Railway Age Announces 2021 ‘Fast Trackers’ 20 Under 40 Honorees
Railway Age is honoring 20 “Fast Trackers” from a pool of more than 100 strong nominations for this year’s 20 Under 40 awards program.
Railway Age is honoring 20 “Fast Trackers” from a pool of more than 100 strong nominations for this year’s 20 Under 40 awards program.
Five commuter rail agencies will receive a total of $40.26 million in grants for highway/rail grade crossing improvements from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The awards are part of round one of the Commuter Authority Rail Safety Improvement (CARSI) Grants Program.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board on Dec. 16 agreed on a 2021 budget and 2021-24 financial plan that assumes federal relief will arrive—despite Congress’ continuing debate on the next COVID-19 relief package. Officials said the budget assumes MTA will receive $4.5 billion as part of that package.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority outlined a “worst-case” 2021 spending plan at its Nov. 18 Board meeting. Proposed are service reductions of 40% across subways and buses, and of 50% across Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad (MNR), with layoffs of nearly 9,400. Also on continued pause: MTA’s $51.5 billion capital plan. The moves could go forward in absence of $12 billion in federal aid, MTA said.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded grants to California’s North County Transit District (NCTD; $9.8 million), the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and Amtrak ($144 million), and New Jersey Transit ($18.3 million) under the FY 2020 Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair program.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) will distribute $1 billion among 70 surface transportation infrastructure projects in 44 states through its Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Discretionary Grants program. The Fiscal Year 2020 program is for planning and capital investments.
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has made “major progress on implementing Positive Train Control (PTC) on MTA Long Island Rail Road and MTA Metro-North Railroad, reaffirming both railroads will be in full PTC operations by the end of 2020.”
Officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced ridership on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) was 28,089 on June 8, the first day of New York City’s Phase 1 reopening, totaling 13% of the agency’s pre-pandemic ridership figures, up from 3% mid-pandemic.
The presidents of MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and MTA Metro-North Railroad have announced that Positive Train Control (PTC) has been activated on the majority of their tracks, and both railroads remain on pace to complete system-wide activation of PTC by the end of 2020 as required under a Federal legislation.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on April 20 announced that the number of employees who have returned to work following mandatory quarantines is now higher than those still out on quarantine. System-wide, 5,033 employees have returned to work, compared with 4,112 employees currently out on quarantine.