Articles by Railfanning.org News Wire

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Commuter Rail

U.S. Transportation Secretary Announces $280 Million for Streetcars

December 3, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the availability of $280 million for urban circulator projects such as streetcars, buses, and bus facilities to support communities, expand business opportunities and improve people’s quality of life while also creating jobs. The money represents the first batch of taxpayers’ money by the Obama Administration for its Livability Initiative, a joint venture of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “This represents a significant effort to promote livable communities, improve the quality of life for more Americans and create
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Canadian National

CN Locomotive Engineers’ Strike to End Immediately

December 2, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
MONTREAL — The strike by locomotive engineers at CN will end immediately as a result of an agreement to resolve the parties’ contractual disagreements through further negotiations and, if necessary, binding arbitration. The union began its strike Nov. 28. E. Hunter Harrison, president and chief executive officer, said: “CN is pleased that an agreement has been reached to end the strike by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) immediately and to move forward with a process that gives the parties flexibility to negotiate issues further, but also ensures finality through binding arbitration of issues that remain in dispute. We have
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Canadian National

CN Makes New Offer to Union in Canada

December 1, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
MONTREAL — CN has made a new offer to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), hoping the effort will break the impasse and end a strike. CN said it has not seen substantive movement by the union to end the locomotive engineers’ strike that started Nov. 28, 2009. “Unfortunately, the union persists in raising the same issues the parties have negotiated for 14 months,” the railroad said in a statement. In a good faith effort to reach a settlement, CN is offering to: — Agree to binding arbitration on wage and benefit issues — Roll-back the 4,300-mile monthly cap for
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Commuter Rail

WMATA Officials Brief Safety Groups About Rail Yard Collision

November 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority officials met with members of the Federal Transit Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and the Tri-State Oversight Committee and walked them through preliminary information related to a Nv. 29 collision of two trains in the West Falls Church Rail Yard. The meeting was called by Metro and was a follow-up to personal contact that Metro’s General Manager John Catoe and safety officials made in reaching out to inform officials of the FTA, NTSB and TOC about the accident, WMATA said. The general manager also briefed members of the Metro Board of Directors about
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Commuter Rail

WMATA: Person Fell Into Side of Train During Altercation

November 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Police are investigating a preliminary report of an individual who was pushed into the side of a Red Line train. The train was stopped and servicing the platform at the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail station at about 3:35 p.m. today, Nov. 30, at the time of the incident. The train was headed in the direction of Shady Grove. The preliminary investigation indicates that two young men were involved in an altercation and one individual pushed the other into the side of the last car of a six-car train.  The young man fell to the
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Commuter Rail

Person Struck by Metrorail Train

November 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — Metro officials were investigating a report that someone was struck by a Red Line train at the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metrorail station at about 3:35 p.m. today, Nov. 30. The train was headed in the direction of Shady Grove, officials said. Following the incident, Red Line trains were sharing one track — also known as single-tracking — between Farragut North and Judiciary Square Metrorail station. WASHINGTON — Metro officials were investigating a report that someone was struck by a Red Line train at the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metrorail station at about 3:35 p.m. today, Nov. 30. The train was headed
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Commuter Rail

MTA: Cortlandt Street R/W Subway Station Reopens

November 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has reopened the northbound side of the Cortlandt Street R/W subway station. The station is located next to the Century 21 department store, the Millennium Hotel and the World Trade Center site. “Today we celebrate a significant step forward in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan,” MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder said. “The MTA has played a key role in the revival of Downtown and we’re excited to provide customers with an improved station just in time for the holidays. The opening re-establishes a key travel link for Lower Manhattan residents,
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Commuter Rail

WMATA Agrees to Pay Environmental Fine

November 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has agreed to pay a $200,000 fine to settle a six-year-old violation of the Clean Water Act. The violation was caused by the accidental discharge of acidic water from a rail car hand-wash operation to the sanitary sewer system at its Branch Avenue Rail Yard rail car washing facility, the authority said. The incident took place over several days in October 2003 and was halted when WMATA officials were notified of the discharge, the authority said. After the incident, WMATA officials reconfigured the operations of its rail car washing operation to comply
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Commuter Rail

Two WMATA Trains Collide at West Falls Church Rail Yard

November 29, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — A six-car Metrorail train struck the rear of a parked six-car train at West Falls Church Rail Yard. The collision happened at 4:27 a.m. today, Nov. 29. Three employees sustained minor, non life-threatening injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital where they were treated and released. No customers were on board the trains. Service to customers was not affected when the rail system opened this morning at 7 a.m., officials said. Train No. 902 was the last train of the night pulling into the rail yard when it struck the last car of a six-car train that