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[Sloan]

The January 2006 issue of Railway Age carriesd an ad that calls for letters of interest for DBOM (design, build, operate, and maintain) a two route rail transit system for the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. No details on mode (LRT or heavy rail or dmu), but the ad explains that "In order to relieve existing traffic congestion, reduce traffic delays, and plan for future growth in traffic [the government] wishes to implement a rapid rail system which will provide fast and frequent service along the East-West corridor and the North-South corridor." East-West would be Sangre Grande to Arima and Port of Spain (capitol). North-South would run Port of Spain to Changuanas and San Fernando. The global engineering firm of Parson Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc. is managing the distribution of qualification forms. Letters of interest are due February 28, 2006 and qualification forms will be distributed by March 31, 2006. The ad states that Trinidad expects to award the DBOM by fall of 2006 with a construction phase taking five to six years. No indication of funding sources. Trinidad is an oil producer, however. Questions should go to: Lucretia Mehraban at Parsons Brinckerhoff in Murray, UT (801) 288-3217 or mehraban@pbworld.com If this project goes forward, it will establish the fourth rail system in the Caribbean (Cuban Railways, Tren Urbano in Puerto Rico and St.Kitts Nevis tourist line are the other three). Maybe Jamaica will have an epiphany and bring back RDC service that it abandoned a few years ago. Sloan