Virgin Trains USA (formerly Brightline) recently broke ground on 170 miles of new track in the intermodal facility located in the South Terminal at the Orlando International Airport as part of the company’s Phase 2 expansion into Central Florida.
Mosaic Transit Group (MTG) has awarded Thales a contract for a SelTrac™ Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signaling system for the new Finch West LRT in northwest Toronto. MTG’s contract is a DBFM (design, build, finance, maintain) project awarded by Metrolinx, with the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) as operator. The project is slated for completion and revenue service in 2023, and includes a 30-year maintenance service contract that will be performed by MTG.
James Grice, a second-year University of Kent (Britain) Business School BSc (Bachelor of Science) Management student, has launched a new iPhone app designed to help make rail travel more accessible for blind and visually impaired travelers by alerting them when their train is nearing a station stop, ensuring that they don’t miss it.
Focused Technology Solutions, Inc. (FTS) recently announced that Kirk Kreisher has joined the company as Vice President of Sales.
RAILWAY AGE, JUNE 2019 ISSUE: Toronto’s unprecedented growth has spurred conversations on new ways to approach Transit-Oriented Development, with lessons for both Canada and the U.S.
The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA) named Rob Padgette to be its new Managing Director, effective July 1, 2019. He will oversee management and operations of the 170-mile Capitol Corridor regional/commuter rail system, replacing David Kutrosky, who is stepping down after nearly 10 years at the helm, Padgette first joined the CCJPA as Deputy Managing Director in January 2018.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) just announced that the Transbay Corridor Core Capacity project will receive a Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 funding allocation of $300 million through the FTA’s Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program.
In honor of National Indigenous Peoples Day, Operation Lifesaver Canada (OL) has unveiled new rail-safety resources—Indigenous Outreach—intended specifically for Indigenous communities.
In response to the Federal Railroad Administration canceling a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would require a two-person crew in locomotives, the state of Ohio is upping the stakes.
The Twin Cities & Western Railroad Co. has promoted Tina Ryberg to Assistant Vice President Administration and Operations, based at the railroad’s headquarters in Glencoe, Minn. Ryberg oversees multiple departments including transportation/operations, maintenance-of-way, mechanical, safety, accounting, human resource, and administration.
Surface Transportation Board (STB) staff recently released a rate reform report with a series of recommendations. Readers should remember that before any of those recommendations become regulations, the Board must conduct rulemakings. This process could extend beyond 2020 and into the next Administration.
Around 1900, sharp operators in New York City would fleece tourists by offering to sell them the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge, which still impresses and inspires New Yorkers and visitors today, was a marvel of its age and towered over everything else on the Manhattan or Brooklyn sides of the East River when it opened for service in 1883. Today, there are still people who have a bridge to sell us; two bridges, in fact. They want transit riders and taxpayers in New York and New Jersey to spend more than $3 billion to replace one bridge with two. They also say that replacing a two-track bridge with another two-track bridge will expand capacity sufficiently to qualify for a grant program established specifically for that purpose.
WATCHING WASHINGTON, JUNE 2019 – Here we go again with Amtrak. While complaining that host freight railroads unreasonably impair its legal right to passenger-train priority handling, Amtrak is employing thug-like tactics to escape federal law and extract greater rents and other concessions from commuter-train operators utilizing Amtrak infrastructure including track and stations.
If one looks at recent developments, the Federal Railroad Administration’s withdrawal of the two-person-crew-minimum NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking), it may seem “logical” to say the march toward one-person crews is accelerating. However, that may be an illusion.
In Part 2 of “Gateway – The Series,” authored by Contributing Editor David Peter Alan, the implication is made that all rail advocates support a two-track replacement of Portal Bridge as well as foregoing the Gateway Project by adopting the “L-Train Tunnel” solution advocated by Columbia University engineers to repair the existing 100-plus-year-old Hudson River tunnels.
