International Railway Journal - October 2008 - (Page 45) Dart is lengthening its fleet of LRVs with the addition of a centre section, providing a much-needed capacity boost. whether PPPs will offer advantages to urban rail projects, and pilot projects are planned in San Francisco, Denver, and Houston. “There is a practical opportunity for PPPs in Dallas, but the quality of the finished product needs to be consistent with what we already have,” says Thomas. Dart completed its first 72km of light rail lines within budget, and the Green Line is also progressing well. So the announcement in November 2007 that the Orange Line and the Blue Line extension to Rowlett had doubled in cost surprised many in the city. Nonetheless, the city council is keen to ensure that the increased cost of these projects will not cause even minimal delay to the future expansion of the network. Dart has tackled this problem by reducing the project costs, adjusting its 20-year financial plan to generate additional short-term construction funding, and identified potential new sources of funding such as PPPs, grants, and increased advertising. It is now using $US 2.9 billion in long-term debt, and its first ever use of farebox revenues and federal grants as collateral for rail construction. This should allow Dart to realise all of the projects in the current construction phase, which will be completed in 2018. Thomas is convinced other US cities can emulate the achievements of Dallas if they commit to an appropriate level of local sales tax and make the best use of locally-available resources. “If you want a choice you have to be prepared to pay for it. There is a lot of difference between what you can do with 0.5% and 1%,” he concludes. “We cannot rely on state or federal funds to build light rail lines. Cities have to generate their own opportunities at local level and you have to be creative, even aggressive, to solve your own traffic problems. You can’t just sit and wait for the money.” IRJ Reliable and economic traction equipment for rail vehicles ELIN EBG Traction offers custom tailored three-phase AC technology such as IGBT traction inverters, microprocessor-based control equipment and traction motors for modern propulsion systems. Power that moves Extremely compact air-cooled IGBT traction converter type ETRIS T1000 ELIN EBG Traction GmbH, Cumberlandstr. 32-34 A-1141 Vienna, Austria; Phone: (+43/1) 89990-2386 Fax: (+43/1) 89990-3862; www.elinebgtraction.at IRJ October 2008 45 http://www.elinebgtraction.at
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