Subject: Extra light-rail station in works & 1st light rail car leaves Japan for N.J. testing 
Date: Monday, October 23, 2006 8:16 PM

Extra light-rail station in works 

Katie Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 21, 2006 12:00 AM 

 

Three Tempe businesses are getting closer to signing a deal that could
bring an additional light-rail station to the city. 

Initially, some of the businesses requesting the stop balked at helping
to carry the financial load, but apparently those issues have been
worked out. 

A $5 million-plus train stop has been designed to go in the middle of
Washington Street just east of Center Parkway. It would be Tempe's ninth
light-rail station, and the 27th for the Valley along the 20-mile line. 

It also would be the first and only station to be added on with private
money. The original stops are being paid for through a $1.4 billion
construction package of federal money and contributions from Tempe,
Phoenix and Mesa. This new stop won't be eligible for those federal
funds because the amount has been capped. 

Instead, Tempe and three businesses that would benefit from the
additional location would absorb the cost of design and construction.
They include Papago Park Center, a 522-acre Salt River Project-owned
business park that's home to the company's headquarters and more than a
dozen other businesses that opened in 1992; Chesnut Properties LLC,
which is building a biotech lab near Washington Street and Mill Avenue;
and Trillium at Rio Salado, a 1,200-resident apartment complex across
the street from the intended station. 

The foursome has agreed on a deal for cost sharing, said Jyme Sue
McLaren, a deputy public works manager who deals with Tempe's light-rail
business. 

The documents have yet to be signed, but should be submitted to the City
Council for sign-off within the next two months, McLaren said. 

Metro's most recent monthly progress report shows the design and
engineering of the station is scheduled to be complete in late February
2008, six months before the rail line's target opening date in December
2008. But McLaren said it's actually already done. 

It will be an identical look to the other rail stations in Tempe and be
completed along with the area's segment by spring, she said.

 

  _____  

1st light rail car leaves Japan for N.J. testing 

Sean Holstege
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 23, 2006 12:00 AM 

 

The Valley's first light-rail train car, No. 101, is steaming for the
Panama Canal, bound for New Jersey, having completed a battery of
successful tests in Osaka, Japan. 

"This is a wonderful machine," said Metro's operations chief, Joe Marie,
who checked out the first train on a tour last month of the Kinkisharyo
International factory. He described the inspection as one of the best
he's participated in during a lengthy transit career.

"We are satisfied as a team we got a good product," he said. 

Train car 101 departed the port of Kobe, Japan, on Sept. 30. It's
expected to arrive in Baltimore on Nov. 2 and from there be trucked to
Newark for further tests beginning in mid-November. 

Key among the tests is checking whether the train accelerates and brakes
smoothly. Then it will be sent to Arizona for final assembly and testing
on Phoenix streets.

The other train that's been completed, car 102, has passed a two-month
test inside a climate chamber, where temperatures were pushed to 127
degrees Fahrenheit. That train is expected to be the first to arrive in
Phoenix, in late January or early February, Marie said.

Metro is buying 50 rail cars for $159 million. On Wednesday, Metro's
governing board authorized Marie to enter into a five-year, $27 million
contract with Pittsburgh-based Kinkisharyo, a subsidiary of a Japanese
firm, to maintain the trains. The firm beat out three competitors on the
basis of qualifications, Marie said, and its price was about $800,000
under the official estimate. 

The first light rail train is scheduled to begin service in December
2008.