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Old Posted Feb 24, 2009, 12:56 PM
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justremember justremember is offline
because history matters
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 136
Here's how SEPTA has chosen to take advantage of the stimulus package:
http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...ral_funds.html
Quote:
SEPTA outlines projects set for federal funds

By Paul Nussbaum

Inquirer Staff Writer
Refurbished Broad Street subway stations at Girard and Spring Garden.

Forty new hybrid buses.

New rail, new signals, and repainted overhead-wire poles on the Route 101/102 Media-Sharon Hill line.

Renovated stations at seven stops along the R8 Chestnut Hill West rail line.

Those are among 28 SEPTA projects slated to start as early as spring, with about $190 million in funds expected from the new federal stimulus law.

SEPTA officials pared their wish list last week, after federal funding was reduced and formulas modified, but general manager Joseph M. Casey said, "We'll take what we can get . . . $190 million is nothing to sneeze at."

SEPTA officials met with vendors and contractors Friday, and the transit agency expects the first bids to be in by early March. Work will begin by May, and 80 percent of the projects will be under way within 120 days, said Jeff Knueppel, SEPTA assistant general manager of engineering, maintenance and construction.

Projects large and small have been designed, to allow as many contractors and workers to be involved as possible, Casey said.

The most expensive of the projects is a $36.7 million rehabilitation of the 1930s-era Broad Street subway stations at Spring Garden Street and Girard Avenue.

About $44 million is earmarked for several projects to upgrade the Media-Sharon Hill (Routes 101 and 102) trolley lines. The work will include new continuous welded rail to replace old rail - some dating to the 1920s, repainted catenary poles, improved grade crossings, removal of crossing gates, and installation of fiber optic cable to permit installation of audiovisual public-address devices at the stations.

About $5.2 million is slated for the balky automatic train-control system on the Green Line subway-surface trolley lines, which has never worked satisfactorily and produces chronic delays. The money is to be spent on replacing and upgrading computers, hardware, and software.

The ornate 1878 Tulpehocken station on the R8 Chestnut Hill West rail line, designed by renowned Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, will get an exterior makeover and a new roof as part of a $3.1 million project to refurbish seven stations on the line. The other six are Chestnut Hill West, Highland, St. Martins, Carpenter Lane, Upsal, and Chelten Avenue.

Other Regional Rail stations to be renovated include Croydon, Malvern, Philmont, Langhorne, Lansdale, Warminster, Glenside, Fox Chase, and North Wales. New signs are slated for 17 stations on the R5 Paoli/Thorndale line.

About $18.7 million is earmarked for SEPTA to exercise its option to buy 40 new electric-diesel hybrid buses from New Flyer of America.

SEPTA is also looking for additional federal money from environmental, security, and high-speed-rail funds to augment the $190 million from the transit pool in the stimulus package, said Richard Burnfield, chief financial officer.
Not exactly the forward-looking ideas we've been discussing.
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