News Wire Digest Second Section for Friday, April 10 NEWSWIRE

More Friday morning rail news:

— Bay Area Rapid Transit staff members have told BART’s board that service to the Berryessa and Milpitas stations in San Jose is now targeted to begin in June. SFGate.com reports that the June start will depend on a number of factors, including certification from the California Public Utilities Commission and testing on an intrusion detection system. BART service to the two stations was to have begun in December 2019 but was postponed because testing was not complete [see “BART extension into San Jose won’t make 2019 date to open,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 19, 2019].

— Canadian National plans to expand its new automobile shipping facility near New Richmond, Wis., to include an intermodal terminal. RiverTowns.net reports that the new facility, roughly 40 miles northeast of St. Paul, Minn., attracted the interest of other shippers, particularly agricultural commodities, as a way to gain access to markets in Europe and Asia. The addition will require some changes to the footprint of the 58-acre project as well as the additional of an additional spur, and will more than double truck traffic, to an estimated 90 trucks per day. The facility is scheduled to be operational in July 2021.

— Light rail remains a possibility for a new transit line in Hamilton, Ontario, four months after the provincial government killed the original light rail plans. The Toronto Globe and Mail reports that a task force has recommended either a shorter light rail line or bus rapid transit for the $1 billion project. Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger, a light rail supporter, called the recommendation “a victory for the city” and part of a path “to get us back to some semblance of what the right choice for Hamilton is, which I think is LRT.”