Passenger Trains > SMART Picks FRA Compliant DMUs

Found this on the Altamont Press Discussion Board today:

"SMART Board of Directors Go With FRA Compliant DMUs
July 15, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contact: Chris Coursey, 415-717-9968


A new generation of environmentally friendly railcars will whisk train passengers through Marin and Sonoma counties beginning in late 2014.

That's the decision of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Board of Directors, which today directed staff to prepare specifications for rail vehicles that meet the most stringent EPA standards, are capable of speeds up to 79 mph and will provide a first-class passenger experience for commuters, tourists and other travelers in the North Bay.

"This is the vehicle we promised the voters," said Board Chairman Charles McGlashan. "It gets our service up and running on time, on budget and with room to expand for the future. In the long run, that means our greenhouse gas savings will be even greater."

The vote to choose "FRA-compliant" vehicles was 9-2, with Directors Judy Arnold and Madeline Kellner opposed. Director Valerie Brown was absent.
Development of vehicle specifications, which will include public input, is expected to be complete by end of March 2010. Bids from the railcar-building industry will be due around Oct. 1, 2010. The first vehicles should arrive in the North Bay for testing on the SMART corridor in the fall of 2013, with the complete fleet due to be ready for service in the fall of 2014.

In making their decision, SMART Board members stressed the importance of vehicles that provide all of the environmental benefits identified in the project's environmental impact reports, and that also allow for maximum flexibility in operations. That combination is only offered by vehicles that meet Federal Railroad Administration standards for passenger trains that share a rail corridor with freight rail service, as SMART does with the North Coast Railroad Authority.

This type of vehicle, known as "FRA compliant," has been SMART's preferred rail car since the agency's first vehicle selection studies were conducted in 2002. SMART directors then and now favored the compliant vehicle because it needs no special waivers from the federal government to operate in conjunction with freight service. It also avoids the need for "temporal separation" between passenger and freight trains, a requirement that - if imposed - could mean either fewer passenger trains available during the day or forcing freight trains to run only at night.

SMART intends to run DMUs, or diesel multiple units, on the 70-mile corridor between Cloverdale and Larkspur. Unlike traditional trains with huge locomotives pulling long lines of passenger cars, DMUs are self-propelled units with the engines usually placed underneath the passenger compartments. This allows for relatively compact trains, generally two cars operating together in a "married pair" that seats about 150 passengers and is about 150-170 feet long. SMART's specifications likely will require manufacturers to provide a third car that can be added to the "married pair," increasing the seating capacity to 225 and expanding the area available for bicycles, disabled accommodations and other on-board amenities.

"When you consider everything, the compliant vehicle is the environmentally superior alternative," said Board Vice-chair Debora Fudge. "This is the vehicle that gives us more seats, more bike storage, more flexibility and makes us a more nimble system."

Four manufacturers have indicated to SMART that they are interested in building vehicles for this project. They include Brookville Equipment Corp. of Brookville, PA; Nippon-Sharyo Ltd. of Japan; Siemens Corp. of Germany; and U.S. Railcar LLC of Columbus, OH. All four have indicated they would build SMART's fleet of about a dozen vehicles in the United States, meeting the Federal Transit Administration's "Buy America" requirements.

SMART's rail vehicles likely will be the first FRA-compliant DMUs in the world to use engines that meet the Environmental Protection Agency's "Tier 4" emissions requirements, which go into effect beginning in 2011. Tier 4 technology, combined with new "clean-diesel" fuel, greatly reduces the amount of pollutants emitted from diesel engines, virtually eliminating the smoke and odor traditionally associated with old-style diesel. By getting travelers out of their cars and onto trains, SMART will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Marin and Sonoma counties by more than 30 million pounds a year, according to the project's EIR.

Marin and Sonoma county voters in November approved Measure Q, the quarter-cent sales tax to fund the SMART project, by a nearly 70-percent majority. SMART will use the publically owned former Northwestern Pacific Railroad corridor to operate passenger trains and develop a bicycle-pedestrian pathway connecting 14 stations from Cloverdale, in northern Sonoma County, to Larkspur, where the Golden Gate Ferry connects Marin County with San Francisco. "

Are any of the potential vendors the one that wound up with the Colorado Railcar designs and rights to build them?

dcautley Wrote:
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> Are any of the potential vendors the one that
> wound up with the Colorado Railcar designs and
> rights to build them?

Most likely. Somewhere on their website, there were presentations on about 10 different possible DMU choices.

U.S. Railcar, LLC of Columbus, OH(specifically mentioned as one of the potential builders in the article) purchased the rights to the Colorado Railcar DMU designs about two weeks ago. From the PR Newswire of 7-1-09:

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 1 /PRNewswire/ — Private investors affiliated with Value Recovery Group, Inc. (VRG) of Columbus, OH, have acquired the Colorado Railcar DMU and will resume manufacturing this modern domestically produced passenger train in a new manufacturing facility to be established later this year pending state/local incentives and final round investments. Assets acquired by US Railcar include the former Colorado Railcar DMU proprietary rights and information, manufacturing documentation, inventory, and other equipment necessary for production.

According to VRG Chairman & CEO Barry H. Fromm, “US Railcar intends to reestablish passenger train production in the United States.” Currently, passenger trains purchased in the U.S. today are produced by European and Asian suppliers typically importing 40 of content from overseas. “We want to keep American jobs and U.S. public investment at home,” said Fromm. “There is a major commitment by the Obama Administration and the Congress to make investments in intercity and high-speed rail to promote economic growth and mobility, create jobs, conserve energy and address climate change. This opens a new era for passenger trains and railcar manufacturing in the United States.”

US Railcar, LLC will be led by Michael P. Pracht, its President & CEO, a rail industry veteran with extensive past experience at two of the world’s leading rail transportation companies, Siemens and Ansaldo. US Railcar will manufacture both single- and bi-level Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) which are self-propelled railcars eliminating the need for more costly locomotive-hauled push/pull trains in lower density corridors. Both platforms are fully compliant with existing Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) safety standards for crashworthiness as established by Department of Transportation and approved for immediate use on the national rail system.

Unlike European & Asian DMUs, the US Railcar DMU can operate in all mixed-mode freight corridors throughout the country without waivers and/or temporal separation agreements currently required for non-compliant foreign platforms. “There are extraordinary growth opportunities for passenger rail development,” said US Railcar CEO Mike Pracht. “The US Railcar DMU will enable new cost-effective passenger rail service across a range of corridors and routes, all with a proven, existing equipment platform already in service.”

The US Railcar DMU was prototyped through a demonstration project in 2002 and is currently the only FRA-compliant DMU operating in revenue service in North America. Available in both regional and intercity configurations, the US Railcar DMU is uniquely suited for incremental corridor development at speeds from 79-to-90 mph. Platform enhancements currently anticipated include a diesel-electric upgrade, increasing speeds to 125 mph, making this American-made DMU the ideal solution for both mature and emerging passenger rail agencies around the country.

VRG is an asset recovery and management firm that specializes in asset management, advisory and asset recovery services for state and local governments, commercial banks, private investors and several federal agencies, including the FDIC. VRG also manages a brownfield remediation and redevelopment partnership and serves as consultant to advanced energy programs for state and federal agencies. More information about Value Recovery Group can be found at www.valuerecovery.com. US Railcar’s website www.usrailcar.com is currently under development.