October 1, 2008

WES Commuter Rail to open January 30

Opening ceremony on Jan. 30; revenue service begins Feb. 2

TriMet today announced that WES Commuter Rail will hold its opening ceremony on Friday, Jan. 30 and begin revenue service on Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. Over the next four months, safety certification of all WES cars and extensive and rigorous signal system testing will be completed.

TriMet steps in to ensure car delivery

TriMet purchased three self-propelled Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) cars and one trailer from Colorado Railcar Manufacturing (CRM). TriMet contracted with CRM, the only U.S. firm that builds DMUs that meets federal safety standards and complies with the Buy America requirement.

CRM has been financially distressed and is six months behind schedule. In January 2008, TriMet stepped in to ensure the cars' completion, including providing financial and rail engineering expertise and on-site technical assistance to CRM, as well as paying suppliers to get parts delivered and maintain CRM operations. When the third DMU arrived in September, TriMet engineers determined that it would not be ready for service this fall. 

Freight with commuter trains

Commuter rail is a new transportation mode for Portland & Western (P&W) Railroad freight operations. TriMet purchased a state of the art signal system for WES that is being fully integrated with P&W's freight service. All 35 P&W freight locomotives that will operate in this corridor, as well the WES vehicles will include cab signals that are part of an overall signal system that will prevent train-to-train collisions, similar to what occurred in Los Angeles in September. The new software system is being fine-tuned and staff are implementing an extensive training and testing program. Both TriMet and P&W want more time to break in this new mode to ensure safe operations.

"TriMet stepped in to make sure we received the cars needed for service and now we are focusing on getting them fully tested and certified to ensure safe operations," said TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen. "We are also working with P&W to reach a greater level of confidence in their operating these two modes safely together."

About WES

The 14.7-mile WES (Westside Express Service) is the first commuter rail line in Oregon and will serve the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville with weekday rush hour service. It will connect to the Beaverton Transit Center with 11 bus lines and MAX Blue and Red lines, as well as bus service at each station, including Wilsonville's SMART system, which provides bus service to Salem.