ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996               TAG: 9603180127
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

AMERICAN FLYERS WILL FLY HIGH-SPEED TRAINS WILL BE 1ST IN U.S.

A French-Canadian group will build America's first high-speed trains, scheduled to begin service in the Northeast by 1999.

The new 150-mph Amtrak trains will be known as the American Flyer and are planned to operate between Washington and Boston.

``It stands for a new era ... to make the 21st century the high-speed rail century for America,'' Transportation Secretary Federico Pena said Friday.

``This train will be the safest ever built in the world. This will set the standard,'' Pena added.

Vice President Al Gore announced that Amtrak has picked the consortium of Bombardier and GEC Alsthom for the $754 million project.

Bombardier, with several plants in the United States, has its headquarters in Montreal. GEC Alsthom is the French maker of that country's high-speed train, the TGV.

The American Flyer trains will be built at Bombardier plants in Plattsburgh, N.Y., and Barre, Vt., Pena said.

Amtrak said the contract calls for 18 trainsets, 15 new high-power electric locomotives and three maintenance facilities.

While the railroad is expected to seek funding in private markets for most of the cost, Pena said President Clinton's budget to be released Tuesday will include $80 million for the new trains and $200 million to improve the Northeast corridor railroad system.

The new trains will tilt on corners, allowing them to move faster through turns.

As the new trains arrive, starting in 1999, they will replace the current Metroliner on the Northeast Corridor and will top the Metroliner's current maximum speed of 125 mph between Washington and New York and 100 mph between New York and Boston.

The six-car trains will have 345 seats each, and Pena stressed they will have a locomotive at each end.

Several other areas are also considering high speed rail service, including Los Angeles-San Diego; Chicago-Detroit; Chicago-Milwaukee; Chicago-St. Louis; and Charlotte-Raleigh, N.C.-Richmond, Va.

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