Always interesting to see what Bombardier projects are going on in the world. Saudi Gazette - JEDDAH – Two model Haramain trains for test-run arrived at Jeddah Islamic Port, according to sources. The trains belonging to the Bombardier Saudi Arabian Company Limited will be used for trial-run between Jeddah and Madinah before the official opening of the Haramain train route by the end of the next year. The propulsion and bogies are being made at Bombardier factories in Spain for the 449.2-km high speed inter-city rail transport system. Bombardier Transportation Company, which specializes internationally in railway technology, announced the signing of contracts with Talgo Spanish Company to develop and supply the basic components for 36 high speed trains for Al-Haramain Train Project.

We have serious passenger rail problems in Canada and the USA. We are almost half a century behind in the development of modern high speed trains. To his credit, President Obama realized this problem and in 2009 announced his vision for modernizing the outdated U.S. passenger rail system. Perhaps they should have used the phrase "higher speed rail" instead of high speed rail, since most money would go to upgrading existing rail infrastructure. The President knew the economic, social, and environmental benefits that could happen. While progress has definitely been made, the current political quagmire of American politics has made acceptance and implementation of his plan difficult. The national passenger rail carrier Amtrak is carrying record ridership. In June 2013 more people rode Amtrack that month than in its history: 2.9 million people. Its signature high speed train the Acela Express has done very well. In Canada the situation is very grave for the future of a