Railway Track & Structures - January 2009 - (Page 6)

I N D U S T R Y T O D AY ture,” said Governor Rendell. “I will do my part as Governor, but states cannot address these needs alone. I look forward to a national partnership so we can design and implement strategies for smarter, environmentally-friendly, more-cost-effective infrastructure investment such as through groundbreaking public-private partnerships.” The National Gateway is a publicprivate partnership that includes CSX, large and small business interests, logistics companies, state and local governments, and economic development agencies. “The challenge of meeting our nation's surface transportation needs is too big for any single industry - never mind any single company - to accomplish independently,” said Ward. “The partnership you see here today exemplifies the future of our nation's transportation infrastructure.” The National Gateway plan envisions another new intermodal terminal in the greater Pittsburgh area in the future. In addition to stimulating Pennsylvania’s economy, overall, the National Gateway will lower CO2 emissions by more than four million tons, save businesses more than $2 billion in shipping costs, reduce fuel consumption by nearly 500 million gallons and reduce congestion on the highways by moving two million intermodal containers by rail, rather than over-the-road. duction of slow zones to three percent of the branch. Due to track conditions prior to the elimination project, trains along the O’Hare branch were under speed restrictions. In some areas trains operated as slow as six miles per hour. With the majority of the work completed, speeds will increase 19 percent – with trains traveling up to 58 miles per hour. With removal of the speed restrictions, customers can travel to O’Hare from the Loop in under 45 minutes. A trip from the Loop to the Jefferson Park station can be made in under 30 minutes and from the Loop to Logan Square in under 20 minutes. Prior to the work a trip to O’Hare could take approximately one hour. “Through an aggressive construction schedule, we are making good on our promise to eliminate the speed restrictions that were a source of frustration for so many customers,” Huberman said. “There still is work to be done, but we will continue to be aggressive in our efforts.” CTA travel times improve due to slow zone elimination Chicago Transit Authority President Ron Huberman said travel time across the rail system has improved as a result of an aggressive plan to eliminate slow zones. Slow zones now exist on only 6.8 percent of the rail system, down from 22.3 percent in October 2007. Since that time, a total of 183,000 feet of slow zones have been removed from a high of 263,526 feet. The CTA rail system contains 224.1 miles of track. On the O’Hare branch of the Blue Line, slow zones existed on 62 percent of the track. CTA renewed a total of 111,845 track feet and eliminated 95,414 feet of slow zones, resulting in a re- 6 Railway Track & Structures January 2009 www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - January 2009 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Railroads Continue to Budget Major Capital Projects Battling Brush and other Vegetation Steel Mills Increasing Metallurgical Quality of Rail Steels Products and Literature People Calendar Advertisers Index Sales Representatives Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - January 2009

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