After months of having to endure mostly cold boxed food—what some critics dubbed “Unhappy Meals”—on two Amtrak long-distance route, the New York-Chicago Lake Shore Limited (Trains 48/448 and 49/449) and the Washington D.C.-Chicago Capitol Limited (Trains 29 and 30), sleeping car passengers on those trains now have can choose from several hot food choices on the menu.
Five nominations for rail transportation federal leadership posts were announced Jan. 16 by President Trump. All are nominees from the previous session of Congress, and were cleared by respective Senate oversight committees for confirmation on the Senate floor—but none advanced for a floor vote prior to the Senate adjourning.
Apparently, only as a fortunate consequence of the partial federal government shutdown, the U.S. Senate returned to the Administration its three proposed appointees to Amtrak’s Board of Directors. Rather than an outright rejection, a fair question would be: Does the U.S. Senate operate in such a bubble that it acts like the House of Romanov that everything is fine with Amtrak? Is the Senate in such bi-partisan denial that it does not see Amtrak as a failing State-Owned Enterprise (SOE)?
A joint venture of of Mott McDonald and PGH Wong Engineering has won the contract to provide general engineering services for Phase II of the 16-mile, six-station Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Silicon Valley Extension, which when completed will connect Fremont (Warm Springs) with San José and Santa Clara.
Voith Turbo, Inc. has named railway industry veteran Garrett Goll Director of Rail, North America. He will be based at the company’s York, Pa., North American headquarters.
Engineering giant WSP USA is expected to give its support to a controversial plan to repair the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s storm-damaged Canarsie Tunnel without shutting down L Train service.
Veteran transportation executive Sandy Bushue leads the new Washington D.C. office of national passenger and freight rail and rail transit firm Quandel Consultants. Bushue, the former Acting and Deputy Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, will identify national business development opportunities and also help the firm with strategic management initiatives.
New Jersey calls itself “The Crossroads of the Revolution” in its promotional literature and advertisements. Not only was it centrally located during America’s War for Independence, but its troops under George Washington were tested against both the heat and the British at the Battle of Monmouth in June, 1778 and against the coldest winter of the century, 1779-80, at Morristown. Both times, and on other occasions, it met the challenges and went on to help establish our nation.
The first Bombardier Flexity Freedom LRV for Toronto’s new Eglinton Crosstown LRT arrived Tuesday, Jan. 8., on the property. Meanwhile, delivery of the Toronto Transit Commission’s much-delayed order of Flexity Outlook LRVs has improved since the opening in 2018 of a second production line at the company’s Millhaven, Ont., plant.
Mike Wongkaew, Ph.D., PE, SE, PMP, has joined HNTB Corp.’s National Tunnel Group as National Tunnel Practice Lead-Northwest and Associate Vice President.
