All North America articles – Page 13
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News4Transit awarded C$300m Toronto RER contract
CANADA: The 4Transit joint venture of Hatch, Parsons, and WSP Canada has been awarded a C$300m contract to provide technical advisory services for two major work packages within transport agency Metrolinx’s Regional Express Rail programme to upgrade the rail network in the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area. ‘This massive transformation ...
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SMART commuter rail line opens
USA: Celebrations on August 25 marked the opening of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District commuter line in the North Bay area of California. T-shirts and free travel were offered on the first day, followed by half-price travel until the introduction of normal fares on September 5. SMART runs for ...
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Knoxville Locomotive Works obtains Tier 4 certification
USA: Knoxville Locomotive Works has obtained EPA Tier 4 emission certification for its SE Series of four-axle and six-axle diesel locomotives. KLW produces remanufactured locomotives based on EMD and GE components and new MTU engines. The Tier 4 certification includes shunting locomotives rated at 2 000, 2 200 and 2 ...
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Texas-Mexico rail border facility upgraded
NORTH AMERICA: Kansas City Southern, US Customs Border Protection and Mexican customs agency SAT inaugurated a joint rail freight processing facility at the Laredo border crossing in Texas on August 17. The facility enables Mexican export processing to be undertaken at the US railhead, ...
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Railways prepare for total solar eclipse
USA: Amtrak is to run a special train on August 21 to enable people to reach one of the best locations for viewing the first total solar eclipse to be visible from the continental USA since 1979, and the first to be visible coast-to-coast since 1918. The Eclipse ...
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High speed rail promoter Texas Central selects planning and construction contractors
USA: Privately-financed high speed line project promoter Texas Central has appointed Fluor Enterprises and The Lane Construction Corp to refine the construction planning, scheduling and cost estimates for the project, and to support procurement. It is envisaged that the two contractors would also design and build the project following financial ...
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Penn Station co-ordination review
USA: Amtrak announced on August 9 that it had commissioned an independent review of the way in which the three railroads serving New York’s Penn Station work together. The objective is to improve the ‘design, functionality, communications and co-ordination’ of the passenger facilities. While Amtrak is the station owner, commuter ...
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Alameda Corridor East grade separation trench opens
USA: A 2·3 km long, 9 m deep and 20 m wide cutting built at cost of $313m as part of a grade separation project designed to ease traffic congestion in the San Gabriel Valley east of downtown Los Angeles was officially opened by the Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority on ...
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Federal funding to revive border crossing
USA: Texas Department of Transportation has a received a US$7m grant from the US Department of Transportation towards a US$16∙2m ‘public and private partnership’ to replace the bridge connecting Presidio with Ojinaga in Mexico, and upgrade 115 km of the connecting South Orient Rail Line. The bridge has been closed ...
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Amtrak and Lyft announce partnership
USA: Passengers can now use the Amtrak mobile app to access rideshare company Lyft’s app to book first and last mile travel to and from a station. Announcing the partnership on August 1, Amtrak said Lyft operates in more than 360 locations, covering 80% of the population and 97% of ...
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Stadler completes first US-assembled Flirt
USA: Stadler has completed the first Flirt multiple-unit to be assembled in the USA at its plant at North Salt Lake in Utah. The DMU for the TEX Rail project will be officially unveiled at the ATPA Expo in Atlanta in October. In 2015 the Fort Worth Transportation Authority ...
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Connecticut awards Hartford Line operating contract
USA: Connecticut Department of Transportation has awarded a joint venture of TransitAmerica Services and Alternate Concepts a $45m contract to operate CTrail Hartford Line commuter services between New Haven, Hartford and Springfield for five years from the expected launch in May 2018. TASI/ACI will be responsible for operating the ...
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GE Transportation to end locomotive production in Erie
USA: GE Transportation announced on July 27 that it intends to transfer the production of locomotives from Erie, Pennsylvania, to Fort Worth in Texas. The move is planned by the end of 2018, and would see the loss of up to 575 jobs in Erie. The proposal is subject to ...
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Seattle welcomes BiLevel cab car
USA: The first of nine Bombardier BiLevel cab cars ordered by Sound Transit in 2014 arrived in Seattle on July 24. It is due to enter passenger service in September. Sound Transit ordered the vehicles to augment its fleet of 18 Bombardier cab cars that entered service in 2000-03, ...
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Metrolinx launches search for Toronto Regional Express Rail operator
CANADA: Greater Toronto transport agency Metrolinx has begun the process to appoint an ‘experienced’ operator to support planning and implementation of the GO Regional Express Rail project and subsequently take responsibility for operation of the services. The existing operations and maintenance contract with Bombardier is expected to remain in place ...
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Work begins to electrify Caltrain
USA: California Governor Jerry Brown was among those present at a ceremony at Millbrae station on June 21 to mark the start of work on the Caltrain Electrification Project. ‘Today marks the beginning of a faster, cleaner, better Caltrain, a Caltrain that will allow tens of thousands of people ...
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Alpenglow Rail acquires its first short line
CANADA: Alpenglow Rail announced the acquisition of its first rail business on July 12. VIP Rail is based at Sarnia in Ontario’s Chemical Valley region, and provides shunting, transloading, warehousing, road haulage and wagon storage, cleaning and repair services. Denver-based Alpenglow Rail was founded by former OmniTRAX executives Rich Montgomery, ...
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Saskatchewan sells grain wagon fleet
CANADA: Three short lines in Saskatchewan have agreed to purchase Saskatchewan Grain Car Corp’s fleet of 898 hopper wagons from the provincial government for C$9·7m, an average of C$10 800 per wagon. The government decided to leave the wagon business and began the process of selling the wagons in March, ...
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Environmental survey marks Northeast Corridor progress
USA: The Federal Railroad Administration on July 12 released a Record of Decision marking completion of a Tier 1 environmental review of the Northeast Corridor under the National Environmental Policy Act. This establishes a long-term planning framework for the 735 km corridor linking Boston with Washington DC, along which a ...
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World rail freight news round-up
The Port of Tilbury has set out plans to ‘reinvigorate‘ its rail connections including the introduction of regular intermodal services to the Midlands and Scotland, the creation of a dedicated bulk terminal, and establishing a rail connection into the planned Tilbury2 terminal. ‘Tilbury is making the most of its ...
