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.

The TransLink Mayors' Council and the government of British Columbia have agreed on a plan to fund the CA$2.5 billion (US$1.91 billion) regional share of the Phase Two Plan for infrastructure.

TransLink describes the 10-year Phase Two Plan as a historic investment in the region's transit and transportation system and, once implemented, will help meet current and future demand. TransLink reported a six-percent increase in transit ridership in 2017 and expects the demand to increase as the region is expected to add more than 1 million people in the next 30 years.

The TransLink Mayors' Council and the government of British Columbia have agreed on a plan to fund the CA$2.5 billion (US$1.91 billion) regional share of the Phase Two Plan for infrastructure.

TransLink describes the 10-year Phase Two Plan as a historic investment in the region's transit and transportation system and, once implemented, will help meet current and future demand. TransLink reported a six-percent increase in transit ridership in 2017 and expects the demand to increase as the region is expected to add more than 1 million people in the next 30 years.

A Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) has been released for a Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority (LACMTA) project that will speed the turnaround time Red and Purple line trains need at Union Station, which will allow more of these trains along the lines.

Studying the potential of connecting Canada to the Pacific Northwest through ultra-high-speed rail service received a sign of support with the government of British Columbia agreeing to help fund analysis of such service.

The CA$300,000 (US$229,232) pledge will go toward an in-depth study with Washington state on the concept of rail service that would cut travel times between Vancouver and Seattle to about 60 minutes, which is down from the current three hours.

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.

Public transit officials nationwide spoke out at a March 19 press briefing to express strong opposition to deep cuts to public transit in the Trump Administration's proposed budget for fiscal year 2019.

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.

Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) opened an extension to its 15km (9.3-mile) Lynx Blue Line light rail line on March 16.

The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is planning the first dedicated high-speed rail system in the U.S. When completed, it will enable passengers to travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours, at speeds greater than 200 mph.

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.