Search Results for "Ansaldo"

Because the news broke on a weekend, the press reports on the dissolution of the talks between Metro and AnsaldoBreda on extending the exclusive contract to build rail cars for the agency were less-than-complete.  Before the news of the verdict in the Christopher Thompson case broke, I was working on a F.A.Q. that would answer all of the questions that are being asked about AnsaldoBreda, the future rail car contract, and what's next for Metro and AnsaldoBreda.  The full F.A.Q. is available after the jump.  If you have any questions not answered, leave them in the comments section and I'll do my best to answer them by the end of the day.

Oh, for the  love of...

Tomorrow the Metro Board will meet and is widely expected to finally pass the Long Range Transportation Plan, which just like the city's Draft Bike Plan, was the subject of public hearings in the early winter of 2008 and hasn't been subject to much public scrutiny since.  Many Board Members are already offering amendments to the plan to protect and advance their preferred local projects.  The goal of moving projects in the plan is to better position them to receive federal funds to hopefully get them off the design table and on the ground, or under the ground, as quickly as possible.

Today's Metro Board meeting lasted over four hours and featured a lot of hot button issues including the Long Range Transportation Plan, the fate of the AnsaldoBreda exclusive contract to build light rail cars and whether or not to pursue federal funds to accelerate the Downtown Rail Connector and Subway to the Sea projects.  Naturally, the Board decided to delay all of those decisions until September.  There is no scheduled Board Meeting in August, although there is a "workshop" on August 13.

This week's Metro Board Meeting, the meeting where much of the transportation related news for the entire month comes to a conclusion, has a lot of interesting items.  Highlighted by the potential passage of the "2009" Long Range Transportation Plan and the potential extension of the AnsaldoBreda light rail car contract.  However, some smaller items, such as a discussion of Asm. Lieu's proposal to extend HOV access to cars with the magic "fuel efficient" sticker, a setting of the fares for the Silver Line and setting the prices for Metro's Express Lanes will also be discussed.

At today's Metro Board hearing, the Board punted again on deciding whether to continue it's exclusive contract for Light Rail cars with AnsaldoBreda.  Metro first decided to postpone a decision on the contract in March, partially because it would take less time to stick with AnsaldoBreda than it would to put the contract out to bid.  Three months later, they're still punting because the politics of the contract remain mired in controversy. 

The big news from today's Metro Board meeting was that after our leaders subjected themselves to the pain of listening to the public, they were able to sorta-kinda pass the FY 2010 budget and put off a decision on whether to abandon their contract with Ansaldo Breda for another two months.

This Saturday, the Southern California Transit Adovates will host Fabio Ficano of Ansaldo Breda, the rail car company in the middle of the controversy about who will supply rail cars for future the expansion of the Gold Line.

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill