(Source:  AASHTO)

Enactment of the FY 2010 budget resolution “will be the starting point as the House considers the new surface transportation authorization bill,” Kansas Secretary of Transportation Deb Miller testified today before the House Budget Committee.

(Source:  India Times)

CHENNAI, India:  Chennai metro railway, within a month of obtaining cabinet clearance and awarding contracts for the first phase of construction, touched yet another milestone this week, by employing a European technical consultant for design and supervision of the project. 

Chennai metro rail corporation (CMRL) has awarded the USD 30 million technical consultancy contract to a consortium of five companies named Egis Rail India, led by French transport infrastructure projects company Egis Projects. US-based NYSE listed engineering and architectural design giant Aecom Technology Corporation is part of the consortium. 
While the names of other firms involved in the consortium are not known, an official source confirmed the awarding of the contract to Egis. “The technical consultant will conduct engineering feasibility studies, prepare designs and oversee their execution,” the source said. CMRL, the management consultant, will continue to be the entity tendering construction contracts.

Egis projects, which has been involved in a number of road and rail based projects in Europe, including high speed, light and underground rail lines in France, earns 9% of its revenues from Asia. Its Indian subsidiary Egis India has floated the consortium Egis Rail India, which was one of the two entities, short-listed from six, for the final race to the Chennai metro rail consultancy contract. 

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: NHTSA)

The website states ” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has provided the information in this booklet in compliance with Federal law as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of new vehicles. The booklet compares differences in insurance costs for different makes and models of passenger cars, utility vehicles, light trucks, and vans on the basis of damage susceptibility for the vehicle. However, it does not indicate a vehicle’s relative safety for occupants. ”

Click here to print or download a PDF.    Shown below is the PDF version for viewing:

(Source: AASHTO)

(Source: Autobloggreen)

Autobloggreen article says ” One of the problems for some of the smaller teams that want to win part of the $10 million Automotive X Prize is that they might not have enough funds to get their cars into the streets for the competition. The X Prize team is looking out for them, though, and recently posted a notice about Startup Nation’s 2009 Elevator Pitch Contest that is offering cash to the best ideas to come across the Intertubes. Even if you’re not participating in the AXP, you can still submit a two-minute audio or video file here and tell them why you need X million dollars for your idea. The deadline is March 20. ”     Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: Autobloggreen)

Th!nk details U.S. manufacturing, sales plans: hopes to sell City EV for under $20,000

This morning at the Michigan Information Technology Center in Ann Arbor, Th!nk finally gave the media the details of it’s planned expansion into the U.S. market. The short version: by 2010, Th!nk North America hopes to be building electric vehicles in the U.S. These City models (seen above) will be able to go around 70 mph, pass all required safety standards and be targeted at fleet customers, initially. Th!nk NA will be submitting a loan application to the Department of Energy on March 31, and its U.S. plans are dependent on getting this money. Well, Th!nk officials were hesitant to put a firm number out, but Th!nk CEO Richard Canny said that the price to consumers, after government incentives, would probably be under $20,000, but you’ll need to figure in an $80-90 per month fee to lease the battery. 

Click here to read more about this “North American Invasion” plan. 

(Source: TreeHugger)

TH!NK Electric Car Maker Wants to Move to Sweden (or the U.K.)

 Norway’s electric vehicle manufacturer TH!NK has a long and troubled history – gone bankrupt twice, changed hands a couple of times (including a short stormy marriage with Ford) and stopped its production line late last year when the economic crisis hit. But TH!NK’s woes are far from over, it seems, as the company’s leaders try a novel idea: an offer to move TH!NK lock, stock and batteries to a nation willing to prop it up until propserity re-appears. The two current contenders? Battered Britain andSlumping Sweden. Sweden may be in the lead, as Saab has tanked, and Swedish King Carl Gustaf has already reportedly purchased two TH!NK electric vehicles – in blue and gold, of course.

Click here to read more about this “migration” plan.

(Source: Detroit News via Autobloggreen)

 After driving the Chevy Volt prototype and sitting down for a number of discussions, the members of the president’s task force on the auto industry have returned to Washington. While the team was in Michiganover the past few days, they had a chance to see GM’s latest technology, look at what Chrysler has brewing, and spent time reviewing the viability plans of the automakers.

“We have been and will continue to work as hard and tirelessly as we can,” the official said. “This is obviously a very substantial undertaking and we want to move with all deliberate haste.”

The group spent most of the day in Detroit, visiting UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and other union officials in the morning before heading to Warren for meetings with GM and Chrysler.

Advisers to the task force visited Chrysler’s Warren truck assembly plant, meeting Chairman and CEO Robert Nardelli and other top executives, the company said in a written statement.

“In addition to meeting, the group toured the assembly plant and reviewed Chrysler current and future products, including electric and hybrid vehicles,” the company said. The meeting also included Chrysler Vice Chairmen Tom LaSorda and Jim Press and Chief Financial Officer Ron Kolka.

(Source: Federal Computer Week)

The Transportation Department has established a special team to oversee the $48 billion it is slated to receive under the economic stimulus law, said Calvin Scovel, DOT’s inspector general. 

The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery team would make sure that the department provides accountability and transparency for the massive amount of additional funding authorized by the law, Scovel said in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee’s Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee today. 

However, dealing with that large infusion of money, which must be distributed quickly and with the limited staff resources available, will force the department to limit its focus on its mission of transportation safety, Scovel said.

DOT must balance the quick distribution of funds to create jobs with significant oversight of that money and the $70 billion the department spends annually on safety and mobility projects, he said. The stimulus funds would flow through existing DOT program spending, most of which is channeled to the states in the form of grants, he added.

(Source:  bizjournals.com; Photo courtesy: AndrewJ@Flickr)

AT&T Inc. announced Wednesday that it will spend more than half a billion dollars over the next 10 years on alternative-fuel vehicles.

The Dallas-based telecom giant (NYSE: ATT) will invest $565 million on about 15,000 vehicles over the next decade, including $350 million on 8,000 compressed natural gas vehicles — the largest investment in that vehicle type by an American company in history.

The remaining $215 million will be spent replacing more than 7,000 passenger cars with other fuel-efficient models.

“AT&T and other U.S. corporations have a unique opportunity to partner with the new administration as it works to lead the country out of this economic downturn,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T. “This investment is a first step on our part to help boost other industries while at the same time encouraging wider use and production of efficient vehicles and domestic fuel alternatives.”

Billing it as a way to not only go green but also create infrastructure and jobs in a flagging economy, AT&T said its spending will either create or save about 1,000 jobs each year for the next five years. Both the chassis manufacturing and the conversion to CNG will take place domestically.

Wide access to U.S. roads granted to Mexican trucks in NAFTA would be terminated. Critics cite safety concerns, but a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy calls it ‘protectionism, plain and simple.’

(Source: LA Times)