Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Momentum, the model station, will enable Metro to test several design concepts in a single station, with improved lighting, better information and improved customer convenience. Some of the concepts being considered include high-output light fixtures to direct light to the vault ceiling, and a new information wall enclosing fare machines, ATMs, maps and digital screens.

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.

Features include real-time train arrival times, number of cars and destination for any of Metro's rail stations; Next Bus, which uses a customer's GPS location to display bus arrival predictions for all nearby bus stops; and Service Nearby, letting customers to see all bus and rail transit service near their current location.

New York City, Washington, D.C. and Salt Lake City users can now access live departure times on rail lines.

David Kubicek, who was instrumental in improving safety on the Metrorail, will leave the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority on March 18. It is not clear what he plans to do next.

LivingSocial will underwrite at least one hour and up to two hours of extended Metrorail service for all rides originating from Navy Yard-Ballpark station after home evening post-season games in October and November.

Outstanding safety recommendations included, enhance the safety redundancy of [Metro’s] train control system by evaluating track occupancy data on a real-time basis and Implementing cable insulation resistance testing as part of Metrorail’s periodic maintenance program.

The aggressive capital program, known as Metro Forward, includes projects to replace 95 buses; rehabilitate 100 buses, 42 escalators and 21 elevators; install event recorders on the 1000- and 4000-series railcars, and continue the rehabilitation of track and structures maintenance on the Red, Orange and Blue lines.

An arbitration panel ruled that Metro could continue to screen employees for sleep disorders, but needed to provide temporary provisional cards so workers could work while waiting for a sleep study.

The order for 95 Xcelsior XDE40 buses is a conversion of options under the existing contract with the transit system and follows upon the delivery of 152 Xcelsior buses during 2011.