VIRGINIA - After sitting idle for nearly nine months, trains will start moving along light-rail tracks in the next few weeks.

But they'll be empty. The service won't launch until May . The activity is part of an exhaustive vehicle testing schedule in preparation for carrying passengers. Everything on the trains will be checked - from horns and lights to brakes and motors.

"It's a top-to-bottom, side-to-side, front-to-back test of the vehicles," said Tom Holden, Hampton Roads Transit spokesman.

A four-person testing team from the cars' manufacturer, Siemens Transportation Systems Inc., has arrived to begin work.

That means people must exercise caution near the tracks where the testing is centered, primarily between Brambleton Avenue and Ballentine Boulevard.

In the first phase, each of the nine train cars will be moved from a holding area behind Norfolk State University to a temporary maintenance shelter east of Ballentine Boulevard near Norfolk Southern's freight tracks. There, all the components of the train cars will be inspected.