Commuter Rail – Page 78 – Railfanning.org

More Funding for Northstar Project

September 30, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — Another piece of the federal funding puzzle for the Northstar commuter line has fallen into place, officials said. Congressman Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., announced a $5.6 million grant has been awarded to the Northstar Corridor Rail Project. The funding will help secure an easement from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to permit the commuter trains to travel on their tracks between Minneapolis and Big Lake. “We are one step closer to making commuter rail service a reality in Minnesota,” Oberstar said. “This will ease traffic congestion on I-94 and Highway 10. Commuter rail, bus transit, and even bike

Rahway Station Dedicated to Tireless Passenger Advocate

September 22, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

NEWARK, N.J. — Rahway Station has been dedicated to the late L. Richard Mariani to memorialize his leadership and dedication as an N.J. Transit employee to the mission of promoting public transportation and caring for the customer. The Rahway Center Partnership unveiled a plaque during a ceremony at Rahway Station on the Northeast Corridor rail line to honor Mariani’s enduring work on projects to renovate Rahway Station and the plaza that connects the station to the surrounding neighborhood, as well as his significant customer service contributions over the course of his distinguished 26-year career at N.J. Transit. — Special to

N.J. Transit Ridership Reaches 865,000 Trips a Day

September 22, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

NEWARK, N.J. — N.J. Transit ridership set new all-time highs in Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07), with average weekday ridership reaching 865,000 weekday trips on the agency’s bus, rail and light rail lines. The Corporation’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. The fourth quarter (April-June) showed an overall ridership increase of four percent above the same period last year. Weekday ridership increased 3.9 percent over last year, averaging 890,000 passenger trips—the highest quarterly figure in N.J. Transit ’s history — while weekend ridership increased 4.7 percent to 689,000 trips. In all, N.J. Transit carried more than 64 million

N.J. Transit to Study Initiatives Along Busy Corridor

September 22, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

NEWARK, N.J. — Initiatives to increase the use of public transportation along the increasingly congested I-78 and Raritan Valley Line corridors will be explored in a study approved today by the N.J. Transit Board of Directors. The study will build upon a North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) study and advance some of the NJTPA recommendations for non-highway solutions to meet the region’s current and future mobility demands. “This study will help N.J. Transit identify opportunities as we look to offer transportation alternatives to residents and employers alike in a growing section of the state,” said NJ Transit Chairman and

NTSB: Chicago Derailment Caused by Ineffective Management and Oversight

September 18, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that the probable cause of the derailment of a Chicago commuter transit train in the summer of 2006 resulted from the Chicago Transit Authority’s ineffective management and oversight of its track inspection and maintenance program and its system safety program, which resulted in unsafe track conditions. At 5:06 p.m. (CDT) on July 11, 2006, the last car of northbound Chicago Transit Authority train No. 220 derailed in the subway between Clark/Lake and Grand/Milwaukee stations in downtown Chicago. After the train came to a stop, electrical arcing between the last car and

Busy New York Commuters Leave Thousands of Items Behind

September 18, 2007 Voice of America

New York City’s metropolitan population of roughly 22 million people is the largest in the United States. Millions of others commute from outlying areas, riding trains into Manhattan each morning, riding them home again each night. In those journeys, some things get lost.

Metro to Save Millions in Energy Costs with Upgrades

September 14, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — Lighting upgrades, new windows, solar water heating and new cooling and heating systems. Those are just some of the improvements to Metro facilities that are planned to be made under this program that will save the transit agency millions of dollars in energy costs over the next ten years, official said. Metro has hired Pepco Energy Services to evaluate at least five facilities to determine where the agency could reduce costs. The transit agency pays $26 million a year on average for electricity at its facilities, which does not include power for the trains. After an initial assessment,

MARTA Claims Profit for Second Year in a Row

August 29, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

ATLANTA — MARTA said that the Authority has achieved an operating budget surplus for the second year in a row – recording $12.1 million in additional revenues for FY07. This marks only the second time in 20 years that MARTA has recorded an operating budget surplus for two consecutive fiscal years. MARTA also ended FY07 with $117.4 million in capital reserves. The capital program funds additions and improvements to infrastructure and supports the Authority’s bonding capacity. “Thanks to a strict fiscal management plan, strategic cost containment measures and improved financial performance in recent years, MARTA has achieved this significant accomplishment,”

Las Vegas Monorail Part of Google Transit’s Newly Expanded Route Planning Service

August 23, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

LAS VEGAS –The Las Vegas Monorail Company announced today a partnership with Google Transit – a Google product that allows online users to enter the specifics of a destination and utilizes available public transportation options to plot out the most efficient possible step-by-step route and itinerary. The Las Vegas Monorail joined forces with Google Transit to provide data regarding Monorail transportation on the busy and popular Las Vegas Strip. Google Transit, which has been in operation since December 2005, and has recently been integrated into Google Earth, currently offers public transit information for the following major metropolitan areas: Burbank, Orange

Woman Struck by Metro Station

August 16, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — A woman was struck by a Metrorail train at the Georgia Ave-Petworth Metrorail station at 3:42 p.m. today (Thursday, Aug. 16). The train was traveling toward the Greenbelt Metrorail station. Police are looking into the possibility that the woman intentionally put herself on the tracks in front of the oncoming train. The woman, believed to be in her 20s, was taken to an area hospital. Green Line trains are sharing one track between the Georgia Ave-Petworth and Fort Totten Metrorail stations to get around the scene while police and emergency personnel investigate the incident. — Special to Railfanning.org