AMTRAK, the US long-distance passenger train operator, has appointed Mr Wick Moorman to succeed Mr Joe Boardman as president and CEO with effect from September 1.

A new generation of rolling stock entered passenger service on Vancouver’s SkyTrain driverless light metro network on the morning of August 18, when Mr Kevin Desmond, CEO of transport authority TransLink and British Columbia Rapid Transit Company (BCRTC) president and general manager Mrs Vivienne King welcomed passengers on board the first Mark III train at Waterfront station.

PROPOSALS for a 74km light rail network and a second commuter rail line for Nashville have been included in a 25-year transit strategy for the region, which was presented to the boards of Nashville Metropoitan Transit Authority (NMTA) and Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee (RTA) on August 17 following 16 months of public consultation.

THE California State Transport Agency (Calsta) announced on August 16 the 14 recipients for the $US 390m 2016 Transit and Intercity Capital Programme (TIRCP) grants, $US 374m of which will be invested in rail.

CONSTRUCTION of Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown light rail line reached a significant milestone on August 18 when tunnel boring machines Don and Humber broke through at Yonge Street, marking the completion of tunneling on the 10km underground section between Keele Street and Laird Drive.

Canadian pension fund Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) has a track record of successfully investing in rail projects, and it is now looking to bring this to Montreal. Jean-Marc Arbaud, deputy managing director of CDPQ Infra, reveals the company’s ambitions for the 67km Metropolitan Electric Network (REM) to Kevin Smith.

Montreal is set to profit from the Canadian federal government’s plans to invest heavily in public infrastructure projects, including rail, over the next five years. Kevin Smith assesses what this could mean for metro operator Montreal Transport’s (STM) long-held ambitions for expansion.

Canada’s aggressive economic and sustainability goals are set to be met by Via Rail’s Toronto - Ottawa - Montreal passenger rail corridor project which should be in place by 2020. David Thomas reports on the ambitious inter-city passenger railway venture.

The first private-sector investment in inter-city passenger rail in the United States for well over half a century is underway, with the first trains scheduled to enter service in mid-2017. Mike Reininger, president of All Aboard Florida, talks exclusively to David Briginshaw about this ambitious venture.