California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Morales to step down

California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) Chief Executive Officer Jeff Morales will step down from his position in early summer.

In an April 21 letter to California Gov. Jerry Brown and CHSRA staff, Morales said the time is right "to hand over the reins of the authority to new leadership."

Morales' last official day will be...
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Alstom's New Hydrogen-Powered Transit Light Rail Vehicle

Alstom has successfully completed a test run of the Coradia iLint Hydrogen-Powered Light Rail Vehicle at 80km/h (49.7 mph).

These vehicles are expected to go into commercial operations in 2018.

Amtrak Surfliner Strikes Large Eucalyptus Tree

January 31st, 2016 3:00 PM -- I got alerted that Amtrak #774 had an incident just south of the Sorrento Valley Coaster station, at the site of the old CP Pines. When I got on the scene about 20 min after the incident occurred, I found a huge Eucalyptus tree scattered all over both tracks. The conductor was also found walking around and assessing the scene.

Around 10 min later, a good citizen pulled up, who just happened to have a chainsaw. This man arrived before the MOW crew did, so he helped by chainsawing the small branches of the tree. Around the same time this was happening, some passengers began to disembark the train. Some were calling for their friends to pick them up, but mostly others were calling Uber and other ridesharing services to get them to their final destinations.

20 minutes later, a North County Transit District MOW crew showed up with their heavy duty chainsaws. The scene was then slowly being cleared with the help of 3 chainsaws now. 

Great work and efforts to the Amtrak conductor for keeping all of the passengers informed and safe of the situation that was going on, and to the good citizen who volunteered to help clear the scene before the MOW crews came on scene. 

This video was featured on KFMB (CBS 8) and KNSD (NBC 7) television stations, in San Diego, California on January 31st and February 1st, 2016.

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