Thursday morning rail news:
— Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Patrick J. Foye suggested in a Wednesday news conference that the “failings” of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contributed to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, which has killed at least 83 MTA workers. Specifically, the New York Daily News reports, when asked if he regretted the MTA’s response to the pandemic, he referred instead to the CDC’s initial guidance that workers need not wear protective face masks. “I regret that the CDC and the World Health Organization gave the advice that they did,” Foye said. “I do regret that they gave that advice to the entire country. I think that everybody in the country regrets the failings of the CDC.”
— The California High Speed Rail Authority is releasing a Draft Environmental Document for a 90-mile segment from Santa Clara to Merced County, the first such document for a Northern California portion of the high speed rail project. The document, for part of the 145-mile San Jose-to-Merced section of the project, will be available for public comment on Friday, April 24. In a press release, Authority CEO Brian Kelly called the release “an important milestone” showing continued progress on the system. The segment included in the document passes in or near the communities of Santa Clara, San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, and Los Banos. Public hearings and open-house meetings on the document are scheduled in San Jose, Gilroy, and Los Banos, but may be online or teleconference meetings only because of the COVID-19 virus. Check the Authority website for more information.
— The Union Pacific Historical Society has cancelled its 2020 convention, set for May 13-16 in Cheyenne, Wyo., because of COVID-19 virus concerns. The convention will be rescheduled for Cheyenne in 2022; the 2021 convention is scheduled to be held in Pasco, Wash. The society will refund registration automatically. A message on the society’s website says its election and annual membership meeting will likely be held electronically; information on that is still to come.
