Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in the US has placed an order for 120 additional Red Line cars from CRRC MA to replace the complete fleet of old rail models.
MBTA currently has 132 Red Line cars on order from CRRC that are set to replace the oldest cars in the fleet by 2022.
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With this, 84 cars will require overhauls and upgrades in order to maintain better service levels.
Instead of upgrading them, MBTA plans to replace them with new cars, increasing the existing order with an option to purchase another 14.
MBTA chief operating officer Jeff Gonneville said: “The MBTA will have 120 new cars good for 30 years instead of getting no more than ten years of extra life out of a fleet of 84 cars that are already nearly 25 years old.
"The new cars will cost $310,000 less per car than overhauling the old cars currently in use… Replacing these vehicles will give us the ability to be able to move faster for longer and allow us to increase our capacity on the Red Line."
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By GlobalDataThe new rail cars have the latest propulsion and braking systems and allow the achievement of a three-minute headway target.
As part of the contract signed in 2014, CRRC will continue to build a new plant for the final assembly of the new Red Line rail cars.
Set to complete in September next year, the facility will start manufacturing from April 2018.
The plant is expected to create at least 150 new permanent jobs in Springfield.
