plans to spend as much as $10 billion on the project with completion expected by 2030. Many thanks to Jonathan Good- man for the news.
Survivors of 9/11 Port Authority Trans-Hudson car
No. 745 arrived at the Shore Line Trol- ley Museum on August 6. The car was stranded at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. PATH employees investigated the site shortly after the ter- rorist attacks, using rafts to inspect the flooded tunnels. At the north end of the five-track World Trade Center station they discovered No. 745 with its doors open, waiting for passengers that never came back. Peter Rinaldi, an engineer- ing manager with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, felt that No. 745 should be saved. His instincts were rewarded as the car is now safely pre- served at the Branford Electric Railway, encompassed by the Shore Line Trolley Museum (17 River Street East Haven, CT 06512;
www.shorelinetrolley.org). A second car, PATH No. 143, was donated to the Trolley Museum of New York in Kingston, N.Y., arriving on December 16. In storage at JFK since 2001, the museum will preserve the car as a static exhibit for now. Visit their web site at
www.tmny.org for details.
Electrification Efforts The San Francisco Bay Area is host
Caltrain
to the very popular Caltrain commuter rail service that links San Francisco, San Jose, and Gilroy, Calif. For several years, Caltrain has been planning to electrify the service. In late July 2015, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District
joined in the funding of Caltrain’s mod- ernization program. A key component of the Caltrain modernization program is the Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project (PCEP) which will electrify the Caltrain Corridor from San Francisco’s 4th and King Caltrain Station to approx- imately the Tamien Caltrain Station, replace diesel trains with high-perfor- mance electric multiple unit sets, and in- crease service by up to six Caltrain trains per peak hour per direction. The Caltrain effort is expected to
cost about $1.7 billion and there are to be several sources of funds for the project. However, there appears to be a $400 million budget gap. The Air Qual- ity District contributed $20 million for the project that will provide matching funds, which can in turn help magnify the grant itself. Thanks to David Martin for the news.
News from St. Louis David Neubauer has done a great job
for many years editing Whistle Talk, the newsletter of the St. Louis Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts, Inc. Much of the news concerns the St. Louis light rail service and some new urban rail devel- opments. To join the St. Louis RRE, send a check made out to the St. Louis Rail- road Enthusiasts, care of Wallace Dit- tirch, 4824 S. Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63111-1311. It is a good buy, because you can find lots of information about what is going on in St. Louis. In 2015, planners were consider-
ing a MetroLink expansion that will start within the Interstate 270 Beltway around St. Louis. The proposals include a line from Forrest Park to Shrewsbury by way of Clayton. Another expansion would be from Shrewsbury to Butler and Inter-
state 55 in Oakville. Another proposed line would run from Clayton to the vicin- ity of Lindberg Parkway and Patterson Road in Florissant. The cost is estimated to be between $973 million and $1.35 bil- lion. Finding the money would be a major task, as it almost always is. Thanks to Dave Neubauer for the information.
Flashes Things are moving along in Kansas
City. The Kansas City Streetcar Authority has made an agreement with Herzog Transit Services, Inc., to provide operations and maintenance of the streetcar line for five years at a price of $15.8 million. New streetcars for Kansas City are being de- livered slowly, beginning in late 2015. The Kansas City line is expected to open for revenue service sometime in 2016. Both the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-
North set records for patronage in 2014. The Long Island kept up its position as the busiest U.S. commuter line with 85.86 million riders, while Metro-North set a record of 84.66 million riders as it has expanded patronage 77 percent since 1980. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reached a new modern record when 6.2 million customers entered the MTA New York City Transit subway system on Thursday, October 29, 2015. P. Don Carson contributed the news. Journalists love to employ the word
“whisk” when talking about a new rail line. For example, “You are sure to be whisked away by our new line.” But when actual operations begin and the reporters look at the cost involved while the politicians take turns bad-mouthing the project, the “whisking” stops in a hurry. Perhaps we could all learn to let something prove itself before predeter- mining that it was a bad deal.
Wrapping Up the Year
SEPTA Red Arrow car No. 101 pauses at the Springfield Mall station on the Media line at 2:00 a.m. on January 1, 2016. The car was out on the annual New Year’s Eve charter sponsored by the Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys. Car No. 101 is wrapped to honor the 100th anniversary of the first Philadelphia & West Chester Traction car to travel to Media; the wrap is expected to come off the car when it is rehabbed later this year, but has held up well for the three years it has been applied. The New Year’s Eve tradition in Philadelphia was started by the Baltimore Chapter NRHS in 1966. The Friends of Philadelphia Trolleys has donated over $140,000 to restore Philly streetcars at three different museums.
PHOTO BY STEVE BARRY
20 FEBRUARY 2016 •
RAILFAN.COM
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