Toronto-Mississauga LRT extension begins tunnel work
Before a backdrop of construction vehicles, a cross-section of politicians gathered Monday to signal the start of tunneling on a new transit system that will connect Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario. The Metrolinx Eglinton West LRT extension will connect the Eglinton Crosstown LRT to the Transitway in Mississauga. The project is beginning with two tunnel-boring machines at Renforth Drive in Mississauga. The machines will dig more than 6 km of twin tunnels under Eglinton Avenue to Scarlett Drive. No recent estimate for a completion date is available. [globalnews.ca]
Amtrak restoring most Pennsylvania-NYC Keystone trains
In anticipation of increased demand, Amtrak is scheduling more trains on its Keystone Service line connecting Harrisburg, Philadelphia and New York City. Starting Monday, April 25, Amtrak will add two new weekday trains between the three cities. Additionally, all pre-pandemic weekend service between Harrisburg and Philly will be restored. Once added service begins, 12 daily round-trips will be offered between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, with 10 daily round-trips between New York and Philadelphia. Weekend services will also increase. PennDOT is helping to coordinate the added service. [phillyvoice.com]
Amtrak uses Twitch stream to fight freight railroads
Amtrak hopes to restore service between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, Louisiana, but CSX and Norfolk Southern, the freight railroads that control most of the route, are opposed despite being legally obligated to do so. Now, Amtrak has used Twitch, the live streaming platform, to fight the freight services’ claims that Amtrak’s use of the track would cause “a near-catastrophic meltdown of freight operations.” The Twitch stream showed four CSX trains pass the camera over a nine-hour period. For most of the day, the feed showed the track empty. [jalopnik.com]
Israel’s first public transit cable car takes flight in Haifa
Israel has integrated cable cars into its public transit network in the northern city of Haifa. The cable cars run some 2.7 mi from Haifa Bay transportation center to Neve Sha’anan, the Technion, and the University of Haifa. There are 150 cable cars with a capacity of 10 passengers each, departing every 15 seconds. The total capacity is 2,400 passengers per hour in each direction. The elevation gain is over 1,500 ft across the hilly Mediterranean port city. In a concession to the ultra-Orthodox, the cable cars will not operate on Saturday, which is the Jewish Sabbath. [i24news.tv]
