Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

During the past quarter-century, the manufacturer has sustained hundreds of jobs, while producing more than 2,500 railcars at its plant, which sits in the heart of the Northeast Corridor. Kawasaki is currently working on the next generation of the 7 line subway cars that will be supplied to New York City Transit.

Three hundred and forty-two railcars and locomotives were actually damaged by the Superstorm and the cost of the storm to the agency has risen to $450 million. Originally, 323 pieces of equipment were reported as damaged and the cost of the storm was thought to be $400 million.

CTA will acquire an additional eight railcars, bringing the total order to 714 from 706, which will allow the CTA to have additional cars to more quickly replace aging railcars, some of which are more than 40 years old.

The plan, called Momentum, prioritizes items such as developing a next-generation communications infrastructure; acquiring additional railcars, power capacity and yard storage to operate all eight car trains during peak periods; and completing the Metrobus priority corridor network to serve more riders faster.

The agency incorrectly used software provided by the National Weather Service that could have warned against a decision to leave hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment in a low-lying rail yard before Superstorm Sandy struck and damaged nearly one-third of the transit system’s fleet.

The rail vehicles will be used on the TEX Rail commuter line between southwest Fort Worth and DFW Airport.

When asked at a hearing why the agency didn’t move hundreds of railcars and engines before superstorm Sandy struck, executive director Jim Weinstein defended the decision. He said it was based on the fact that its yards had never flooded in NJ Transit’s nearly 30-year existence.

Asking member cities of the Regional Transportation Council for the funds to buy up to nine sets of commuter railcars for a commuter rail line from Fort Worth to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport.

If the additional cars are ordered by the end of the year, they can be purchased at the current price. However, bicycle advocates have criticized the plan because it would take away funds from other projects like bike lanes and sidewalk improvements.

State officials’ confidence that its passenger rail fleet was sufficiently protected from extreme weather led an agency executive to dismiss looking into weatherproofing NJ Transit’s railcars against storms produced by more extreme climate patterns earlier this year.