of structures for Watco Transportation Services. In this new role, Allen will be responsible for the bridge management program.
BNSF has increased capacity in 2012 to enable the railroad to haul one million barrels per day out of the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana. This increased capacity will allow the energy industry to continue the record expansion of oil production in the Williston Basin and to ship the new production to markets throughout the U.S.
RailAmerica, Inc., now has a new industrial development website that will help current and prospective customers who are interested in building or expanding a rail-served facility or developing transloading solutions. Additionally, this tool provides a listing of all locations accessible to RailAmerica railroads.
Crews have completed placement of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Central Corridor light-rail line’s first traction-power substation just south of the Raymond Avenue Station. Fourteen substations, located about one mile apart, will convert alternating electrical current to direct current, which will power the light-rail vehicles using a system of overhead catenary wires. Throughout the next year, the 13 other substations will be installed at a rate of one a month.
L.B. Foster Company has completed of the sale of Precise Structural Products to Cianbro Fabrication and Coating Corporation. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Precise Structural Products is engaged in manufacturing fabricated steel products for the highway, bridge, transit and construction markets and providing custom fabrication and related services including welding, sawing, cambering, blasting and painting.
United Transportation Union-represented employees of Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway and Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway have ratified new five-year agreements.
The Federal Railroad Administration and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) have issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for two routes connecting the Hampton Roads area to Richmond and the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor in Virginia. The newly identified route south of the James River recommends a new, 90-110 mph alignment from downtown Norfolk through Petersburg to Richmond, while maintaining Amtrak’s current service from Newport News through Williamsburg to Richmond.
The San Diego Trolley’s Green Line will run through Downtown San Diego past the Convention Center and Petco Park all the way to the 12th and Imperial Transit Center starting September 2,
Beginning Monday, September 3, segments of New York City Transit’s 4, 5 and 6 lines will be shut down from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., suspending all Lexington Avenue Line service between Grand Central-42nd Street and Atlantic Avenue in both directions for three consecutive weeknights for FASTRACK work.
Seattle, Wash.-area’s Sound Transit hired Michael Harbour, a 17-year veteran of Olympia’s Intercity Transit, as its deputy CEO.
The Chicago Transit Authority published its first-ever buying plan, designed to preview purchases of services, equipment and commodities the agency anticipates in the next 18 months.
Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), chair of the Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation; John Rockefeller IV (D-WV), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and Dick Durbin, (D-IL), have requested a Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of rail safety and how the Federal Railroad Administration, state rail safety agencies and other stakeholders cooperate to ensure the safety of people and goods. This request comes after multiple high-profile rail accidents in recent weeks.
The Denver, Colo., Regional Transportation District Board of Directors formally approved a current snapshot for implementing the FasTracks program with existing revenues as part of the Denver Regional Council of Government’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). RTD, the Colorado Department of Transportation and all the cities and counties in the region must identify the transportation projects that can be completed within the DRCOG 2035 plan to enable the region to continue receiving federal funding.
California’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s contractor Skanska Shimmick Herzog (SSH), a Joint Venture with LAN/T.Y. Lin, will begin the demolition of existing buildings at the future Milpitas Bay Area Rapid Transit Station located at the southeast corner of Montague Expressway and Capitol Avenue.
In the San Francisco Bay-area, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s Bay Area Rapid Transit Silicon Valley Project was allocated $40 million in Traffic Congestion Relief Program (TCRP) funding by the California Transportation Commission (CTC).
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York has submitted its Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and insurance claims to recover the $65 million in losses it suffered due to flood and wind damage to the regional transit infrastructure related to Tropical Storm Irene, which hit the region on August 28, 2011.
Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray recently joined Congressman John Olver, Congressman Richard Neal and Mayor Alex Morse of Holyoke for a first look at the potential site of the upcoming Holyoke Passenger Rail platform, signifying that construction is now underway to restore passenger rail service along the Connecticut River rail line, known as the Knowledge Corridor.