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While it is impossible to summarize the rail industry’s year in a single article, there were certain key stories and themes worth highlighting. Given the amount of material, let’s get right to it. Some of these stories will be addressed in greater depth in the Top 5 stories of the year countdown that begins Saturday, […]
PIERRE, S.D. — Genesee & Wyoming’s Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad is proposing to buy two sections of state-owned rail lines totaling 19.5 miles from the state of South Dakota. At a Dec. 17 meeting of the state Railroad Board and Railroad Authority, the RCP&E proposed to pay $3.125 million for 4.2 miles of […]
WASHINGTON — Improvement of communications with project partners and within the company could help Amtrak reduce risks in its role in the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project, as could better management of project documents, the Amtrak Office of Inspector General says in a report issued today (Dec. 17). The report did find that the company […]
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — Union Pacific has completed expansion of its Gasa Grande Yard, doubling capacity at the facility about 70 miles west of Tucson on the railroad’s Gila Subdivision. The project added four tracks and a new industrial lead, and included a powered switch, a new yard control point, and upgraded mainline signals. “The […]
NEW YORK — Amtrak and Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials say the East River tunnel rehabilitation project is on schedule after six months, with repairs on the first of two tunnels to be completed by July. The operators addressed progress on the tunnel project with local media on Wednesday (Dec. 10), with Laura Mason, Amtrak executive […]
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Sound Transit celebrated the opening of the 7.8-mile, three-station extension of its Link light rail Line 1 on Saturday, Dec. 6, marking the fifth addition to the Link system in three years. A ribbon-cutting at the new Federal Way Downtown station was followed by the beginning of service about 11 a.m., […]
WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration today (Dec. 5) approved a five-year waiver allowing expanded use of automatic track inspection, ending a long period when the FRA had not acted on requests regarding the technology. In a letter to the Association of American Railroads, Karl Alexy, the FRA’s chief safety officer, said the FRA’s Railroad Safety […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has launched a new online dashboard to monitor its capital projects, allowing viewers to see what is being built or replaced, the project budget, spending thus far, and the expected completion date. The Capital Program Dashboard, now available here in a Beta version, addresses projects on the Long […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California High Speed Rail Authority this week issued a Request For Proposals for the contract to build track and related systems for the 119-mile first segment of the project, between Merced and Bakersfield. The $3.5 billion contract will be one of the nation’s largest for rail infrastructure. Proposals from interested companies […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has completed more than 28 miles of rail replacement on its Fairmount Line, part of work in preparation for the eventual launch of battery-electric train service on the 9.2-mile, nine-station commuter line between South Station and Readville, Mass. Service on the route, which has been modified since the […]
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority would have to reduce Long Island Rail Road service into New York’s Penn Station to accommodate its proposal for temporary Metro-North service on its Penn Access route through the Bronx, according to Amtrak — which MTA CEO Janno Lieber says is not an option. In a paywalled article, […]
CHICAGO — Some projects of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency, or CREATE, program are begun and completed with relatively limited fanfare. That is certainly not the case with the Forest Hill Flyover, which carries the tracks of CSX Transportation over lines used by Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, the Belt Railway of Chicago, and […]
