ANNAPOLIS, Md. - ARINC Incorporated announced it has won a contract to design and deliver a Centralized Electrification and Traffic Control (CETC) System for Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Operations. The project is part of a major Amtrak infrastructure improvement program for the Northeast Corridor.

The new CETC system will have the capability to operate the entire Northeast Corridor from any of several centers located throughout the Northeast, and will support train dispatching from Washington D.C. to Boston.

In addition to Amtrak trains, the system will be used to dispatch freight traffic for Norfolk Southern and CSX, and commuter trains for Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, MARC, New Jersey Transit, and Virginia Railway Express.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - California has allocated $25 million from Proposition 1B transit funds to cover the cost of signal improvements and sidings north of San Luis Obispo toward San Francisco, the New Times reported. Amtrak's Coast Starlight presently uses the route, but backers of the funding are pushing for a new train to San Francisco, named for Southern Pacific's old Coast Daylight.

While any new service is likely several years off, local transportation officials have been pushing for funding to improve Union Pacific's ex-SP route in preparation for future service. The San Luis Obispo Council of Governments lobbied for the funding. This is the same group that in the early 1990s successfully promoted the idea of extending Pacific Surfliner service north to San Luis Obispo, connecting the city with Los Angeles and San Diego.

A special party for passenger trains is planned for National Train Day tomorrow at the San Luis Obispo Amtrak station. The date marks the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. From noon to 4 p.m., participants view railroad photography, scale model train displays, and can meet with a volunteer host to plan trips. Four trains are scheduled to arrive and depart during the afternoon.

OMAHA - Union Pacific's capacity at the Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico, rail border crossing has increased due to an extended hours-of-operation test authorized by U.S. and Mexican customs officials.

Extending the hours that custom officials inspect freight cars began a trial period on April 16 and is scheduled to conclude on July 15, 2008. During the first weekend, April 19-20, an additional 800 cars above the weekend average year-to-date for 2008 (67 percent higher), passed through the gateway.

Eagle Pass is Union Pacific's second largest Mexican gateway. UP interchanges with the Ferrocarril Mexicano (Ferromex) at the Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras crossing. Finished vehicles, vehicle parts, beer and grain are the primary commodities transported to and from Mexico through the gateway.

GEORGETOWN, Colo. - The troubled Georgetown Loop tourist railroad, which last year opened two weeks late, was shut down for 26 days and saw ridership hit an all-time low, will be overseen this season by the Federal Railroad Administration. The FRA informed Loop operator Railstar last month that it will be overseeing operations this season, the Clear Creek Courant reported.

The FRA forced Railstar to dismantle 2-6-0 No. 12 to perform an ultrasound on the boiler, but the engine's return to operation has not been set. "They are running enough trains that we believe they should be subject to our reporting requirements," FRA spokesman Warren Flatau told the Courant. "As the popularity of these operations grows, so too has the scope of operations."?
For years, railroads like the Loop were considered "insular" because they were not connected to the national railway system, and the FRA left the operations alone.

MINNEAPOLIS - Twin City Rapid Transit Company No. 1300, operated by the Minnesota Streetcar Museum in Minneapolis, turns 100 years old this year. The car was turned out by TCRT's Snelling Avenue Shops in April 1908, and has been going strong ever since. It is one of only two cars that survived the abandonment of Twin Cities streetcar service in 1954 intact. The other car, No. 1267, was recently restored by the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The car was rebuilt several times over its service life and in 1954 was donated by TCRT to the Minnesota Railfans Association. It was picked up from the Snelling Shops and hauled by a Milwaukee Road freight train to storage on a Minneapolis-Moline spur track in Hopkins, Minn., then in 1962 was moved to the Minnesota Transfer roundhouse in St. Paul. The Minnesota Transportation Museum was formed to restore the car, and in 1963 it operated on short rides over the Minnesota Transfer that drew hundreds of riders. The MTM then searched for a site to run the car, and found an intact section of streetcar right of way near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, where No. 1300 was moved in 1971. Since then several other Twin Cities streetcars, including No. 1239 and PCC car No. 322 have been restored, and the Minnesota Streetcar Museum was formed and separated from the original MTM, which operates the Jackson Street Roundhouse in St. Paul and a tourist railroad in Osceola, Wis.

A birthday celebration for car 1300 is planned for July and a kick-off party is being planned for early June. Go to www.trolleyride.org for more information.