Yesterday afternoon, Seimens hosted a catered get-together forpotential subcontractors in the spiffy Crystal Room of the RiceHotel. Seimens is one of the two contestants left in the bidding onthe "starter rail system." The other is the Japanese firm that hadbeen involved in Dallas' rail system. The Metro Authority willclose bidding on the project and award an estimated $100-millioncontract for the vehicles, rails and infrastructure in January.

"I lived in Houston for three years," says Keith Stentiford,vice president of Seimens Transportation Systems, now based inSacramento. "It was always a problem to get into Downtown. Lightrail will solve that problem.

Light rail will redistribute consumers along the route that willlure shops and services to set up operations around portals,Stentiford tells GlobeSt.com. "I think the stations will refocuscommercial life in the area," he says. "If you look at all the bigcities around the world--most of them are alive today--they haven'tdied off because their transport systems have allowed them to stayalive."