Portland's tri-met light rail system celebrates ten years [Transportation systems]

The Norwegian National Railways (NSB) awarded an order for a total of 50 Flinker Leichter Innovativer Regional Triebzug (FLIRT) trains (Figure 1) plus an option for 100 further trains to Stadler Rail in August. This fleet renewal represents the largest order ever placed by the NSB. The order consists of 26 five-car train sets for the S-Rail operation in the Oslo area. An additional 24 train sets will be supplied by Stadler for medium- length routes throughout the whole of Southern Norway up to the area around Bergen. The first train set of 32 FLIRT trains to be used on the 5-ft gauge Helsinki S-Bahn was rolled out of the Stadler plant in Switzerland in October. All windows are triple-glazed and double-thick to cope with the severe winter temperatures that can go down as low as -40 degF. Heaters and warm air blowers are installed at the entrances to keep the cold outside air from entering the cars. The trains being built for Finland are configured in four-car sets with 260 seats. With a loading gauge of ten and a half feet, the three and two seating is expected to be a little more comfortable than the three and two seating common on commuter lines in the Unites States where the loading gauge is ten feet. The trains are designed to operate at speeds up to 100 mi/h. The signaling installed on the trains will be the Bombardier EBICAB standard in Finland, but the design is such that conversion to the new European standard of the European Control and Command System (ETCS) can be easily accomplished in the future.