At the MBTA Fiscal Management and Control Board meeting, which took place on April 25, 2016, Keolis presented a new proposal for fare collection that would dramatically reduce fare evasion on the MBTA Commuter Rail system while increasing revenue by up to $24 million annually. Under the Keolis proposal, the MBTA fare collection system would be updated to make it easier to buy tickets, but more difficult to evade fares.
The Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) adopted a resolution on April 21, 2016 endorsing the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) plan, which envisages the construction of six new urban rail lines
The first phase of Denver’s Eagle PPP commuter rail project was completed on April 22, 2016, when Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock inaugurated the 23.5-mile University of Colorado A Line from Union Station to Denver International Airport.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) presented on April 21, 2016 the North County Transit District (NCTD) with the Gold Standard Award at the transit agency’s board meeting. Mark Packard, NCTD’s Board Chair, accepted the award on behalf of the organization.
New Jersey Transit will have to resume its search for a new Executive Director, as William Crosbie, who was hired by the agency in early April to replace Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim, unexpectedly and abruptly changed his mind.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, North America’s single-largest public transportation agency, has pulled the plug on Transit Member status in APTA, the American Public Transportation Association.
In a letter to the Surface Transportation Board filed April 13, 2016, CSX contends that “giving Amtrak trains absolute priority over the old RF&P (Washington-Richmond) upends commuter train operations, drastically limits the number of available slots for freight trains, and likely results in congestion on tracks and in yards that would ripple through the network,” says Frank N. Wilner, Contibuting Editor of Railway Age.
In a letter to the Surface Transportation Board filed April 13, 2016, CSX contends that “giving Amtrak trains absolute priority over the old RF&P (Washington-Richmond right-of-way) upends commuter train operations, drastically limits the number of available slots for freight trains, and likely results in congestion on tracks and in yards that would ripple through the network.”
New Jersey Transit has appointed William “Bill” Crosbie as Executive Director, effective April 25, 2016. Crosbie replaces Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim, who left NJT in December 2015 to become President of MTA New York City Transit.
UPDATED APRIL 6, 2016, 2:30 p.m.: Amtrak Train 89, the New York City-Savannah, Ga., Palmetto, partially derailed at Chester, Pa., approximately 15 miles southwest of Philadelphia, on the Northeast Corridor early Sunday, April 3, 2016, after striking a maintenance-of-way backhoe on the tracks. Two Amtrak maintenance-of-way employees were killed and 35 on board the train were injured, one seriously.