Free Republic

Balfour Beatty's US subsidiary, Parsons Brinckerhoff, has been awarded three new contracts to manage high-speed and intercity passenger rail projects in Illinois, Ohio and Florida, US. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDoT) has selected Parsons Brinckerhoff as programme manager for the high-speed rail, 284-mile (457 km) "signature route" from Chicago to St. Louis. About US$ 1.1 billion in Federal high-speed rail funding has been allocated to this project. In Ohio the Department of Transport has selected a Parsons Brinckerhoff-led team to provide consultant services for the development of a new 250 miles (400 km) intercity passenger rail service on an...

SANTA FE— With no money to pay for them, New Mexico has indefinitely postponed $500 million worth of high-priority road projects. The biggest losers dollar-wise? The Navajo Nation, drivers on U.S. 54 in the central part of the state and users of U.S. 64 in northern New Mexico. Other losers include drivers jockeying for position on the crowded stretch of I-25 between Bernalillo and the Tramway exit at the north end of Albuquerque. All told, the state Transportation Commission has postponed 29 improvement projects involving 300 miles of roadway. "I'm sure we'll have everyone upset because these projects are not...

China-made train toy in lead recall June 16, 2007 This Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toy is being recalled. There is nothing friendly about the lead paint that was allegedly used in China to decorate Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys, which are now facing a recall in Asia and the United States. Local importer Zambus Korea said yesterday the recall here was voluntary and began as soon as news was received of a recall ordered by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with RC2 Corp, the importer of the toys in the U.S. “It is...