Free Republic

MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack has been appointed to the new Biden-Harris administration as the new Deputy Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. Pollack has led MassDOT since 2015, at the beginning of Governor Charlie Baker’s first term. Before she joined the state government, Pollack had been Associate Director for Research at the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, and an attorney and director of the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF). As a CLF attorney in the 1990s, Pollack helped negotiate a package of significant transit improvements that the state promised to build as mitigation...

A Metra track inspector and two mechanics have been paid a total of $1.2 million in overtime in the past five years. That payout, one lawmaker tells 2 Investigator Brad Edward, is out of control. “There’s excessive overtime being paid,” says State Rep. David Olsen (R-Downers Grove). “That creates mistrust from taxpayers.” In all, Metra’s overtime costs soared above $119 million from 2013 to 2017, according to interviews and records. 2 Investigators counted 351 employees who earned at least $100,000 in that span. Topping the list is a mechanic who earned more than $366,000 in overtime. “I think that …...

"U.S. Transportation department executive approved grant days before taking job with rail contractor" A top Obama administration executive at the U.S. Department of Transportation approved a $647-million grant for a California rail project in mid-January and less than two weeks later went to work for a Los Angeles-based contractor involved in the project, The Times has learned. The grant provides a significant part of the money required to install a $2-billion electrical power system on the Bay Area’s Caltrain commuter rail system, allowing the rail to retire its diesel locomotives.

A former California transit executive tapped to clean up Chicago’s scandal-tarnished Metra commuter rail agency said Wednesday he was pushed out barely two years into the job for doing exactly that and resisting pressure from some of Illinois’ most powerful politicians. Alex Clifford was allowed to speak publicly for the first time Wednesday about his lucrative buyout, which critics have called hush money and a waste of taxpayer funds. Clifford alleged that House Speaker Michael Madigan pushed Metra staff for a pay raise for a political pal and that Madigan and another politician also sought patronage hires. Clifford also described...

Metro-North commuters may be able to browse the Internet from their laptops, tablets and other devices using wi-fi as they travel to and from their destinations if state Rep. Gail Lavielle gets her way. Lavielle, R-143rd District—which includes parts of Westport, Wilton and Norwalk—proposed a bill that would require Metro-North to provide wi-fi access to passengers. The proposed legislation would also allow a private contractor to provide the service. “Our hardworking commuters travel for hours every day on Metro-North, and they want to spend their time productively,” Lavielle said in a statement. “Commuters have seen a steep spike in their...

Phoenix / Valley Metro Light Rail Report Card: FDecember 15, 2010, 10:45 am Folks who read this site know I have been critical of Phoenix light rail since well before it was opened.  So often, folks just willfully misinterpret my criticisms.   The actual rail line and its service is pretty nice, and the facilities are quite attractive (lets see what they look like in 10 years though).  If Santa Claus had just delivered the Phoenix light rail system for free to Phoenix, I would be thrilled with it.   But Santa unfortunately was not involved, and instead the rail line was...

EMC News - Two new reports show that Ottawa's Light Rail Project will generate $3 billion in economic stimulus and create 20,000 person-years of employment during construction alone. The City of Ottawa's Rail Implementation Office and the Planning and Growth Management department today released a pair of documents that illustrate the value and benefit of the city's Light Rail Transit (LRT) project. Business Case: Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel Project was developed as part of the city's Environmental Assessment requirements for the project. It speaks to the specific positive impacts associated with implementing LRT in Ottawa and provides a detailed analysis...

Metro link, Southern California's commuter rail for the Greater Los Angeles areas is in tough times in this recession, unfortunately, they are controlled by unionized taxpayer funded liberals. Just like other liberals, they don't learn a damn thing. In every scenario where funding is down and profits are low, they do the worst thing. In this case, raising rates. All while the worst recession in 70 years is taking place. Metro links problems are largely connected to the economy. With people out of work or earning less, they are not able to afford tickets to commute to LA, San Bernardino...

The Greater Toronto Area needs a gazillion dollars to fund Metrolinx, a mega mega transportation system of light rail, commuter trains, subways, highways, roads, and bicycle paths designed to reach every ward in an 8,000 square kilometre operating region approaching six million people. It will cost more than governments can afford, say its government backers. The answer, the backers say, is a toll road system that extends across the GTA and finances the transit megaproject. I have a better idea. Install the GTA-wide toll road system and scrap Metrolinx. Once roads are tolled, the population growth that is now projected...

Other than that Christmas Eve flight hauling gifts around the globe, perhaps there's no run more anticipated these days than the one set to start about two weeks from today. "This is the hottest ticket in town for the holidays, buddy," Lawrence Rael of the Mid-Region Council of Governments said. "Even Santa wants a ride." Mark your calendars: The Rail Runner Express commuter train's inaugural public run into Santa Fe is tentatively set to take place Friday, Dec. 12, with Wednesday, Dec. 17, expected to be the actual start of scheduled commuter service to and from the capital city. Thus...

TYLER - Heated debates are cropping up in rural East Texas communities as the Texas Department of Transportation hold hearings on the proposed the Trans-Texas Corridor. It's the first construction project of it's kind in the country. The Texas Department of Transportation says they want it to make room for a growing state. "A thousand people a day move to texas," says spokesman Larry Krantz,"where are these people going to drive? The population in Texas is going to explode by 60% in the year 2030." Their plans involve moving commercial trucks off existing interstate highways and onto one of two...

Gov. Bill Richardson has changed his mind and now supports consideration of a regional transportation district to raise taxes to finance the Rail Runner commuter train— an idea Richardson firmly rejected in September. Richardson's office issued a statement Thursday night saying the state Transportation Commission has "made a compelling argument that there is strong support for these districts to help pay for operations and maintenance" of the Rail Runner. In September, Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught proposed a regional transit district under which voters in Santa Fe, Bernalillo, Sandoval and Valencia counties would be asked to approve a $25 million gross...

Four years ago this month, in ... a special legislative session called by Gov. Bill Richardson, lawmakers passed a mega-bill to improve 37 roads at a cost of nearly $1.6 billion. Tucked into the legislation was a phrase that authorized one of New Mexico's most expensive and controversial transportation projects— not a road but a commuter rail system from Belen to Santa Fe. Back in 2003, documents show, the cost for the rail project was listed at $90.2 million. Now the projected tab for the RailRunner Express has ballooned to as much as $425 million— and that doesn't include another...

Second phase would include a line to airport and North Austin. By Ben Wear AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, October 25, 2007 Austin Mayor Will Wynn today will call for a November 2008 election to build a Central Austin passenger rail system connecting the airport, downtown and the University of Texas, along with the Triangle and Mueller developments in near North Austin. Unlike the current commuter rail project, which Capital Metro is building with its own, diminishing resources, Wynn will propose creating a task force of several jurisdictions to work out plans for the city and other governmental entities — and possibly...

After conducting business as though it were a private entity rather than a public trust, the Texas Department of Transportation is now trying to turn the tide of public opinion in its favor. The Keep Texas Moving campaign is a $7 million to $9 million effort designed to promote various transportation projects in the state. According to the campaign site, www.keeptexasmoving.com, Texans can learn more about such projects as the vast Trans-Texas Corridor and "its promise for Texas." Unfortunately, TxDOT has a history of not being entirely forthcoming about transportation plans. Last year, agency officials and the road-building consortium Cintra-Zachry...

A $491 million public-financing deal promoted by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as a boon to commuters actually paves the way for shipping more cheap goods from China to the North American marketplace, charges a whistleblower. Ex-CSX Transportation employee Dave Nelson told WND the deal in Florida amounts to providing CSXT with a public subsidy. Money from the public purse will position the railroad company as a major freight carrier throughout Florida, transporting cargo containers filled with cheap goods coming into the NAFTA marketplace from China. CSXT is positioned to receive millions in the deal. Under the terms of the agreement,...

The Trans-Texas Corridor project, proposing four to six toll truck lanes and four to six toll passenger lanes from Laredo to Oklahoma, may be as near as five years. Greg Massey, a member of the Oklahoma Highway Authority, recently met with the Texas Department of Transportation. “We really didn't get any new information. The project is still proposed to cross over and connect with I-35 to come into Oklahoma. TxDOT did say they are five years out on the project,” Massey said. Ten different routes are proposed for the corridor. The major variations in the routes follow the three represented...

The New Mexico Rail Runner Express pulled out of the Alvarado station in Downtown Albuquerque a little after 9 a.m. Tuesday... Bound for Bernalillo and filled with journalists and the cast and crew of a Rail Runner promotional spot, the train ran north for 22 minutes, switched from its push mode— engine behind— to the pull mode— engine in front— and ran back south. It was time enough to settle in on a comfortable seat on the upper deck and envision a commuter's future. "Please enjoy the ride," the conductor said, "and welcome aboard." The trains won't begin to run...

The developer of the first phase of the Trans Texas Corridor super highway toll system says Texas needs an addition: 600 miles of new rail line from Dallas-Fort Worth to Mexico for freight trains. That's the proposal from Cintra-Zachry, the Spanish and American partnership already working on the first section of toll road for cars and trucks, announced by state transportation officials Wednesday. The Trans Texas Corridor is the plan kick-started several years ago by Gov. Rick Perry to build 4,000-plus miles of tollways and railways that would incorporate oil and gas pipelines, utility and water lines, and even broadband...

A rookie MBTA commuter rail conductor who allegedly harassed women and girls on the Rockport line with X-rated wisecracks and saucy talk is facing discipline after one fed-up mom dropped a dime. “I was totally disgusted,” said Jennifer Barrett, 24, of Gloucester. “This guy should not be working with the public.” The trouble started in December, Barrett said, when new conductor Junior Rodriguez remarked that her 7-year-old daughter, Tiarra, had a “ghetto booty,” slang for a large behind. “I’m like, ‘Excuse me?’ ” recalled Barrett, who said she also overheard the conductor making inappropriate comments to two young women on...