Rail Cars
San Francisco’s BART Awarded $545 Loan for Upgraded Rail Cars
The agency plans to modernize its fleet with more efficient rail cars equipped with new safety features.
Public Input Sought to Inform Designs of $646 Million in New Rail Cars for Atlanta
Atlanta's new fleet of rail cars, expected for delivery in 2023, will include open gangways. Other design features of the new cars are still to be determined.
Congress Intends to Ban Chinese Rail Cars
The U.S. is an expensive place to build transit resources. A move from Congress to ban Chinese rail cars over espionage fears may exacerbate that problem.
BART Considers Range of Options for Retired Vehicles
Hundreds of cars in the system will be going offline in coming years, and the agency is looking at a variety of ideas for what to do with them.
Senate Bans Procurements of Chinese Transit Vehicles
The temporary ban applies to bus and rail projects seeking funding from a number of FTA programs.
BART Gets 10 New Rail Cars
Fewer seats and more room for standing commuters are among the updates to the rail cars coming to BART.
Spokane Voters to Decide Whether to Regulate Oil and Coal Trains
Proposition 2, the Safer Spokane Initiative, would require railroads to reduce health and safety risks posed by certain types of oil and coal trains traveling through specified parts of the city or risk being fined.
At Least 120 Dead in Indian Train Derailment on Sunday
A fractured rail is suspected as the cause of the worst train crash in India since 2010. The Indore-Patna Express train derailed near Kanpur in northern India. At least 200 are injured.
Denver's Commuter Rail Cars: Same as SEPTA's But Without the Defects
Denver's transit agency is running very similar Hyundai Rotem EMUs on their new A Line to the airport. The car shells are imported from South Korea and assembled in the same Philadelphia plant as SEPTA's problem-plagued Silverliner V cars.
Chicago Buys $1.3 Billion in New Rail Cars
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will replace half its rail cars by the year 2020.
A New Generation of Subway Cars Coming to New York
The first "open gangway" subway cars are due to arrive in New York in 2020. These cars enable passengers to freely walk between cars without having to struggle to open doors to access an adjacent car.
Safety of Southern California's New Metrolink Cab Cars Questioned
After a February Metrolink commuter train crash in Oxnard, Calif., train officials hailed the new Korean rail cars as having performed well. Now they have expressed second thoughts, and are replacing the front cab cars with BNSF locomotives.
U.S. Subway Car Design Behind the Curve
Yonah Freemark examines U.S. subway systems and notes the lack of "open gangways" (i.e., the space between the cars). Only in the U.S. do doors separate cars. What gives?
Metrolink Crash Would Have Been Much Worse If Not for New Rail Cars
While all four passenger cars derailed in Tuesday morning's crash with a pickup truck, three on their sides, experts indicate that the new cars likely prevented far greater damage. Also covered is the locomotive push-pull issue and grade separations.
A (Freight) Rail Line Runs Through It - Cities Take Notice
Call it the Lac-Mégantic effect - the July 6 conflagration that leveled the downtown, killing 47 people, has implications for all jurisdictions where oil and freight trains run. Cities must recognize that rail insurance policies are woefully lacking.
Why are Crude Oil Trains Exploding Across North America?
Crude oil may be flammable, but until recently was not thought to be explosive. However, three recent oil train explosions all involving crude oil from the Bakken formation have prodded investigators to determine why Bakken crude is more explosive.
Commuter RR To 'Double-Deck' To Increase Capacity
More capacity for the same cost is the case with double-decker commuter cars -- if they can fit into tunnels, that is. Bi-level train were once more common in the commuter trains serving NYC. However, these cars can have their own disadvantages.
MBTA's $190 Million Rail Car Gamble
MBTA is spending almost $200 million for 75 new rail cars from a South Korean company that has yet to sell its cars in the U.S., so rail experts have expressed doubts about the wisdom of this purchase for the troubled Boston T.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
planning NEXT
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie
