Mass_Transit_March_2020 - 10

PEOPLE & PLACES

THE LASTEST INDUSTRY NEWS
fast-to-implement solutions, according
to the agency. Improvements can be
implemented following public outreach
and a public hearing, without requiring
additional approval by the SFMTA Board.
This can get projects on the ground
months or even years faster than the current process.
MassTransitmag.com/21128112

Amtrak

AMTRAK IS planning to replace the Sawtooth Bridges with structures that will
support four tracks.

FRA publishes Environmental Assessment of
Northeast Corridor's Sawtooth Bridges project
The Federal Railroad Administration published the Environmental Assessment of the Sawtooth Bridges Replacement Project, which aims to replace two
aging bridges that carry Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC) trains over New
Jersey Transit, Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation and Conrail tracks.
MassTransitmag.com/21128652

PTC progress continues in
fourth quarter 2019 report,
but six passenger railroads
labeled "at risk"
▶ The

Federal Railroad Administration
(FRA) released fourth quarter 2019
Positive Train Control (PTC) self-reported
progress by U.S. railroads and, overall,
PTC systems govern operations on 96.3
percent of all 58,000 PTC-mandated
route miles. Railroads have until Dec. 31,
2020, to implement the complex safety
overlay system. On the passenger rail
front, PTC is governing operations on
99.8 percent of Amtrak's required route
miles and commuter railroads are at 54.7
percent, which is an increase from the
41.9 percent reported in Q3 2019. With
10 months before the deadline, FRA
has labeled eight railroads as "at risk"
of missing the statutory deadline. They
include four commuter railroads, New
Jersey Transit (NJ Transit), Metra, TEXRail
and New Mexico Rail Runner Express;
two railroads with passenger operations,
Alaska Railroad and Florida East Coast
Railway (including its tenant railroad,
Brightline/Virgin Trains USA) and two
freight railroads.
MassTransitmag.com/21127543

10 |

Jacksonville Transportation Authority

JTA WILL retain up to $6.8 million
to construct a 1,200-foot bus-only
extension of the East Corridor Bus
Rapid Transit project.

Trio of transit projects approved
to use federal portion of project
savings to further project impacts
Quicker transit fixes coming
to SFMTA through Muni's
quick-build program
▶ The

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors
approved the Transit Priority Quick-Build
Program, clearing a path for improving
Muni service quickly on the most heavily
used lines and at the biggest hotspots
for delay to Muni customers. Modeled
on the SFMTA's Vision Zero Quick-Build
effort for faster delivery of traffic safety
improvements, the Transit Quick-Build
Program focuses on reducing needless delay to transit riders using proven,

SFMTA

SFMTA IS looking to speed commutes
with a new quick-build program.

Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | MARCH 2020

▶ Two transit projects in Texas and one
in Florida will see their federal funding
go a bit further following the Federal
Transit Administration's (FTA) approval
that the project sponsors could use the
federal share of project cost savings on
additional activities related to the three
projects. Trinity Metro in Fort Worth,
Texas, Metropolitan Transit Authority
of Harris County (Houston Metro) and
Jacksonville Transportation Authority
(JTA) in Jacksonville, Fla., will be able to
use a combined $64.2 million to further
invest in their individual transit projects
funded through the Capital Investment
Grants (CIG) Program. Rather than the
federal share of the cost savings coming back to the government, the project
sponsors will use the funds to extend
rail and bus systems and construct
a transit facility. "FTA considers and
approves additional project activities
using the federal share of a project's
cost savings," said FTA Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams. "We encourage
project sponsors who deliver complete
projects under budget to discuss these
options with us to maximize the benefits that cost savings can bring to their
communities."
MassTransitmag.com/21127706
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Mass_Transit_March_2020

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