From the Stratford Gazette

An ongoing dispute between VIA Rail Canada and Goderich-Exeter Railway (GEXR) over track usage fees has stalled long-sought infrastructure improvements that could see increased passenger service through St. Marys and Stratford.

The issue centres around what is known as the North Main Line, a section of track that runs from London to Toronto. A portion of the track, from London to near Georgetown, is currently leased and operated by GEXR, which is owned by US-based RailAmerica.  The improved rail lines would be able to accommodate higher volumes and faster speeds, as well as improved safety measures including a central tracking system.

According to media reports in Kitchener and Guelph, GEXR is looking to increase its track fee to compensate for what it says will be an increase in operating and maintenance costs. Calls to RailAmerica seeking comment were not returned as of press time.

According to VIA spokesperson Catherine Kaloutsky, millions of infrastructure dollars from the federal government have been earmarked for the improvements, which she says will improve travel times and increase the capacity for future growth on the North Main Line. VIA remains hopeful, she notes, that a speedy resolution will be made now that the dispute has gone to arbitration.

Kaloutsky says VIA has not determined how many more trains would be added to the line; however, an environmental assessment completed in July 2009 by GO Transit – which is also looking to expand service along the line from Kitchener to Toronto – shows three additional trains in each direction between London and Toronto.

Read more:
http://www.stratfordgazette.com/news/article/91340

From the Detroit Free Press

From Metromode

The combo rail, bus, car, bike, and pedestrian facility that will serve Birmingham, Troy and the entire area has secured its funding and is now working out the kinks for construction.Other funds came from stimulus money and Michigan Department of Transportation matches. “We’ve got more money than we originally anticipated,” says Jana Ecker, planning director for city of Birmingham.Optimistically, Ecker hopes to see a late fall groundbreaking.

The proposed site is in Birmingham’s emerging Rail District. The cities plan to create a transit oriented development district around the station that would roughly be bordered by Crooks, Adams, Maple Road, and Lincoln Street.

The transit center received $8.4 million from the Federal Railroad Administration earlier this year, bringing to the total to about $10 million, more than the $7 million planners hoped to build it with.

Birmingham and Troy had also set aside money to contribute, just in case, but it’s looking like that won’t be needed after all. “The way things have been going with the funding, I think we’re going to be OK,” Ecker says.

Planners can’t pinpoint a construction schedule yet because it’s hard to tell when the Federal Railroad Administration is going to actually deliver the money. “We’ve been giving them oodles and oodles of paperwork,” Ecker says. “It was great when we got all the funding in place, but we still have a lot of hurdles and hoops to jump through to get everything coordinated and wrapped up.”

The next site plan review meeting is scheduled for Sept. 8, which should give them preliminary approval. Details have remained mostly unchanged, and include a pedestrian tunnel and areas for traffic from bicycles, automobiles, buses and the planned northern extension of the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line.

Ecker says there will likely be joint planning in the transit center area in the form of a transit center district, which could make help increase development in the surrounding area. “People are so happy to see something’s actually going to be done,” Ecker says.

Source:
http://www.metromodemedia.com/devnews/birminghamtroytransitcenter0173.aspx

From the United States Department of Transportation official blog:
http://fastlane.dot.gov/2010/08/fta-working-with-detroit-on-lightrail-line-for-historic-woodward-avenue.html

On Friday, I went to the Detroit area with President Obama. There, the President emphatically declared, “The US auto industry is on the move!”

Yesterday, I went back to Detroit with Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff to declare, just as emphatically, that “The city of Detroit is on the move!”

Thanks to a coalition of foundations, activists, planners, and local leaders, one demonstration of Detroit’s forward progress is the proposed light-rail transit line on Woodward Avenue.

You know, for any Secretary of Transportation, Woodward Avenue is sacred ground. A century ago, Woodward was the first street paved with concrete anywhere in the world. Its traffic was among the first to be managed by modern stop lights (invented by a Detroit police officer). And Woodward was once the backbone of a model streetcar network and transit system replicated in cities across the United States.

Today, the proposed Woodward Avenue light-rail line adds another page to the storied tradition of Motor City innovation. Now, I’m not just talking about the light-rail line itself, and I’m not just talking about the development of livable communities that new transit will foster.

I’m talking about the forward-thinking public-private partnership that is making the Woodward Avenue line possible.

The City of Detroit will take the lead on the project. But, funding for the initial 3.4 mile phase is coming from M-1 Rail, a group of private investors who saw the value of this project early on and raised $125 million for a line extending from Hart Plaza to New Center. And DOT’s TIGER program–funded by the Recovery Act–also awarded the project $25 million in February.

The second phase of the project will extend the rail line out to Eight Mile Road.

Detroit’s business community knows that revitalized transit infrastructure can ignite redevelopment. The know the Woodward Avenue line will create jobs, revitalize this celebrated corridor, and generate a ripple effect that helps countless local businesses. It will give people an efficient, sustainable way to get from one place to another. And it will help make Detroit a livable city, where transit brings housing closer to jobs, businesses, and essential services.

To show our support for this combined project, Administrator Rogoff and I announced that DOT will work closely with Detroit to complete the environmental review process for this crucial 9.3-mile project all at once, rather than one phase at a time.

This kind of cooperation doesn’t just happen; it takes patience and an understanding of the project’s real value. So I want to thank everyone who came together to help this state-local-federal-private partnership meet its first objectives: Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, US Senator Debbie Stabenow, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, US Representative Carolyn Cheeks-Kirkpatrick, Rip Rapson, and Roger Penske.