Thursday midday rail news in brief:
Metro Transit shuts down all light rail, bus service
After initially halting service on its light rail Blue Line, Minneapolis/St. Paul’s Metro Transit will shut down all bus and light rail service as of 4 p.m. for at least the rest of the day, with a decision about tomorrow to be made this evening. On Twitter, the agency said the rail service was halted this morning had been stopped “due to the riotous behavior and out of a precaution for our riders and our employees.” The area has been hit by two nights of protests ignited by the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody on Monday evening. WCCO-TV reports looting and vandalism has included fires that knocked out power on the Blue Line Wednesday night. The agency anticipates posting plans for Friday on its website and social media channelsby 10 p.m. today.
Herzog gets operating contract for OC Streetcar
The Orange County (Calif.) Transportation Authority has awarded a $45 million contract to Herzog Transit Services to operate and maintain the OC Streetcar, a 4.1-mile line through Santa Ana and Garden Grove scheduled to begin operation in 2022. The Orange County Register reports work on the $408 million project is running ahead of schedule because business closures along the route have allowed work to proceed more quickly.
Here is the post I intended: “There is other evidence that does NOT support a criminal charge.” -Hennepin County Attorney.” Hell, I assure you, will break loose.
when things burn, it is called a riot.
Mike Friedman, / lately Trains News Wire has not been recognizing paragraphs. Software glitch, maybe?/So I would suggest paragraphing using slashes (as I am in this post) or if you can, bring up that fancy P-like symbol. /That is probably why your friend’s FB post didn’t show up when you tried to post it./Got that? Good.
From a friend who lives in Minneapolis (on Facebook):
Anna is asking the question and I, for one ask it, too.
Please do separate headlines for each individual story.
Do we have any members on the ground in the MSP area who are willing to tell us what is going on, from their own observations? This would have been a volatile situation at the best of times, but we are now in a regime where we have, on average a 25 to 30 percent unemployment rate, the immediate prospect of a massive wave of evictions and foreclosures, and very possibly a looming food shortage. These exacerbating conditions could easily turn an ordinary riot into an all-out armed insurrection. And I am not making light of what is going on, not by any means.