Most of the debate over the building of the nation's first bullet train, in California, has focused on the economics of such a monumental undertaking and its projected $68-billion first-phase price tag. Largely ignored amid the excitement over the railway's recent official groundbreaking - on a vacant lot in a depressed industrial area of Fresno - is the physical impact and design challenges that cities will need to grapple with as they prepare for high-speed rail.

Anyone convicted of assaulting a transit worker will soon face a stiffer sentence for the action.  On Monday, the House of Commons approved a private bill from a Conservative senator that could add extra jail time to a conviction for anyone who beats up a public transit worker driving a bus or streetcar, or anyone driving a school bus or taxi.      

Beverly A. Scott abruptly resigned as general manager of the MBTA on Wednesday, taking Governor Charlie Baker's administration by surprise just hours after she received a unanimous vote of gratitude and confidence from the MassDOT board.  As the T groaned haltingly back to life after a series of snowstorms that crippled the transit system and made her both a scapegoat and a star, Scott announced her resignation in a letter to the board.

Is it time for someone who rides NJ Transit trains or buses to join the board of directors? A commuter advocate asked Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox to help make that happen.  David Peter Alan, president of the Lackawanna Commuter Coalition, asked Fox to meet with him about requiring one member of the seven-member NJ Transit board of directors is a regular train or bus rider.   "The riders don't have a single non-voting observer to speak on their behalf," Alan  said. "It's time for major reform at NJ Transit."

The Regional Transportation District of Denver (RTD) soon will begin a public outreach campaign to educate area residents about the need to practice safety around three new commuter-rail lines the agency plans to open in 2016.  Through the national Operation Lifesaver model, RTD will plaster "Safety first" on every light-rail vehicle and bus to raise awareness, agency officials said in a press release.  The comprehensive campaign will focus on the East Rail Line to Denver International Airport (DIA), the first segment of the Northwest Rail Line to Westminster and the Gold Line to Arvada/Wheat Ridge.

Two same-day derailments of crude oil trains in Canada and a third in West Virginia two days later illustrate the strengths and limitations of the newest general-purpose tank cars plying North American rails.  CN's seven-car blaze late Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 in a roadless area of northern Ontario, where 29 cars of a 100-car train derailed, involved CPC-1232 cars, CN confirmed to Railway Age. But a smaller event in the early hours of the same day in southern Alberta was an encouraging real-world trial of the industry's voluntary CPC-1232 tank car design, in production since 2011. 

The National Transportation Safety Board called on the Federal Transit Administration and others to launch a nationwide, emergency audit of rail transit operations "to assess the state of tunnel ventilation systems," after finding that DC Metro staff ran blowers incorrectly in a Jan. 12 smoke incident that killed a train rider.  That audit was among "urgent recommendations" it made Feb. 11 to the Federal Transit Administration, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) and the American Public Transportation Association to deal with tunnel ventilation procedures during smoke and fire events.

Thirteen organizations in nine states will receive a share of $29 million in grant funding through the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) Innovative Safety, Resiliency and All-Hazards Emergency Response and Recovery Demonstration funding opportunity.  FTA says the grants will support cutting-edge developments in mass transit, utilizing state-of-the-art technology to help transit agencies improve track worker and passenger safety, better withstand natural disasters and respond more effectively to emergencies.

The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) is spending $54.5 million to purchase 60 electric buses and charging stations for public transit systems across the country, costing taxpayers nearly $1 million per bus. The FTA announced the projects last week as part of their Low and No Emission Vehicle Deployment Program (LoNo), which provides funds to replace public buses with electric and hybrid vehicles. Local transit authorities in California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas will receive the electric buses.