BALTIMORE – On Oct. 3, the Maryland Department of Transportation is expected to ask the state's Board of Public Works to award a six-year contract to Bombardier Transportation Services to operate MARC commuter lines, the Baltimore Sun reports. Bombardier is expected to win the contract over Keolis Rail Services America, a subsidiary of the French rail company SNCF. The Keolis bid drew controversy among Holocaust survivors, because SNCF trains transported Jews and other prisoners from the suburbs of Paris to the German border from 1942 to 1944. The company, owned by the French government, says it has given public apologies, and supported French Holocaust memorial efforts and research. In spring 2011, the Maryland General Assembly passed bills aimed at stopping any transportation company from being awarded state contracts until the state archivist agreed that those companies had fully disclosed their World War II-era activities in the deportation of individuals to extermination camps or death camps. It also said that those companies must disclose all records in their possession and detail restitution or reparations. Holocaust survivors also are asking the U.S. Congress for permission to sue SNCF. A spokesman for the Maryland Transit Administration said the controversy played no role in the contract decision, according to the Baltimore Sun. Keolis presently has a contract to operate commuter train service for Virginia Railway Express out of Washington, D.C. Bombardier operates commuter service for GO Transit out of Toronto. (http://forums.dctransit.info/en/RailroadNews/NewsWire/2012/09/KeolisoutBombardierinforMarylandcommutertraincontract.aspx#comments) |