Tuesday morning rail news in brief:
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has lifted the 50% capacity limit on NJ Transit trains, light rail, and buses as of Wednesday evening. New Jersey Business magazine reports Murphy said the decision was “in anticipation of the fact that at rush hour we are going to be starting to bump up against that 50% capacity,” and so the move is to make sure transit is available to everyone during peak periods. The change is effective at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Masks are still required for NJ Transit passengers.
CN announces more than $1.5 billion in Canadian capital projects
Canadian National has completed the province-by-province announcements of its Canadian capital investment plans for 2020, which will see the railroad spend C$1.535 billion on projects in eight provinces. The breakdown for individual provinces:
— British Columbia, $445 million, including 3.5 miles of new double track between Vancouver and Edmonton, Alberta; new sidings on the Edmonton-Prince Rupert Corridor, and continuing work on multi-year capacity projects at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert.
— Alberta, $305 million, including 5 miles of double track near Hinton.
— Saskatechwan, $105 million, including continued multi-year infrastructure projects.
— Manitoba, $105 million in maintenance projects.
— Ontario, $310 million in maintenance projects.
— Quebec, $235 million in maintenance projects.
— New Brunswich, $20 million in maintenance projects.
Nationwide, the railroad will install more than 378 miles of new rail, almost 1.09 million new ties, plus 46,000 concrete ties in British Columbia, and repair more than 200 rail crossings.
Fort Wayne’s Headwater Junction project seeks new site
The Headwaters Junction railroad museum and entertainment complex is looking for a new site in the Fort Wayne, Ind., area after it was not included in riverfront redevelopment plans approved Monday by the city’s redevelopment commission. WANE-TV reports the Headwaters Junction development, the planned home for a museum featuring Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765, had agreed to buy 7.5 acres from Norfolk Southern for the project, but that land will now be used for other development plans, with the redevelopment commission approving a payment of $127,000 for its work in acquiring the land. Discussions on a new site for the museum complex are ongoing.
