The Surface Transportation Board on March 17 announced that Vice Chairman Francis P. Mulvey has been named Acting Chairman of the agency by President Obama, succeeding former Chairman Charles D. Nottingham. Nottingham plans
Italy’s Trenitalia has awarded a contract to GE Transportation worth an estimated $60 million for the design, supply, and installation of 400 onboard SSC (Sistema di Supporto alla Condotta) train-protection systems for passenger and freight diesel locomotives. Trenitalia is the operating company of Italian State Railways.
Systra Consulting Inc. has released some details of its ongoing study for light rail transit on Staten Island, in advance of the study’s completion, expected at the end of April. Systra is
BNSF’s Amarillo Yard in Texas has added RailComm’s automation system to control derails. RailComm’s outdoor-rated Operator Control Panel provides wireless remote control to severalbi-directional derail locations within the yard. Proximity Detection Loops
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.
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.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority opened its $530 million new South Ferry Station in lower Manhattan to customers March 16 following the morning rush hour, with Gov. David Paterson the first official customer to pass through the station’s turnstiles.
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.
The on-again/off-again scheduled debut of Austin, Tex.’s Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority service is off again, at least for regularly scheduled revenue service. Though a ceremonial launch is still slated for Saturday, March 28, regular service won’t commence until sometime in April.
The images are stark and disturbing: Freight cars rocking and rolling down a rickety right-of-way. Derailed equipment. Loose rail joints. Soggy, cracked ties.
By Tony Kruglinski I don’t think it will be much of a stretch to tell you that nearly all of the questions I have been fielding lately have to do with the
Karen J. Rae, a transportation executive with nearly 30 years’ state and regional experience, has been named the Federal Railroad Administration’s Deputy Administrator. Rae is currently Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Planning
By William C. Vantuono, Editor March 2009 Economists tell us that to pull the economy out of recession, we need to start spending big dollars on all sorts of projects. That’s what
Ansaldo STS has received an order worth 220 million euros (284 million) to supply electromechanical equipment for the Taipei Metro in Taiwan’s capital. The project, which also includes AnsaldoBreda in the vehicles
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.
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.
Railroad officers attending the JP Morgan Transportation conference in New York Wednesday expressed optimism that the slide in railroad traffic has been arrested, but in their presentations expressed deepening concern that re-regulation sentiment is growing in Congress and could slow railroad recovery.
U.S. freight traffic completed the first week of March with an estimated volume of 29.2 billion ton-miles, off 13.9% from the comparable first week of March 2008, the Association of American Railroads reported. U.S. carload freight declined 15.0% for the week ended March 7 compared with the comparable period of one year ago, slipping 11.9% in the West and 19.5% in the East. U.S. intermodal volume declined 12.7% compared with year-ago levels.
Following an infusion of $1.3 billion in capital (over and above the $13 billion over five years authorized last year) and indirect access to $8 billion in state-administered funds under President Obama’s economic stimulus program, Amtrak President and CEO Joseph Boardman is faced with determining how best to invest this near-windfall within a relatively short time frame.
Virginia’s Arlington County, west of Washington, D.C., is set to commit $3 million for environmental planning and preliminary design of the Columbia Pike Streetcar, expected to cost $120 million. The county board is expected to approve the measure.
