Regulatory

BART on April 20 will hold a retirement ceremony and final dispatch of its legacy trains that have been in service for more than half a century. The event, “Riding into History: Final Run of the First Fleet,” will take place at Oakland’s MacArthur Station.

Transit Briefs: BART, Denver RTD, Metra, Sound Transit

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) will fully retire its legacy trains next month and is advancing a systemwide fare gates project. Also, Denver (Colo.) Regional Transit District (RTD) launches an elevator pilot program and joins the White House’s “Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose” initiative; Chicago’s Metra plans a new layover yard near the McHenry County community; and Seattle’s Sound Transit will test new Link LRV (light rail vehicle) seat material.

STB Denies UP’s Motion to Keep Employment Data Confidential

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) on March 14 announced that it has denied a motion for protective order filed by Union Pacific (UP) to keep certain required, temporary employment data reporting confidential. STB also directs UP to submit public versions of previously submitted data.

In August 2021, the STB Office of Environmental Analysis issued a Final EIS for the project, identifying the 88-mile Whitmore Park Alternative as the environmentally preferred route for the Uinta Basin Railway, one of three analyzed. It would extend from two terminus points in northeastern Utah’s Uinta Basin near Myton and Leland Bench to a connection with the existing Union Pacific Provo Subdivision near Kyune (see map above).

Will SCOTUS Review Uinta Basin Railway Case?

Utah’s Seven County Infrastructure Coalition has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision that “derailed” the Uinta Basin Railway project, according to Colorado Newsline. The Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) December

The Southern Rail Commission is one of three entities receiving funding through the FRA’s FY 2022-23 Interstate Rail Compacts (IRC) Grant Program to advance passenger rail.

FRA Awards Inaugural IRC Grants

Three entities will share $900,000 in Interstate Rail Compacts (IRC) Grant Program funding from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to help improve and expand passenger rail networks in the Midwest, South and Southeast.