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Commuter Rail

MARTA Moving Forward with Transit-Oriented Development

ATLANTA — MARTA recently release a Request For Qualifications (RFQ) to identify a master development partner to help create a new Transit-Oriented Development at the King Memorial rail station in Downtown Atlanta. The RFQ is the initial phase of a two-step process wherein potential development partners will be asked to respond to MARTA’s qualification criteria for its TOD program. A short list of firms who satisfy the criteria will subsequently be invited to submit formal bids on the project as part of a future Request for Proposals (RFP). MARTA selected King Memorial Station as the first of five transit-oriented developments

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Commuter Rail

SEPTA Sets Record for Regional Rail Ridership

PHILADELPHIA — SEPTA set a new Regional Rail ridership record, with 36,023,000 trips taken by customers during Fiscal Year 2013, the Authority announced last month. Fiscal Year 2013 was the 12-month period from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013. Ridership on SEPTA’s 13 Regional Rail lines increased by 2.2 percent over the course of the year. System-wide, SEPTA recorded 337.3 million trips during the year on its trains, buses and trolleys. While total ridership was down slightly from the 339.3 million trips in Fiscal Year 2012, the numbers for FY 2013 were impacted by a two-day shutdown due to

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Commuter Rail

R Montague tubes close for 14 months of Sandy-related repairs

MTA New York City Transit has started so-called “Fix&Fortify” work to the R Subway Line Icon Montague Tubes. The work, which began Aug. 2, will last for 14 months. The MTA is well into the most extensive and wide-ranging reconstruction effort in its history after Superstorm Sandy decimated the subway system last fall. The Greenpoint and Montague Tubes suffered extensive damage during the storm, when they were flooded with salt water along with seven other interborough subway tubes. The work amounts to a near rebuilding of the link which connects Downtown Brooklyn with Lower Manhattan. The work will be completed

Commuter Rail

N.J. Transit approves FY 2014 budget with no fare increase

NEWARK, N.J. — The N.J. Transit Board of Directors last month approved a Fiscal Year 2014 operating budget that calls for no fare increase for the fourth consecutive fiscal year. The budget also includes a capital program to supports continued investments in infrastructure and equipment to maintain the system in a state of good repair and improve the overall customer experience. “This budget will enable us to maintain and enhance New Jersey’s robust transportation system while responding to the needs of the customers who rely on our service to conduct life’s daily business,” N.J. Transit Executive Director James Weinstein said

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Amtrak

Amtrak’s new ACS-64 locomotives undergoing testing in Colorado

PHILADELPHIA — Amtrak’s next generation of locomotives are undergoing “rigorous” testing before they enter regular service next fall. A pair of the Amtrak Cities Sprinter (ACS-64) electric locomotives are being put through the paces at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) facility in Pueblo, Colo., while a third locomotive will run field tests on the Northeast and Keystone corridors this summer. A fourth will be tested in a climate-controlled chamber to see how it reacts to the extreme temperatures — both hot and cold — it might see while in service. The new ACS-64 locomotives, built by Siemens Mobility, will replace