Thursday morning rail news:
MBTA places first new Red Line trainset in service
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has put its first train of new equipment for the rapid transit Red Line in service, the first new rolling stock for the line since 1994. The Boston Globe reports the equipment is part of an order for 404 new cars on the Red and Orange lines being built in Massachusetts by CRRC MA, a subsidiary of Chinese rail equipment giant CRRC. The order is well behind schedule [see “MBTA subway car order falls a year behind schedule,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 6, 2020]; the Orange Line cars delivered so far have been pulled from service at least three times because of malfunctions [see “Trains News Wire Digest,” March 5, 2020]. The Red Line cars began testing in August.
Baja California awards contract for new passenger line
The Mexican state of Baja California has awarded a contract to build a 27-kilometer (16.7-mile) passenger rail line connecting Tecate and Tijuana. BNamericas reports a consortium of the Citcocomex Group and FMI Proyects will build the $126 million project, as well as operating it for 30 years. It will be the first passenger rail line serving Tijuana.
Illinois village seeks to stop bridge over UP tracks to serve business park
The Village of Elwood, Ill., is opposing plans for a proposed bridge over a Union Pacific rail line that would serve a new business park. WJOL Radio reports the village has filed a petition to dismiss a request by East Gate-Logistics to build the bridge over the rail line and State Route 53 to serve the Compass Business Park, a planned 1,300-acre logistics facility in southern Joliet, Ill. The village says it does not support construction of the bridge and that the bridge was requested by a private company, while the state code allows only a public officer or public body to make such requests.
