(The Canadian Press circulated the following story by Ross Marowits on January 11, 2010.)
MONTREAL — Canadian transportation giant Bombardier (TSX:BBD.B) says it is already incorporating into its new railway car designs pending U.S. safety rules meant to save lives during collisions.
The new regulations set to take effect in March will require manufacturers to make changes so their railway cars are better able to withstand collisions.
The changes announced last week are expected to cost about $4.1 million over 20 years, mostly for testing and engineering.
Bombardier spokeswoman Maryanne Roberts said the manufacturer has known about the rule changes for at least a year. It has made submissions to the Federal Railroad Administration, which has taken a collaborative approach to the changes, she said.
“It’s really not a surprise or issue for us,” Roberts said in an interview from the Philadelphia area.
“We’ve already been doing a lot of this so it’s kind of a non-event just because we’ve been involved since the beginning of this.”
For example, the enhancements are already incorporated in its designs for M7 electric trains ordered by the Long Island Railroad.
The new rules will require stronger front-end frames on new passenger railcars and some locomotives to help prevent them from collapsing on impact.
The enhancements include the addition of collision and corner posts at the front of cabins to absorb energy during a collision.
Several people have been killed in various incidents in the United States when trains collapsed like an accordion following collisions.
The loss of safe space inside trains during a collision is a primary risk to passengers. The main goal of the rule change is to preserve a space where occupants can ride out a collision or derailment and then to minimize the physical forces passengers face when hitting surfaces as the train decelerates.
Bombardier and French-based Alstom will have to meet the new standards for trains sold to commuter railroads and Amtrak.
Meanwhile, Amtrak president Joseph Boardman said during a conference call that it plans to purchase more than 100 locomotives and “several hundred” passenger cars to upgrade its fleet.
Boardman said details of the plan will be announced next month.
Talal Zouaoui of Bombardier in Montreal said the order is good news for the world’s largest railway manufacturer and the industry in general.
“Amtrak is already a very big customer and operator of trains in North America,” he said in an interview.
During the 1990s, the Quebec multinational built in partnership with Alstom high-speed trains Acela Express that connected Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.