[pdxtex]

Not sure if this was posted yet - taken from Koin website a few days ago.

Local Company Gets Streetcar Bid



PORTLAND - For the first time ever, a U.S. company has been hired to build the streetcars that run downtown Portland lines.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Congressman Peter DeFazio announced Friday that Oregon Iron Works, Inc., will take on the $4 million contract to produce the nation's first domestically-manufactured modern streetcar.

"This project affirms Oregon's leadership role in streetcar transportation and technology," said DeFazio. "I'm proud that Oregon will get to show that we can produce a quality product as good or better than they make in Europe and restore good, family-wage manufacturing jobs here at home."

City Commissioner Sam Adams is also excited about the upcoming project.

"We can all be proud of our congressional representatives for their support in creating smart transportation options for Portland and the nation. We are growing a streetcar cluster here in Oregon, making Portland the streetcar capital of the United States," he said.

1/27/2007

[MarkDaMan]

with the several streetcar lines being created from DC to Seattle, is it probable this could turn into a huge manufacturing economic boom for Oregon? The trickle down to build large, heavy products is pretty significant, if it is produced in large numbers anyway.

[65MAX]

Yes, this was already posted (twice).

Look in the "Portland Transit" thread and I believe the the "Yellow Streetcar" thread.

[mcbaby]

it's also in the transportation section of this website.

also, wouldn't it be cool to revamp some of the vintage streetcars so that they could run the current lines. or maybe make special stops for them. i believe that they are higher off the ground than the skoda cars. perhaps when they build the hawthorne line, there could be access points for both types of trolley at each stop.

[pdxtex]

check out their website...nice....

http://www.oriron.com/