Portland, Oregon has announced a new commuter rail line between Wilsonville and Beaverton. When completed, the 15-mile-long line will serve one of Oregon's busiest commuter corridors. It will not be light rail, as in the MAX system that serves much of the greater Portland area. Instead, the new commuter rail line will use existing freight train tracks. The tracks will carry DMU's, quite popular in Europe for some time. These Colorado-built rail cars are self-propelled and are about 6 times more fuel-efficient than traditional commuter engines. One of the real benefits is that they are legal on freight lines without upgrades, saving potentially millions on infrastructure improvements.
The applicability of this technology to the metro Atlanta area cannot be overstated, with the city once know as Terminus sporting extensive "spoke rails" in all directions. DMUs could be deployed on these rails in the short term.
Add the potential of using biodiesel to power the railcars (currently being tested in Minnesota) and you've got a powerful blended solution for addressing Atlanta's transportation and environmental woes.
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