Railroad News

The Vancouver-area Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation and the province of British Columbia late last week agreed to provide CA$2.5 billion in regional funding for Translink's rail expansions.

To deliver projects in the second phase of Translink's 10-year infrastructure plan, the mayors and the province have proposed a 2 percent increase in transit fares over two years, beginning in 2020. They also proposed increasing parking fares and property taxes.

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) and CSX recently executed a final contract amendment that will enable construction of a new Virginia Railway Express (VRE) station in Prince William County, Virginia.

The new station will be a key component of Potomac Shores' emerging town center. Situated on the banks of the Potomac River 30 miles south of Washington, D.C., the 1,920-acre community is being developed by SunCal, a real estate development company that focuses on large-scale, mixed-use master-planned communities. SunCal is sponsoring the new VRE station's construction.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have called on Amtrak to rename its intermodal station in Rochester after the late U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter.

Slaughter (D-N.Y.) died last week after sustaining injuries from a fall at her home in Washington, D.C. She was 88 and in the midst of her 16th term representing upstate New York in Congress.

The governments of Canada and Ontario late last week signed a bilateral agreement that will provide more than CA$11.8 billion for infrastructure projects over the next decade.

The funding includes up to CA$660 million for the Scarborough subway extension in Toronto, according to a press release issued by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) last week opened the 9.3-mile LYNX Blue Line light-rail extension.

The largest infrastructure project in Charlotte's history, the $1.1 billion extension runs from the 7th Street Station in the Center City area to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus. The project features 11 new stations.

By Michael Popke

Pandrol has signed a contract to manufacture fastening systems for Shanxi Jingshen Railway Co. Ltd. as part of a national infrastructure project in China. Under the agreement, Pandrol will manufacture FC-16 fastenings to cover 144 miles of track  through Menghua to Central china, Pandrol officials said in a press release. In total, the project involves nearly 880,000 fastening rail sets. Financial details of the contract weren't disclosed.

Stantec has opened an office in the town of Whitby in Ontario's Durham Region. The office will offer infrastructure consulting services in the land development, transportation and water sectors. Experts in the Whitby location also will provide building condition audit and environmental services. Stantec's work in the Durham Region include serving as technical adviser on GO Transit's Bowmanville rail expansion and providing engineering peer review for Whitby.

The Port of Los Angeles processed 725,059 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) last month, marking the busiest February in the port's 111-year history.

February's volumes rose 16 percent compared to last year. For the first two months of 2018, overall volumes climbed 5.6 percent compared to the first two months of 2017, which was the port's best year on record, port officials said in a press release.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has launched two new programs designed to improve commuter-rail train arrival information on its website and mobile apps.

Known as TrainLoc and Concentrate, the programs simplify and accelerate the processing capacity of real-time data. With TrainLoc, commuter-rail train locations and predicted arrival times are now current within 10 to 40 seconds, MBTA officials said in a press release.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has begun major construction activity for Construction Package 4, a 22-mile rail segment in Kern County.

This week, crews began foundation work for a bridge that will carry high-speed trains over Garces Highway. Drill rigs and heavy machinery have been placed at the site, where workers have begun drilling shafts 80 feet into the ground, CHSRA officials said in a press release.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this week proposed tripling state funding for New Jersey Transit as part of his $37.4 billion budget plan for fiscal-year 2019.

Under the governor's proposed budget, NJ Transit would receive an additional $242 million to support rail and bus operations for a total of $383 million, NJ.com reported. The funds also would help fill gaps in staffing.

Fatalities caused by railroad trespassing soared 22.3 percent and deaths at grade crossings climbed 7.4 percent in 2017 over the previous year, Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI) announced yesterday.

Citing recently released Federal Railroad Administration statistics, OLI said that 575 people died and another 505 were injured in railroad trespassing incidents in 2017. Another 274 people died in collisions at grade crossings, while another 807 were injured last year.

By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Senior Associate Editor

As many as two-thirds of the 29 commuter railroads required to implement positive train control (PTC) might not meet the federally mandated Dec. 31 deadline or qualify for an extension, according to a new U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.

By Dan Perley 

Metrolink yesterday rolled out a new blog to share news and information with riders and stakeholders.

A digital extension of the railroad's on-train newsletter, the "Metrolink Matters" blog will feature weekly articles ranging from safety reminders to service updates.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) will host a workshop in Nags Head next month on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) — also known as drones — for commercial and government operators

The April 19 workshop will provide an opportunity for attendees to learn more about how emerging UAS technology can benefit their operations, NCDOT officials said in a press release.