National Rail Vehicle Training Consortium Finishes Its First Three Courses
The Center's Rail Car Training Consortium has completed courseware for two courses in Auxiliary Power Supply and Battery Systems and one in Rail Car HVAC Maintenance. The courses - Course 104 Introduction and Overview, Course 204 Inspection and Maintenance, and Course 106 Introduction and Overview of HVAC Systems - are available for members to download from the TTN site here. For each course there are Participant Guides, Instructor Guides, PowerPoint slides, quizzes, and even take-aways and job-aids for participants.
A great team of subject matter experts from transit agencies and their unions put in phenomenal effort to mold and shape these courses. The teams include:
The Center is getting ready to pilot these courses in Charlotte and Boston.
If your location is interested in participating in this national courseware development effort and accessing these standards-based instruction-ready course materials for rail vehicle maintenance, please contact Center Deputy Director Xinge Wang at 301.565.4715 or [email protected].
In cities where people have a few options for getting around town, they can drive personal cars, walk or bike, catch a bus, or hire taxis and Ubers. The last mode choice on that list is likely the cheapest, most efficient option for accessing the bus. In an effort to encourage transit ridership and alleviate the impact of service cuts brought on by budget woes, some transit agencies are subsidizing the cost of taking rides with Uber and other ride share services.
Loudoun County commuters are encouraged to pledge to try a form of transit during the eighth statewide "Try Transit Week in Virginia," on Sept. 19 - 23, 2016, according to a Loudoun County Government announcement. Participants can pledge to try transit at www.trytransitweek.org and enter to win a year of free transit service from the Virginia transit operator of their choice, along with a pair of round-trip tickets aboard Amtrak's Northeast Regional train. Pledges will be accepted through Sept. 23, 2016.
As the streetcar crept along Queen Street West in clogged traffic through the heart of downtown, anxiety started to rise among those inside. Commuters checked the time, calculating how late they would be for work. The red-and-white trolley did not feel like rapid transit. "It's not very efficient," said Shande McPhee, who was a half-hour late for her financial-industry job on a recent morning because of worse-than-usual congestion. If only the streetcar had a dedicated lane to bypass cars, she said.
The San Francisco Transit Riders Union kicked off "Transit Week" on Monday at City Hall to of course celebrate all things Muni, including its riders and operators. The same group last year challenged city supervisors to ride Muni for 22 days and tasked them to take selfies while on the bus or train.
Hundreds of MBTA workers wearing bright orange T-shirts that read "Keep Public Transportation Public!!!!! Stop MBTA Privatization" and chanting "We didn't break the T!" rallied at the State Transportation Building on Monday to protest the possible privatization of bus driver and maintenance worker jobs. The Boston Carmen's Union Local 589, the T's largest labor group, organized the rally at 10 Park Plaza to voice opposition against a recent report issued by the MBTA's Fiscal and Management Control Board that said it could outsource bus operator and maintenance positions.
Transit employees have rejected a proposed contract recently brokered by union negotiators and the Port Authority of Allegheny County. Members of Local 85 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents more than 2,200 Port Authority bus and light-rail operators, maintenance and service personnel, administrative employees and supervisors, voted against the agreement Monday afternoon, according to the union and the authority.
The alternative energy vehicle company Proterra unveiled a new bus unit reportedly capable of driving over 300 miles with a single charge. The all-electric Proterra Catalyst E2 was unveiled earlier this Monday, September 12 at the American Public Transit Association annual meeting. Proterra's unveiling follows an ever-expanding movement in the automotive industry towards alternative energies and new technologies.
Transportation infrastructure has reached crisis levels across the country - and perhaps nowhere is that more true than in the Bay Area, where voters in November's election will be asked to contribute close to $14 billion to shore up the region's aging public transit systems and improve roadways to relieve traffic congestion. Leaders across the region said the stakes couldn't be higher. "Our economic growth and our future is literally choking in traffic," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo in an interview Monday. "It is always expensive to expand transit infrastructure and to maintain our streets and roads, but the alternative is far more costly."
