Colorado Railcar Develops World’s First Double Deck DMU that Seats 188

Colorado Railcar’s successful history of producing the world’s largest double deck luxury passenger railcars has led to the recent development of the double deck DMU. The demand for the new double deck DMU became urgent following the success of Colorado Railcar’s innovative FRA compliant, single level DMU, which earned wide acclaim on its nationwide tour last year. With the success of the single level DMU, the development of both the bi-level DMU and bi-level coach was not far behind. Tom Janaky, Vice President of Sales for Colorado Railcar commented “We didn’t need to reinvent our DMU, we just added a second story.”

“We didn’t need to reinvent our DMU, we just added a second story.” – Tom Janaky, Vice President, Colorado Railcar Manufacturing

Adding the second deck on the DMU raises its seating capacity from 90 to 188 passengers. The bi-level coach car, using the same patented design technology of Colorado Railcar’s premier touring cars, has 200 seats in a low floor, ADA accessible configuration. The new bi-level coach will feature baggage storage areas, bicycle racks, fully accessible ADA restrooms and roll-on, roll-off wheelchair access at 24” above top of rail.

The proposed consist for the FRA and FDOT project in Florida consists of one double deck DMU and one double deck coach — offers seating for 388 passengers at a base cost of 6.9 million dollars. This optimum combination provides a base per seat cost of $17,800.00, which has excited consultants and rail agency administrators all over the country.

As well as providing low initial cost, the new bi-level DMU and coach have added a totally new dimension to the way that DMUs are viewed by rail experts. Rail transportation specialist Ronald Rypinski of URS Corporation recently observed, “When DMU’s were first discussed in this country, it was expected that you might have to replace them, as the service expanded, with locomotive hauled consists that would provide higher capacity. So now you suddenly have this low-operating-cost DMU train as an alternative and you can think of it as a long-term solution.”


For more information on the Double Deck DMU - download the complete Double Deck DMU Brochure