LOS ANGELES — The LA Metro board of directors on Thursday approved construction of a 19.3-mile light rail line, following a former Pacific Electric route, to connect downtown Los Angeles to the southeast LA County city of Artesia. The Los Angeles Daily News reports the new line, called the West Santa Ana Branch, will cost […]
ST. PAUL, Minn. — With one senator calling the project “a boondoggle of historic proportions,” a bipartisan group of Minnesota state legislators is calling for an audit of a light rail project that has soared in cost and is now projected to open four years late. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports the legislators are calling […]
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority board of directors has approved a staff plan for a one-time transfer of $500 million from its operating budget to its capital budget for projects including a collision-avoidance system on the rapid transit Green Line and Automatic Train Control on the MBTA commuter rail system. CommonWealth Magazine reports […]
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland’s Board of Public Works has approved the $3.4 billion contract to complete the troubled Purple Line light rail project, allowing construction on the 16-mile line to resume this spring. The Washington Post reports the $3.4 billion figure includes $1.1 billion in work that has already been completed, as well as the […]
ROCKLAND, Maine — New York’s Finger Lakes Railway has proposed offering daily passenger train service between Rockland and Brunswick, Maine, to provide a connection to Amtrak’s Downeaster. The Courier-Gazette of Camden, Maine, reports the company made the proposal at a Monday meeting of the Northern New England Rail Passenger Authority, which oversees Downeaster operations. The […]
MONTREAL — The organization building the REM de l’Est rail transit project has reached agreement with Canadian National to purchase a section of right-of-way, allowing it to relocate part of its route away from a major commercial corridor. CDPQ Infra, the public-works contracting arm of public pension organization Caisse dépôt et placement du Québec, said […]
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Brightline has broken ground on its new station in Boca Raton, Fla., which will become the passenger operator’s fifth station on its route between Miami and West Palm Beach. The 38,000-square-foot station is located adjacent to the city’s library and across from Mizner Park, and is expected to be completed this […]
NEW YORK — Responding to an upswing in subway crime — including incidents, some fatal, in which people have been shoved off platforms onto the tracks in front of oncoming trains — New York City politicians are calling for the introduction of platform gates to keep passengers from falling onto the right-of-way. Such gates are […]
ORLANDO, Fla. — Travelers planning to take Amtrak between Washington, D.C., and Florida now have two choices: The Miami-New York Silver Star, which also serves Tampa and Orlando, and Auto Train, operating from Sanford, Fla. (near Orlando), and Lorton, Va., just south of the Nation’s Capital. A third choice, the Miami-New York Silver Meteor, has been […]
NEWINGTON, Conn. — Connecticut will add additional CTrail trains on the Hartford line as of today (Monday, Jan. 24) to offset the loss of service resulting from Amtrak cuts, while other Amtrak trains will be replaced by bus service, the state Department of Transportation announced. Amtrak announced cuts to its Springfield Shuttle and other service […]
DEL MAR, Calif. — After a lengthy but unsuccessful effort to negotiate an agreement, the San Diego’s North County Transit District has voted to proceed with plans to install a safety fence along its tracks on the coastal Del Mar Bluffs. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the district board voted 7-0 on Jan. 20 to […]
PORT CLINTON, Pa. — Railroad Historians of the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society are sponsoring a branchline excursion using Reading & Northern’s Budd RDCs on Saturday, April 23. The fundraising trip will cover Reading & Northern’s main line and branches, which include trackage from the Reading, Jersey […]
