FARIBAULT, Minn. -- ABC Companies and General Coach of America announced that the GCA 3035RE midsize coach, which is marketed by ABC, has completed the Federal Transit Administrations Altoona bus testing program.

The Altoona test, as the program is known, is designed to evaluate a buss ability to perform, under real world conditions, over its projected lifetime. The 3035RE completed testing for a 12-year/500,000-mile life cycle.

Performed by the vehicle systems and safety program staff at the Altoona Bus Research and Testing Center in Altoona, Pa., the test is required of all bus models before they can be purchased using federal money.

In addition to selling the GCA 3035RE as a midsize motorcoach, ABC plans to market the 3035RE as a commuter bus to public transit agencies. It fully complies with FTA "Buy America" requirements.

The 3035RE was jointly developed by the GCA division of Thor Industries and ABC Companies to produce a midsize bus with motorcoach-like qualities.

The program combined GCAs engineering and manufacturing expertise with ABCs knowledge of coach-operator needs to come up with what ABC says is the best-selling midsize coach in the U.S.

"We are proud of the performance of the 3035RE in the challenging conditions created by the test track at Altoona," said John Resnik, president of General Coach of America. "The design of the 3035RE is solid and these results are a good validation of that design."

The 3035RE is built on a Freightliner XB chassis and equipped with a Cummins ISB engine. The coach comes standard with an Allison transmission, although the one tested at Altoona had a ZF transmission. Other components are familiar to coach operators, including Amaya seats, Ricon wheelchair lift, and Carrier O5G A/C compressor.

The Altoona test results can be found at http://146.186.225.57/pti/pdf/0813.pdf.