The North American passenger rail market - Industry Overview

Railway Age, March, 2001

Construction began last year for a $386 million Stage II Light Rail Transit Project that will complete reconstruction of the Authority's 25-mile South Hills "T" rail system to modern light rail. Work for the 5.5-mile Overbrook Line, which has been closed since 1993 because of its deteriorated condition, will include five major new bridges, eight new stations, power supply and signaling upgrade, and track upgrade and doubling over the entire line. Other project work includes the procurement of new LRVs and the remanufacture of the original LRV fleet acquired in the mid-1980s, modernization of the Operations Control Center, and the construction of approximately 2,400 new park-and-ride spaces at five locations. The upgraded line is expected to open late in 2003, while planned Drake and Library Line improvements are still contingent upon future funding. Operations Control Center computer modernization is also expected to be complete in 2003. Spain's CAF and CAF USA, Inc., were awarded a $151.3 million contract l ast August for 28 new LRVs and the remanufacture of the current 55-vehicle fleet.

A draft EIS was completed late last year for a 1.6-mile light rail North Shore Connector project that would link the downtown area with an expanded convention center, two planned stadiums, and other development on the north shore of the Allegheny River. Preliminary engineering and a final ETS have begun.

BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA

Mass Transit Administration of Maryland (MTA) serves an 1,800 square mile area throughout the State of Maryland and extending into Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, with a service area population of two million. The MTA rail system includes the 30 route-mile Central Light Rail Line and a 15.5 route-mile metro at Baltimore, and three MARC regional/commuter rail routes totaling 187 route-miles extending northeast from Washington to Baltimore and Perryville, Md., and north to Brunswick, Md., and Martinsburg, W.Va. The rail fleet includes 35 LRVs, 100 metro vehicles, and 232 passenger cars along with four electric and 26 diesel-electric locomotives for MARC regional services. MTA's rail ridership approached 27.5 million trips in 2000.

Current capital improvements for the urban rail systems include a project to complete double tracking of the Central Light Rail Line. MTA has also initiated major rehabilitation work for the Baltimore metro system. Under an $80.6 million contract with AAI Corp., midlife overhauls for 100 metro cars began last June.

MARC regional trains now handle more than five million trips annually. Kawasaki is delivering 50 132-seat bilevel cars; six high speed electric locomotives from Bombardier/Alstom will follow. Work continues on a $50 million project to extend service from the existing Brunswick Line over a 13.5-mile CSXT branch to Frederick, Md.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) serves an 840.8 square mile area, with a population of more than 3.2 million, that includes the District of Columbia; Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland; and Arlington and Fairfax counties; Fairfax City, Falls Church, and Alexandria in Virginia. WMATA operates a five-route, 83-station, 103 route-mile Metrorail system with a 764 metro vehicles. Its trains handle a weekday average of well over 600,000 trips.