The opening date of the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) Grand Central Madison station has been delayed due to an ongoing issue with an exhaust fan; Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s (MassDOT) Northern Tier Passenger Rail service could cost up to $2 billion; and four MetroLink stations in St. Clair County will receive the system’s first fare collection gates next year.
St. Louis Metro Transit
Four MetroLink stations in St. Clair County will receive the St. Louis Metro Transit’s first fare collection gates and related fencing next year under a $52 million plan outlined Jan. 12 to “show progress in increasing safety on the trains,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, Kevin Scott, General Manager of Security for Bi-State Development Agency, which oversees Metro Transit, told agency board members that “similar equipment and related upgrades at the remaining 34 stations across St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Clair County would be installed by 2025.”
The initial four—Emerson Park and Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center stations in East St. Louis, the Washington Park station and College station in Belleville—were picked because “they will require minimal redesign and construction and can be outfitted relatively quickly,” according to the report.
“The idea is to show progress to the region,” Scott said. “Some of the other locations will offer our engineering team some challenges.”
Since its inception in 1993, MetroLink has relied on fare enforcement by roving security officers on its trains, but Bi-State is reversing the decades-old policy with the ticket gate program “aimed at boosting public confidence in the light-rail’s safety following high-profile incidents of violent crime in recent years,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, Kansas City-based engineering firm HNTB was selected by Bi-State earlier this year to design the gates with construction being handled in up to five phases. Bids on the first four stations will be sought in July.
Construction, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, is expected to begin this fall and take about six months unless delayed by weather or supply-chain issues. “Dividing the work into phases will result in the project being completed sooner and also could open it up to smaller contractors,” the agency said.
The plan also includes installation of hundreds more closed-circuit cameras on the system and a new “real time” camera monitoring center that has opened.
