Reading & Northern acquires coal company’s rail line

The Reading & Northern Railroad has acquired the Locust Valley Line in Mahanoy Township, Pa., a 5.5-mile line that the railroad has been operating since 2006.

Reading & Northern acquired the line from the Locust Valley Coal Co.

The acquisition will enable Port Clinton, Pa.-based Reading & Northern to better pursue industrial development along the line, which is located near Interstate 81, railroad officials said yesterday in a press release.

“This acquisition continues our efforts to acquire and operate contiguous railroad lines in our service territory,” said Reading & Northern Chief Executive Officer Andy Muller Jr.

“We believe through our economies of scale that we can deliver better service at lower prices to customers throughout the region,” he added. “The Locust Valley purchase is part of that overall strategy.”

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Metheny Mehldau: Quartet

Jazz You Too

Choose two distinguished musicians: Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau, add bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard, get some very comfortable headphones – sit back at your favourite sofa – leave your mind to rest for a few minutes before listening to Quartet. It’s holiday here!

Track Listing: Night Away; Sound of Water; Fear and Trembling; So Much Music Everywhere; Towards the Light; Long Before; La Tierra Que No Olvida; Santa Cruz Slacker; Secret Beach; Silent Movie; Marta’s Theme (from Passagio per il Paradiso).

Personnel: Pat Metheny: electric guitar, 42-string Pikasso guitar (2), acoustic guitar (4), guitar synth (5,9); Brad Mehldau: piano; Larry Grenadier: bass; Jeff Ballard: drums.

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What the Crenshaw/LAX-Green Light Rail Lines can bring to LAX

ntbraymer

By Noel T. Braymer

Construction is now well underway to extend Los Angeles Metro’s Green Line nearer to LAX while building a new Crenshaw/LAX Line to connect with the Green Line at its Imperial and Aviation station at the edge of El Segundo and LAX. This will allow connections on the Green Line to LAX and the Crenshaw/LAX line which also terminates at the Exposition Line . This new trackage will be in service by 2019. By 2022 the plan is to add a new station a half mile north of the Century and Aviation Light Rail station to connect with a new LAX People Mover. This is part of construction by LAX to create a consolidated rental car facility which will remove the many rental car shuttle buses on the crowded streets around LAX. This People Mover will also serve a large outlying airport parking lot and passengers transferring…

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WMATA’s rail operations control center to be staffed by fire officer at all hours

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) next month will begin stationing a uniformed fire officer at its rail operations control center at all hours, agency officials announced yesterday.

Currently, fire liaisons are on duty at the center for a total of 80 hours a week Monday through Friday and during special events. The expansion calls for staffing the center 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help coordinate emergency communication between WMATA and first responders.

The expansion is the result of a new memorandum of understanding between the agency and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, WMATA officials said in a press release.

WMATA created the fire and rescue liaison position in July 2015.

In addition to coordinating emergency response, the fire liaisons will help develop policy recommendations and provide supplemental emergency training for rail controllers, agency officials said.

“Extending the hours of the fire/rescue liaison position at the Rail Operations Control Center ensures that first responders have ‘eyes and ears’ on Metrorail operations throughout the entire service day,” said WMATA’s Transit Police Chief Ron Pavlik.

Since WMATA created the position, coordination between the agency and the region’s emergency responders has improved dramatically, said Prince George’s County Fire Chief Marc Bashoor in the release.

The new position was one of several additional safety initiatives aimed at improving emergency response. Following the January 2015 fatal smoke incident outside WMATA’s L’Enfant Plaza Station, the agency increased training, emergency drills and enhanced radio testing protocols to provide a real-time outage map for controllers and first responders.

Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board today is scheduled to release a report on the probable causes of last year’s fatal smoke incident. The federal agency’s report is said to criticize both WMATA and D.C.’s overall emergency response system, according to the Washington Post.

Just yesterday:

CSX train derails in Northeast Washington D.C., possible hazardous leak