ATLANTA — MARTA has completed an extensive rail car rehabilitation program overhauling 218 of its oldest cars to extend each car’s life line by 15 years.
The cost-effective program has already resulted in an increase in MARTA’s rail service reliability by 22 percent and has also improved on-time performance substantially. MARTA General Manager/CEO Beverly A. Scott [...]

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board will open the docket on the 2008 Metrolink rail accident in Chatsworth, Calif., at the start of a public hearing on March 3.
During the two-day hearing, the Safety Board will hear testimony from witnesses called to supplement the facts discovered during the on-scene phase and subsequent follow-up investigation [...]

WASHINGTON — High-speed trains stand to receive $5 billion under President Obama’s spending plan.
“This commitment will be essential as we develop surface transportation authorization legislation this year,” said James Oberstar, D-Minn. “This new authorization will require significant investments to help reduce congestion, eliminate freight chokepoints, mitigate the impacts of our surface transportation system on the [...]

NEWARK, N. J. — Momentum continued to build toward construction of the Mass Transit Tunnel today with the N.J. Transit Board approving key agreements with partner agencies.
The agreements — with Amtrak and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — establish frameworks to ensure coordination and efficiency during the multi-year construction phase and [...]

WASHINGTON — Surface Transportation Board Commissioner W. Douglas Buttrey announced that he will conclude his term on the Board on March 13.
Buttrey was nominated to serve on the Board by President George W. Bush on Nov. 17, 2003, for a five-year term expiring Dec. 31, 2008. On Aug. 28, 2008, Buttrey announced that he would [...]

NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern Corp. has posted its 2008 Annual Report online, highlighting a record-setting year in video stories featuring company employees.
The report, titled Voices, outlines the company’s 2008 success in receiving the top industry award for workplace safety for the 19th consecutive year and setting records for railway operating revenues, income from railway [...]

WASHINGTON — National Transportation Safety Board Member Steven R. Chealander has announced his resignation from the Board, effective Feb. 28.
Chealander has been a Board Member since Jan. 3, 2007.  During his tenure at the Board he was the Board Member on scene for three major transportation accident investigations – a mid-air collision between two news [...]

WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Boardgranted an estimated $345 million in reparations and rate reductions from the BNSF Railway (BNSF) to Western Fuels Association, Inc. and Basin Electric Power Cooperative Inc.
The Utilities had challenged the railroad transportation rates charged by BNSF to haul 8 million tons of coal each year from mines in Wyoming’s Powder [...]

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Ridership on Amtrak Cascades continued to grow substantially in 2008 carrying a total of 774,421 passengers. This represents a 14.4 percent increase over 2007 and the highest annual ridership since the inception of Amtrak Cascades service 10 years ago.
“While we suspect high gas prices last summer helped entice people to try Amtrak [...]

WASHINGTON — Congestion is a major problem across all modes of surface transportation, said Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla.
“And as we begin to develop and reauthorize the next surface transportation bill, it is critical that the need for additional rail capacity for both freight and passenger rail be addressed,” Brown said. “The future of ground transportation [...]