New, More Appropriate Vehicle Technology
Current service on the line is provided by “push-pull” technology, whereby a diesel locomotive powers an entire train set. While well suited to long haul regional rail, this technology does not allow for rapid acceleration or deceleration, as would best serve dense corridors with frequent stations. A more appropriate vehicle technology for the Indigo Line would utilize "diesel multiple units" or DMU’s. DMU’s are a new generation of the old Budd cars that used to operate on Boston’s commuter rail network until they were retired in 1989. DMU’s are widely used in Europe and Japan and are gaining popularity in the United States, where regions such as Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas, Raliegh-Durham in North Carolina, Tampa-St. Petersburg in Florida, Burlington, Vermont, and Santa Cruz, California have recognized their benefit.Rather than relying on locomotives for propulsion, each DMU car has its own engine. As a result, DMU train sets have greater acceleration and deceleration; are more fuel efficient; less noisy; and can more flexibly adjust to match demand by allowing for more rapid assembly and disassembly of cars into train sets of appropriate size. New DMU’s look like a hybrid between light rail vehicles and traditional trains and can be low floor, thereby complying with ADA requirements without requiring a more expensive investment in high platform stations.
![[DMU photo - 1 car train]](img/dmu.jpg)
Demonstration DMU running along Union Pacific right-of-way in Santa Cruz, CA
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This page created 9.9.00, last updated 8.1.01.