Railway Track & Structures - April 2008 - (Page 5)

INDUSTRY TODAY SPRINTER marks successful first day of operations Nearly 13,000 passengers tried out the new SPRINTER light rail during its first day of service on Sunday, March 9, according to the North County Transit District (south of Los Angeles). The first train of the day left Escondido, Calif., at 4:33 a.m., with more than 100 passengers on board, including dedicated rail enthusiasts, NCTD employees and others. The SPRINTER contract operator, Veolia Transportation, counted 12,921 passengers on 37 trains throughout the day. The regular Sunday service calls for hourly trains running in each direction, but the District put an additional train into service about half way through the day due to heavy passenger loads. Although large crowds caused longer dwell times at many of the stations and led to delayed train schedules by the late afternoon, passengers seemed to have enjoyed their first ride on the light rail train. “People were having a fabulous time on opening day and were talking about the many opportunities to ride the SPRINTER in the future,” said NCTD Executive Director Karen King. The SPRINTER is a new passenger More than 400 railroaders, suppliers, academicians and students took part in the AAR 13th Annual Research Review at the Transportation Technology Center, Inc., in Pueblo, Colo. After in-depth information sessions at the Pueblo Convention Center moderated by Rich Regan of CSX Transportation, Mike Armstrong of BNSF, Bill Wimmer of Union Pacific and Craig Hill of BNSF, attendees had a chance to visit TTCI’s main facility and walk the roughly three-mile FAST Loop to see the latest research in place. TTCI guides were on site with posters to explain the work and to answer questions. In addition, during the information session breaks there were poster sessions set up by people from Texas A&M, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and Vanderbilt University teamed with Virginia Tech. In addition to the FAST outdoor exhibits, there were also indoor exhibits at the new High Speed Maintenance Building. rail system that extends 22 miles along the Highway 78 corridor in Southern California, spanning the cities of Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos and Escondido. A total of 15 stations have been constructed with parking and www.rtands.com Railway Track & Structures April 2008 5 http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - April 2008 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Railroads Seeking More Advanced Systems to Handle Materials SKOL Bounces Back From Summer Flood Landmark Railroad Bridges Need Inspection, Too Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Advertisers Index Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - April 2008

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