The submission completes months of study and analysis, in cooperation with the FRA, DCTA's Swiss vehicle supplier Stadler and systems consultant LTK Engineering Services, to establish the equivalency of the Stadler vehicle design with traditional United States compliance standards.
Texas-based Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) submitted the rail industry's first Alternative Vehicle Technology (AVT) waiver to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to obtain permission to use the Stadler GTW rail vehicles, with their alternate crashworthiness elements, in revenue service concurrently with its current fleet of traditional vehicles.
The submission completes months of study and analysis, in cooperation with the FRA, DCTA's Swiss vehicle supplier Stadler and systems consultant LTK Engineering Services, to establish the equivalency of the Stadler vehicle design with traditional United States compliance standards.
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DCTA's submittal, which is the first of its kind in the nation, demonstrates that the enhanced crashworthiness and passenger protection systems inherent to its new fleet of rail vehicles are equivalent to current U.S. safety standards. DCTA will continue to work with the FRA to advance the AVT application through the review and evaluation process and anticipates receipt of the FRA's response in the coming months.
DCTA employs temporal separation (where traditional and new vehicle fleets are always separated) over the A-train corridor, so integration of the Stadler GTWs into service is not contingent upon receipt of the AVT waiver. However, the waiver will allow the authority to introduce the new cars sooner to run in mixed-use with the traditional cars currently in operation.
Amtrak will open grant applications March 23 for community projects near the Frederick Douglass Tunnel alignment in Baltimore as part of a $50 million investment tied to the B&P Tunnel Replacement Program.
The Denmark Station $2.3 million construction investment project includes a new 280-foot concrete boarding platform, built eight inches above the top of rail, for improved accessibility for passengers with disabilities and families with small children and much more.
Caltrain and its partners have implemented safety improvements at specific locations in response to known risk conditions, operational needs, and available funding since the agency’s founding.
On a recent episode of METROspectives, METRO Magazine’s Executive Editor Alex Roman sat down with Ana-Maria Tomlinson, Director of Strategic & Cross-Sector Programs at the CSA Group, to explore a bold initiative aimed at addressing those challenges: the development of a National Code for Transit and Passenger Rail Systems in Canada.
Competitive FTA grants will support accessibility upgrades, family-friendly improvements, and cost-efficient capital projects at some of the nation’s oldest and busiest transit hubs.
The 3.92-mile addition will soon take riders west beyond its current Wilshire and Western station in Koreatown, continuing under Wilshire Boulevard through neighborhoods and communities including Hancock Park, Windsor Square, the Fairfax District, and Carthay Circle into Beverly Hills.
Under the plan, all long-distance routes will transition to a universal single-level fleet, replacing today’s mix of bi-level and single-level equipment.
