Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Plans to spend $215 million over the next five years to replace 100 4000-series railcars under a contract with Kawaski. The cars have had numerous problems with brakes, lights and air conditioning. An overhaul for the cars would cost about $1.5 million per car.

The 364 7000-series cars include a customer-preferred blue and gray interior color scheme; a stainless steel exterior with 64 vinyl padded seats and seat-back grab handles; two dynamic LCD route maps and four video screens in each car; and a “quad-unit configuration” of the cars.

Agency received $150M in federal funds for the procurement of the new generation railcars. Of the 428 new cars, 128 will enable the expansion of Metro service on the Dulles rail corridor and 300 will be used to replace the 1000 series cars.