Free Republic

MONTREAL (CP) - Canada's Bombardier Inc. will roll out this week - in Washington - a jet engine-powered locomotive it has been quietly developing for years in partnership with the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration. Bombardier believes its 240-kilometres-an-hour JetTrain is the answer to providing high-speed rail service throughout North America using existing track and without the prohibitive cost of electrifying rail networks. It calls JetTrain the first high-speed, non-electric locomotive designed for the North American market. It uses a turbine engine to generate power, instead of the diesel engine used in nearly all locomotives in North America for the past...