New South Wales government officials in Australia have announced that the state has acquired Metro Transport Sydney (MTS), the company that owns monorail and light rail operations, in an A$19.8 million (US$20.6 million) deal. The acquisition is part of a plan to redevelop the Darling Harbour Convention Centre and precinct in Sydney, Australia's largest city with a population of roughly 4.6 million.
CN Thursday said it plans to acquire 65 new high-horsepower locomotives, augmenting that purchase with one of 96 second-hand high-horsepower locomotives that will be upgraded, or 161 locomotives in all.
"Temper, temper, Toronto," was my first reaction. Far be it for a Jersey boy to throw stones at Toronto for manners. I'm not Emily Post, and my governor isn't above verbally hailing (or verbally mauling) a military veteran as an "idiot." Still, this week's political fireworks in Toronto City Council chambers, while a victory for passenger rail reason, was pretty tempestuous by anyone's standards, let alone a blow to the U.S.-cherished (and lovingly mocking) idea of Canadian civility.
Florida East Coast Industries, Inc., is developing a plan to own and operate passenger rail service between South Florida and Orlando.
A second day of debate by the Toronto City Council Thursday resulted in the council's affirming more light rail transit (LRT) for Canada's largest city, rejecting Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's preference for subways-only construction.
U.S. freight carload traffic for the week ending March 17, 2012 fell 5.3% compared with the same week in 2011, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday. But U.S. intermodal volume advanced 2% compared with the same week a year ago, continuing the trend of recent weeks.
Caltrain said Thursday a regional agreement between the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) and more than a half-dozen Bay Area public agencies, including Caltrain, " will fully fund the electrification and modernization of the Caltrain system— a long-planned, critically-needed improvement that will dramatically improve the service and help ensure the long-term viability of the commuter rail system."
Class I rail employment numbers released by the Surface Transportation Board show Class I railroads employed 159,333 people in mid-February, up 3.93% from February 2011, and down just 105 positions, or only 0.07%, from January 2012.
Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation late Thursday publicly protested a decision by Norfolk Southern enacting speed restrictions of 25 to 30 mph on NS track between Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor. The decisions slow Amtrak Wolverine Service trains linking Chicago and Detroit from previous speeds of 79 mph; Amtrak advised passengers to expect delays of 45 to 90 minutes more than scheduled running times.
Washington, D.C.-area municipality Alexandria and nearby Arlington County, both in Virginia, are jointly planning a five-mile streetcar line that local media suggest may come to fruition more quickly than the higher-profile Columbia Pike streetcar project.