USA: A joint venture company has been established to restart production of diesel multiple-units to the designs of the former Colorado Railcar, which ceased operations in 2008.

Colorado Railcar's assets were acquired by Value Recovery Group to form US Railcar LLC, which will now restart production through the US Railcar Company joint venture with wagon manufacturer American Railcar Industries.

Before closure, Colorado Railcar sold a small number of DMUs based on a demonstrator produced in 2002. These remain the only DMUs to be fully compliant with Federal Railroad Administration crashworthiness regulations which effectively rule out the use of standard international passenger stock on US mixed-traffic routes.

US Railcar Company will offer single and double-deck DMUs in regional and inter-city configurations. Planned developments include raising the top speed from 145 km/h to 200 km/h.

'American Railcar Industries is excited to participate in this opportunity to join US Railcar and bring ARI's freight rolling stock manufacturing heritage to the passenger equipment sector', said ARI President & CEO James Cowan. 'Our commitment to expand and diversify ARI's manufacturing program results from ARI's desire to grow and build on the expected federal commitment to passenger rail as part of a balanced national transportation system.'