Rail Information – Metra OKs purchase of 500 rail autos. For Railroad Occupation Professionals

Metra’s board yesterday authorised the buy of up to 500 multilevel rail vehicles from Alstom Transportation Inc.

The preliminary order will be for 200 autos. Metra will have the solution to obtain up to 300 supplemental autos for up to $1.8 billion whole, Metra officers reported in a press launch.

The vehicles specified in the contract are a tailored version of Alstom’s Coradia Duplex product and will be developed at Alstom’s producing plant in Hornell, New York. A 3rd of the rail-car contract worth will be delivered by Illinois-primarily based suppliers, Metra officers said.

The new rail vehicles will be wheelchair obtainable and have two entranceways with doorways almost amount to the platform. The vehicles will also feature safety camera in the passenger location and a microprocessor-managed braking technique.

The first car is expected to be sent 42 months just after the agreement is finalized, with the total foundation order to be concluded 30 months afterwards.

About 40 % of Metra’s current fleet of 840 cars are rated in marginal or bad condition, Metra officials stated.

“We are eventually modernizing a person of the oldest fleets in the nation and, in accomplishing so, we will increase operations while elevating our passenger working experience to an entirely new level. It is seriously component of our prolonged-phrase strategy to evolve and provide the modifying needs of today’s commuters,” reported Metra Main Govt Officer and Executive Director Jim Derwinski.