Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Farhad Mansourian, GM of SMART, the commuter rail system currently under construction, discusses the status of the project, rider experience comparisons, proposals for connections and, system expansion and cost savings.

Contract awarded to Alameda-based Stacy and Witbeck/Herzog, a joint venture that will work on track, bridges, station platforms and grade crossings.

SMART has a $360 million plan to open an initial segment from Railroad Square in Santa Rosa to downtown San Rafael, with plans to extend the line to Cloverdale and to Larkspur as additional funding becomes available.

The initial operating segment, between Railroad Square in Santa Rosa and downtown San Rafael, is the first phase of a project that will create a new North Bay “backbone” to complement existing transit options.

Lillian Hames, GM of Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, gave her resignation, which was effective immediately, to the board of directors last week.

Four manufacturers-- Brookville Equipment Corp. of Brookville, Pa.; Nippon-Sharyo Ltd. of Japan; Siemens Corp. of Germany; and U.S. Railcar LLC of Columbus, Ohio -- have expressed interest in building vehicles for this project. All have indicated they would build the district’s fleet of about a dozen vehicles in the U.S., meeting the FTA’s “Buy America” requirements.