(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on February 19, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the midst of a massive contraction for the North American freight car industry, equipment builder American Railcar Industries said it has formed a joint venture with US Railcar to produce self-propelled passenger train units.
They said the venture will design, manufacture and sell diesel multiple units, which can use self-propelled and unpowered passenger railcars to form a train set without a locomotive.
ARI President and CEO James Cowan said “our commitment to expand and diversify ARI’s manufacturing program results from ARI’s desire to grow, and build on the expected federal commitment to passenger rail as part of a balanced national transportation system.”
Investors formed US Railcar last June with assets of the former Colorado Railcar Manufacturing, which ceased operations in late 2008.
The company said its DMUs, which have two diesel engines in the same unit with passenger seats, can carry 94 passengers in a single-level model and 188 in bi-levels. One self-propelled unit can pull two other non-powered coaches.
US Railcar said those DMUs have been around since a 2002 prototype, are fully compliant with federal regulations, and 10 are in use in three states.
The Obama administration has allocated more than half its $8 billion in passenger rail development grants for projects that would use the existing freight-shared rail network. ARI and US Railcar said their product “is uniquely suited for incremental corridor development” in that market.