HyRailer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From Associated Press (AP)
>
> The California Department of Transportation on
> behalf of the departments of
> transportation of Illinois, Michigan and Missouri
> has issued a Notice of Intent
> to Award to Sumitomo Corporation of America a
> contract to design, build and
> deliver 130 bi-level passenger railcars for use in
> intercity rail corridors in
> California and the Midwest. The Notice to Award
> does not signify that a contract
> has been awarded but that a potential vendor has
> been identified. A fully
> executed agreement is expected to be in place by
> mid-November, pending FRA
> approval.
>
> Sumitomo Corporation of America partners with
> Nippon Sharyo for passenger rail
> car construction, so if Sumitomo gets the
> contract, these cars will be built at
> Nippon Sharyo's new plant in Rochelle.
>
> California will get 42 of the cars for use on
> their Capital Corridor, San
> Joaquin and Pacific Surfliner routes. The Midwest
> will get the other 88 cars for
> use on routes between Chicago and Port Huron,
> Detroit, Pontiac, Grand Rapids,
> Carbondale, St. Louis, Kansas City and Quincy, and
> future service to Dubuque and
> the Quad Cities.
>
> The first rail cars are slated for delivery in the
> fall of 2015, with the final
> car expected to be delivered in early 2018. These
> cars will be fully compatible
> with Amtrak's existing Superliner cars and with
> the bi-level cars currently in
> use in California.

Good to know that the state of CA is telling us residents of Illinois what we are going to buy. I would have hoped that IDOT would have looked out for itself.