VANCOUVER, B.C. — Cummins Westport Inc. announced that the first of 200 ultra-modern, compressed natural gas (CNG) fueled transit buses dubbed Metro Liner have been unveiled in Los Angeles.

The low-emissions super-sized articulated buses will operate with CWI’s 320-hp L-Gas Plus engines and are part of a previously announced 600-engine order being delivered to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority from 2005 to 2006.

These high-capacity buses will operate on Los Angeles’ busiest bus corridors, and on the Metro Orange Line, a 14-mile exclusive transitway due to open in 2005. Unaffected by traffic, high-tech vehicles will carry passengers to destinations within the San Fernando Valley and throughout Los Angeles County. The technologically sophisticated Metro Liner will be the first articulated bus to operate in Los Angeles in two decades.

“LAMTA operates the largest natural gas transit fleet in the United States”, said Richard Hunt, LAMTA’s General Manager, San Fernando Service Sector. We have been testing the Cummins Westport L Gas Plus engine for more than a year, and it has performed flawlessly. By deploying more of this clean engine technology, LAMTA continues to assist in the reduction of harmful emissions in the Southern California region while meeting our commitment to expand our service to Los Angeles stakeholders."

LAMTA’s decision to address growing transit needs with the use of high capacity, articulated, CNG-fueled vehicles called for special power requirements, said Gordon Exel CWI’s Vice-President, America Sales.

The new L-Gas Plus was specifically designed for large transit vehicles like the Metro Liner, which are becoming increasingly popular for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) operations. According to LAMTA, the Metro Liner will be the most advanced transit vehicle ever introduced in North America. At 60 feet, it is 20 feet longer than the standard transit bus and seats 57 passengers, 45 percent more than the standard bus.

Two hundred Metro Liner buses with CWI engines, each one costing $633,000, are on order from North American Bus Industries (NABI) of Anniston, Ala. Delivery of the first 30 vehicles is scheduled to be completed by June 2005 and the remaining 170 vehicles by June 2006. LAMTA has about 2500 buses, over 1900 of them are CNG buses, making this the largest alternative-fuel bus fleet in the U.S.

For more information, visit www.cumminswestport.com/products/lgasplus.php