Railfanning.org News Wire

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Commuter Rail

NTSB Investigating MBTA Trolley Collision

May 9, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
BOSTON — The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a go-team to investigate the collision of two trolleys on Boston’s MBTA Green Line. At approximately 7:19 pm on Friday, May 8, a trolley struck another trolley from behind near the Government Center station in downtown Boston. Multiple injuries have been reported.
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STB

STB’s Section of Environmental Analysis Issues Final Environmental Assessment

May 8, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board announced that its Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) have issued a Final Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed Northern Columbia Basin Railroad Project (Project), an approximately 11.5-mile long railroad route that would be acquired and constructed in Grant County, Wash. The Project would provide rail service to an area designated for industrial development and attract to this area new businesses that would use rail transportation. The issuance of the Final EA completes the environmental review undertaken by SEA and WSDOT. The Final EA responds to comments
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Amtrak

Operation Lifesaver ‘Shark’ Rail Safety PSAs Will Be Featured in Amtrak Stations On National Train Day

May 5, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON – Amtrak will showcase Operation Lifesaver’s “Shark” rail safety public service advertisements (PSAs) in four major cities as part of its celebration of National Train Day, May 9, 2009. National Train Day commemorates the first transcontinental railroad and promotes rail travel with major events in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles, and other events in communities nationwide. “These PSAs provide a humorous reminder that safety is an essential part of train travel,” said Operation Lifesaver President Helen M. Sramek. “Using common sense is an easy way to practice safety around tracks and trains,” she continued. The PSAs, aimed
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STB

STB Adopts 2009 User Fee Update Schedule

May 5, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has adopted its 2009 User Fee Update Schedule setting forth updated fees for each of the types of proceedings that can be filed with the agency. The changes in the 2009 Update — to become effective June 4 — primarily are designed to offset increased Board expenses, including increased overhead costs. The 2009 Update complies with the Congressional directive that the Board assess fees to cover a portion of its budget. It also complies with the statutory requirement that the agency conduct a proceeding annually to update its user fee schedule to reflect the
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Amtrak

New Track to Add Capacity and Reduce Delays of Amtrak Missouri River Runner Trains

May 4, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
CALIFORNIA, Mo. — Representatives of the State of Missouri, the City of California, Union Pacific Railroad and Amtrak today kicked off the construction of a new $8.1 million, 9,000-foot railroad side track to add capacity and reduce delays on the route used by Amtrak Missouri River Runner trains between Kansas City and St. Louis. The new siding, located just west of California, Mo., will unclog a major “bottleneck” caused by a 25-mile stretch of single track and enable slower freight trains to move off the main line allowing faster Amtrak trains to pass and annually reduce delays by nearly 17
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Canadian National

CN Reaches Voluntary Mitigation Agreement with the City of Elgin, Ill.

May 4, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
CHICAGO — Canadian National announced a voluntary mitigation agreement with the City of Elgin, Ill., addressing the municipality’s issues with CN’s acquisition of the principal lines of the former Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E). CN completed the acquisition on Jan. 31, 2009, and is running trains over the line. Under the agreement with Elgin, CN will provide funding for noise mitigation, emergency response training, and measures to maintain existing quiet zones. CN now has voluntary mitigation agreements with 16 municipalities that are home to more than 50 per cent of the population along the EJ&E in Illinois and
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Commuter Rail

MTA Budget Deficit Grows by $621 Million

April 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) re-forecast its annual revenues, projecting a $621 million deficit for 2009 even after approved fare/toll increases and service cuts are implemented. The growing deficit is due to the continuing decline in the real estate and dedicated taxes that support the MTA, all of which are economically sensitive. In addition, increasing unemployment and higher fares led the MTA to predict a 7.2 percent drop in usage of its facilities in 2009. The re-forecast identified the following specific changes from the revenues assumed in the budget passed by the MTA Board in December 2008:
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Miscellaneous

Rail Freight Traffic Remains Down from Year Ago

April 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
WASHINGTON — Freight traffic on U.S. railroads remained sharply down from a year ago during the week ended April 25, the Association of American Railroads reported. U.S. railroads originated 260,652 cars during the week, down 22.4 percent from the comparison week in 2008, although up 2.1 percent from the previous week this year. In comparison with last year, loadings were down 20.7 percent in the West and 24.7 percent in the East. Eighteen of 19 carload commodity groups were down from last year, with only the catch-all category of all other carloads defying the trend and showing a 12.8 percent
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Canadian Pacific

Canadian Pacific and IBM Sign a Five-Year Services Agreement

April 30, 2009 Railfanning.org News Wire
TORONTO — IBM  has signed a five-year renewal with Canadian Pacific to provide strategic outsourcing services. This current infrastructure agreement includes mainframe, database, architecture and project management services. IBM will continue to operate the information technology infrastructure for the Calgary, Alberta-based railway. This renewal provides CP with effective cost management while improving services to customers. “With the current economic situation, there is a growing need to build smarter transportation systems around the world,” said Saad Toma, general manager, Global Technology Services, IBM Canada. “IBM will continue helping Canadian Pacific optimize technology to reduce operational costs and to improve fluidity of