Business Brief

VRE poised to purchase more locomotives

ALEXANDRIA — The VRE Operations Board took another step last week toward fulfilling its commitment to improving Virginia Railway Express operations by exercising an option to purchase additional locomotives from MotivePower.

The purchase of additional Tier-II locomotives was seen as a priority by the VRE Operations Board after last week’s service disruptions, where three locomotives failed and stranded riders for hours.

On March 20, the Operations Board modified its existing contract with MotivePower to increase the contract to more than $33.1 million for the purchase of up to nine locomotives. VRE will utilize nearly $9.8 million in funding through the Stimulus Bill, as well as a $5 million in locomotive funding appropriation by Senator Webb and VRE formula funds. The locomotives are tentatively scheduled to start arriving on the property in October 2010 — timed to meet anticipated ridership growth over the next decade.

— Press release