LA transit agency tentatively agrees to award $300 million to Italian light rail manufacturer

August 27th, 2009 Train strikes another in DC Metro rail yardWASHINGTON — Officials with Washington's Metro transit system say two employees have been injured after a rail car struck another train in the West Falls Church rail yard. Metro officials said Thursday that a train traveling at a low speed unintentionally hit a stationary train about 6 p.m.

August 16th, 2009 Negotiations on between SF rail union, managementOAKLAND, Calif. — Talks aimed at averting a commuter rail strike in the San Francisco Bay Area are ongoing, with negotiators intent on hammering out a deal before Monday's commute.

August 5th, 2009 Administration sees gap in rail transit oversightWASHINGTON — There's virtually no federal safety oversight of subways, light rail and other urban train systems and the Obama administration wants to change that, a transportation official said Tuesday. Peter Rogoff, the new head of the Federal Transit Administration, said his agency is prohibited by law from establishing any national safety standards, conducting federal inspections or requiring specific operating practices for the local and regional transit agencies that provide more than 3 billion passenger trips by rail a year.

July 23rd, 2009 Feds say injuries have increased on SF trainsSAN FRANCISCO — The passenger injury rate on light-rail trains in San Francisco has steadily increased since 2003 — a trend that seems likely to continue after a weekend crash that injured 48 people. Accidents involving San Francisco Municipal Railway trains injured 21 passengers in 2003.

July 22nd, 2009 NTSB: Human error eyed as cause of SF train crashSAN FRANCISCO — Federal investigators say they are focusing on human error as the cause of a light-rail train crash in San Francisco that injured dozens of people after finding no indication of mechanical or systems failures. The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday the operator of the San Francisco Municipal Railway train in Saturday's collision told investigators he blacked out before the crash.

July 18th, 2009 Seattle light rail line debutsSEATTLE — A new light rail line is set to debut in Seattle. The 13.9-mile Link route between downtown Seattle and the south Seattle suburb of Tukwila opens Saturday.

July 18th, 2009 Trains roll on Seattle light rail lineSEATTLE — Thousands of people enjoyed free rides Saturday on the first day of service for Seattle's new light rail line. After more than four decades of political wrangling and financial struggles that ran transit rail plans for Seattle off the tracks, trains are finally running.

July 3rd, 2009 Italian train derailment death toll rises to 20ROME — Italian officials say the death toll from a train explosion in Tuscany has risen to 20 after a woman died overnight in the hospital. The Civil Protection said Friday some 15 injured are still in serious condition.

July 3rd, 2009 Italian train derailment death toll rises to 21ROME — The death toll from a train explosion in Tuscany rose to 21 on Friday after a woman and a man died in hospital, Italian officials said. The Civil Protection said about a dozen of the injured remained in serious condition.

July 3rd, 2009 Italian train derailment death toll rises to 22ROME — The death toll from a train explosion in Tuscany rose to 22 Friday after three injured people died in hospital, Italian officials said. The Civil Protection said about a dozen of the injured remained in serious condition.

July 1st, 2009 TORONTO - Canada's Bombardier, which is the third largest civilian aircraft maker and global leader in rail transportation, Tuesday announced the world's biggest sale of rail streetcars. The Montreal-based Bombardier, which supplies coaches to Delhi Metro, said it has signed a contract worth $851 million to supply 204 state-of-the-art streetcars to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).

April 30th, 2009 Study: $50B need to fix aging rail transit systemsWASHINGTON — More than one-third of the trains, equipment and facilities of the nation's seven largest rail transit agencies are near the end of their useful life or past that point, the government said Thursday. Many have components that are defective or may be critically damaged.

April 30th, 2009 Study says $50B needed to fix aging rail systemsWASHINGTON — More than one-third of the trains, equipment and facilities of the nation's seven largest rail transit agencies are near or past their useful life, and many have components that are defective or may be critically damaged, the government said Thursday. A report by the Federal Transit Administration estimates it will cost $50 billion to bring the rail systems in Chicago, Boston, New York, New Jersey, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., into good repair and $5.9 billion a year to maintain them.

April 30th, 2009 Study: $50B needed to fix rail transit systemsWASHINGTON — More than one-third of the trains, equipment and facilities of the nation's seven largest rail transit agencies are near the end of their useful life or past that point, the government said Thursday. Many have components that are defective or may be critically damaged.

February 17th, 2009 KOLKATA - Kolkata is slated to get the country's first elevated light rail transit system with the West Bengal government Wednesday inking an agreement with non-banking finance company SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited for the Rs.60 billion project. The 40-km Light Rail Transit System (LRTS) project, slated to be completed in four to five years, will be implemented by a SREI-led consortium that includes Czech-based Amex International as the technology partner and the state government's West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Limited.