Canadian efforts to build momentum for high speed rail, particularly between Montreal and Toronto, will be the focus of a second HSR symposium April 25, at the University of Toronto’s Bahen Center in Canada’s largest city.
Detroit's Downtown Development Authority voted March 12 to contribute $9 million to help build M1-Rail, a proposed $120 million, 3.4-mile streetcar route for Downtown Detroit that has incorporated details from two separate streetcar proposals.
Three years after an initial construction attempt was aborted, the 1.3-mile Anacostia streetcar line in southeastern Washington, D.C., is nearing a construction start, according to the District Department of Transportation.
If the New York State Senate continues to balk at a plan to help the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority close a looming $1.2 billion budget gap, the agency's millions of daily rail, subway, and bus riders face fare increases averaging 23% and deep cuts in service.
Federal funds may provide the fiscal spark for a streetcar line in Milwaukee denied the city by state and county planners. Wisconsin U.S. Senators Herb Kohl and David Obey, both Democrats, inserted language in the recently passed $410 billion federal omnibus spending bill identifying $91.5 million for Milwaukee, with roughly $55 million (60%) of that targeted for launching a streetcar project.
The St. Paul, Minn., City Council Wednesday approved the proposed $914 million, 11-mile Central Corridor light rail line linking downtown St. Paul with Minneapolis and the existing Hiawatha Line LRT. The approval makes it more likely that the project will remain on schedule and also receive federal funding.
For months Minnesota Public Radio has protested the routing of St. Paul’s Central Corridor light rail transit line, expressing concerns about vehicle vibrations and other impacts potentially affecting its broadcasting capability. But MPR and the Metropolitan Council Wednesday announced an agreement to pursue mitigation efforts to address any impact on MPR Broadcast Center in the Minnesota state capital.
Flouting traditional routes taken by most state departments of transportation, Maryland transportation officials are emphasizing financing the proposed 16-mile Purple Line light rail project, traversing the northern Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., while demoting two “major” road projects in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
The city of Phoenix has awarded contracts valued at $255 million to Bombardier Transportation for the design, supply, operation, and maintenance of an INOVIA automated people mover (APM) at Sky Harbor International Airport.
The state of Wisconsin will purchase two 14-car train sets from Las Rozas, Spain-based Patentes Talgo SA to replace current equipment used in Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service between Milwaukee and Chicago. The agreement includes an option to buy two more trains if the state gets federal stimulus money to extend rail service from Milwaukee to Madison, the state capital.
Five Amtrak routes have been added to Google Transit, Google's public transportation trip planning function, for trip planning, Amtrak and Google have announced. The routes include: Empire Service (New York-Albany-Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y.); Ethan Allen Express (New York-Albany-Rutland, Vt.); Hiawatha Service trains (Chicago - Milwaukee); Pacific Surfliner Service (San Diego-Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo, Calif.); and San Joaquin service (Oakland-Sacramento-Fresno-Bakersfield, Calif.).
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., officials, racing to comply with a September 15 deadline set by the U.S. Department of Transportation, are scheduled to vote Tuesday on a motion to seek federal stimulus funding for the city’s $124.3 million, 2.7-mile light rail project.
Fulfilling an option it has steadfastly maintained as an option, the University of Minnesota Tuesday filed suit against regional planning agency Metropolitan Council to protect what it says is delicate scientific research equipment from vibrations or electromagnetic interference feared from the 11-mile Central Corridor light rail line in St. Paul.
Siemens Transportation Systems has delivered the first two of nine light rail transit cars to Hampton Roads Transit, as the agency prepares to launch “The Tide” light rail service along its 7.4-mile starter line in Norfolk, Va., roughly one year from now.
Virginia’s Arlington and Fairfax counties, outside Washington, D.C., have pursued the Columbia Pike Streetcar plan, a five-mile route expand rail passenger service from Washington Metro’s Pentagon City Station to Bailey’s Crossroads.
RailComm has successfully commissioned a Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) system for the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s diesel multiple-unit (DMU) rail service in Austin, Tex. The Track Warrant Control portion of the system was launched just 32 days from the signed Notice to Proceed.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle Tuesday announced that Talgo, Inc. (the U.S. subsidiary of Patentes Talgo, S.A.) will locate a U.S. “high speed” rail manufacturing and assembly facility in Milwaukee. Talgo, Inc. will acquire the former Tower Automotive site in the state’s largest city.
Texas’ state capital joined the ranks of U.S. cities with rail service Monday as Austin’s oft-delayed 32-mile Capital Metro Red Line opened for service. An observer on the first train reported approximately 40 “real” people (other than dignitaries and media) boarding the morning’s first train out of Leander, Tex., bound for Austin.
Efforts to establish streetcar or light rail service in Wisconsin’s largest city, stymied for years by state and county opposition, got a boost Thursday when a Milwaukee study committee, in a 3-1 vote, approved preliminary engineering on a $95.8 million streetcar for downtown.
The University of Minnesota has finally reached accord with the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council on construction of the Central Corridor light rail transit line through St. Paul, Minnesota’s state capital.