Passenger Trains > Austin To Get Rail Vehicles

Capital Metro of Austin, TX has announced on its website that it has voted to enter into an agreement with Stadler Railcar, a Swiss manufacturer, for six of Stadler's GTW rail vehicles, each with a seating capacity of some 225 people. CapMetro has an option for 12 more sets, according to Stadler's website. The proposed deal is worth some 32.28 million dollars. Service will operate between Leander, TX and Downtown Austin.
No info on paint schemes, etc.

---

The Austin order looks like the usual GTW 2/6 deal:

http://www.stadlerrail.com/default.asp?n=68&ms=2&h=1&id=57&s=2&news_id=132

23.9.2005

Stadler Wins Commuter Rail Car Award with Capital Metro

Bussnang, Switzerland - The Capital Metropolitan Transportation
Authority Board of Directors in Austin, Texas this week unanimously
approved a rail car contract with Stadler Bussnang AG, a Swiss company,
for the delivery of six GTW articulated rail cars with an option for 12
additional vehicles. The initial contract is worth $32.3 million.

The transit agency is planning its new 32 mile Austin-to-Leander urban
commuter rail service to begin in January 2008. Stadler will deliver the
first vehicle in the fall of 2007 and the sixth rail car in Spring 2008.
"We wanted a rail car that was quiet, environmentally friendly, and
compatible with neigh-borhoods," said John Almond, Project Director for
Capital Metro Commuter Rail. Stadlers' rail car fits that description,
as well as having a sleek appearance that suits an urban scale."
“Stadler Rail is truly honored to be selected for Austin's new commuter
line. Our design team's special attention to safety, comfort, and
attractiveness, in addition to our renowned operation and maintenance
ease proved successful factors in the award. We look forward to building
on our New Jersey and Austin successes in the U.S. market," said Peter
Spuhler, owner and CEO of Stadler Rail AG. Capital Metro cited Stadler's
diesel electric propulsion system, designed as a center power module
between the passenger cars, as unique in the rail car business, and a
key advan-tage for efficient maintenance and operations. In addition,
the vehicles have lower levels of noise and vibration than typical
commuter rail cars used elsewhere in the U.S. Each vehicle will be
self-propelled by two diesel electric engines, accessible (fully ADA
compliant), and will be able to start and stop faster than traditional
commuter rail vehicles. The rail cars have a capacity of 225 passengers,
108 seated and 117 standing, as well as spaces for passengers with
wheelchairs and bicycles. The rail car communications system includes
visual and acoustic passenger information, a video recording system and
a wireless LAN infrastructure. About Stadler: Stadler Rail Group
specializes in regional and suburban service markets, light regional
ex-press railway service, and streetcar vehicles. Stadler's GTW
articulated rail car is very popu-lar in European countries such as
Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece (for Olympic Games 2004), Austria,
Slovakia, Netherlands and Switzerland. To date, Stadler has sold more
390 GTW rail cars internationally. Stadler manufactured and delivered
twenty 90-seat GTW design rail cars for service in the U.S. for New
Jersey on the Trenton to Camden line in 2003 in a consortium with
Bombardier. The Stadler Rail Group, headquartered in Bussnang,
Switzerland, employs 1,400 persons in four locations in Europe. For more
information, please visit www.Stadlerrail.com, For questions, please
contact: Stadler Rail Group, Mr. Klaus Potocnik, Director, Project
Management, Telephone: 011-41-71 626 87 49, Ms. Silvia Bär, Director,
Media Relations, Telephone: 011-41-71 626 20 34, Mobile: ++41(0)79/216
48 31, Fax: 011-41-71 626 21 28, U.S. Contact: Karla Taylor Villalon,
512-439-0566, kvillalon@brucetoddpublicaffairs.com






Incidentally, Stadler is building some of the most interesting
and appropriately engineered rail vehicles in the world (The "FLIRT" design
http://www.stadlerrail.com/default.asp?ms=6&h=1&id=199&n=185&s=2)
and having considerable market success.
Of course it is illegal to operate them here in God's Own Country.
(They'd be perfect for Caltrain local service, for example.)

Isn't this the second DMU/railcar announcement in several months, that did not go to Colorado Railcar?

I'm wondering if CRC will get any orders - Tri-Rail has the demonstrator unit but no new orders. TriMet says they are "working with Colorado Railcar" to design a unit specifically for its use, but the specifications TriMet quotes are rather different than CRC's stock model.

Colorado Railcar bet on an FRA-compliant design that is large and heavy. Transit agencies interested in DMUs appear to want something smaller and lighter. NJT's River Line, as noted, bought Stadler cars -- and they provide a nice ride and *huge* windows.

The Oceanside light rail line will be using a Siemens design (*not* the RegioSprinter, though), and now Austin is buying Stadler cars.

None of these cars is FRA-compliant, and thus freight service on each line can operate only when the LRTs do not operate. In New Jersey, that has been a problem, since there are a number of on-line shippers and quite a bit of freight traffic (two locals operate five nights a week). Freight service on the Oceanside line is one less-than-daily local, and a daily local on the Austin line.

Actually there are three called freights most days there,plus interchange with UP and BNSF at McNeil which can make things quite interesting.........